Cardinals' hit streak record holder officially retires from Major League Baseball

There are some pieces of baseball history that just make you pause for a moment. "Huh? This guy did that?".

That's probably how most St. Louis Cardinals fans feel about one of their most recent record holders, newly retired outfielder Corey Dickerson.

Dickerson was signed by the Cardinals for the 2022 season to provide them with outfielder depth behind Tyler O'Neill, Harrison Bader, Dylan Carlson, and Lars Nootbaar.

The left-handed hitting outfielder was mostly a bench player for St. Louis that season, but with the frequent injuries many of those young outfielders experienced, Dickerson was able to get some run with St. Louis over various points of the season. The most iconic of which came during a three-game stretch against the Chicago Cubs from August 23rd-August 25th.

Corey Dickerson set a Cardinals' record with 10 straight hits in 2022

Starting with the first game of a doubleheader on August 23rd, Dickerson recorded an out in his first plate appearance of the day before four consecutive put him at 4-5 on the day. In the starting lineup once again the next day, Dickerson proceeded to go 4-4 at the plate, extending his consecutive hits streak to eight total.

Then on August 25th, Dickerson recorded hits in his first two at-bats of that outing, setting the Cardinals record with 10 hits in consecutive at-bats. Quite the achievement!

Dickerson's time with the Cardinals wasn't anything to write home about, slashing .267/.300/.399 with six home runs in 96 games, good for a 98 OPS+ and a -0.1 WAR. He did come through at various points in the season for St. Louis, but his role confused many and he went on to sign with the Washington Nationals the following offseason.

Overall, Dickerson posted negative WAR in each of his last three big league seasons, including a career-worst -0.6 bWAR and career-low .637 OPS in 50 games with the Nationals in 2023.

Dickerson did not play in Major League Baseball during the 2024 season, instead taking on a role with Jackson Academy, a high school down in Mississippi as their baseball coach.

While Dickerson was unofficially retired from the game last season, it appears those papers have officially been submitted this offseason, putting an end to what was an 11-year career in the Major Leagues with the Cardinals, Nationals, Rockies, Rays, Pirates, Phillies, Marlins, and Blue Jays. Dickerson finished with over 1000 career hits and a career .799 OPS, which are pretty impressive feats.

Dickerson was rarely a guy who received a lot of recognition, but he was named to the 2017 All-Star team and won a Gold Glove in 2018. Dickerson managed to post an OPS+ north of 130 twice in his career, so there's a good argument that he was one of the more underrated hitters of the 2010s. No, he wasn't a star, but he was a highly productive MLB player.

Hat tip to Corey Dickerson on a long, productive Major League career. While he's been away from the game for over a year now, I found it important to recognize his contributions to the game and that incredible heater he was on in 2022.