If at first you do succeed …

Johnny Briggs, normally a middle-of-the-order hitter, finds himself batting leadoff in 162 of the 1,366 games he plays in the majors for the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers from 1964-75.

He is a fine leadoff hitter, too, with a .370 career on-base percentage when batting first in the lineup. Briggs has his greatest game batting in the leadoff spot 51 years ago today, going 6-for-6 with four singles and two doubles in Milwaukee’s 9-4 victory before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 6,589 at Cleveland.

Briggs bats leadoff 13 other times for the Brewers in 1973, but goes only 11-for-59 in those games.