Lotta (Last Name) Letters in the Lineup

(Corrected from an earlier version)

Last week, we listed the lineups with the most letters in them (considering last AND first names). Now we’ll consider only last names.

The starting lineup containing the most letters in the last names was achieved by the Chicago Cubs on August 23, 1946, as they hosted the Boston Braves. Their one-through-nine tallied 81 letters, an average of 9 per man. Here is that lineup:

The record for the fewest letters in the last names in a starting lineup is 39, achieved by the 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. On September 30th of that year, as they hosted the Tigers in the second game of a twinbill, sent out this “nine”:

The record for most letters in the last names of the starting lineups of both teams in a game is 145 144, achieved twice. On August 20, 1949, the Cubs visited the Reds, and the teams presented these lineups:

15 seasons later, the Red Sox and White Sox tied that record on April 24, 1964 in Chicago, with the following lineups:

The record for the fewest letters in the last names of the starting lineup by both teams is 88, achieved twice. The first such occurrence was that same September 30, 2004 Tigers-Devil Rays game we mentioned above:

The most recent game 88-letter lineup game was on June 29, 2005, as the Dodgers hosted the Padres: