Archives for April 2019

Four-homer games (by a single player) are a relative rarity in major league baseball.  For example, only 18 players have launched four homers in a single game, while 23 pitchers have tossed perfect games.  In this post, Baseball Roundtable takes a look at MLB’s four-homer games.  If you joined this post via a link from a BBRT Trivia Teaser, the answer is in the box below.

Baseball Roundtable Trivia – The City of Brotherly Love

Despite playing for Philadelphia – The City of Brotherly Love – Phillies’ third baseman Mike Schmidt showed no love for the Reuschel brothers on April 17, 1976.  On that day, as the Phillies topped the Cubs in an 18-16 slug fest, Schmidt popped an MLB-record (tying) four home runs – including two off starter Rick Reuschel and one off his brother Paul Reuschel.  It’s the only time brother have shared victim status in a four-dinger assault.

Now, before we look at each four-homer game in detail, here are a fewer four-homer game trivia tidbits.

Homers, Just Not at Home …

Just five of the 18 four-homer games were achieved by batters hitting at home.

• In four-homer games, the team boasting the four-homer performer has won 16 of the 18 contests.

• Four-homer games have been recorded by 11 right-handed hitters; six lefties; and one switch hitter.

• Two batters have included a two-home run inning in their four-homer games; Mike Cameron, Mariners (2002) and Bobby Lowe, Beaneaters/Braves (1894).

• Only two batters were walked during their four-dinger outbursts – Rocky Colavito (1959) and Pete Seerey (1948), with one free pass each. (Mike Cameron was hit by a pitch in the midst of his powerful 2002 performance. I’m a bit surprised he’s the only one.)

This Side Seems to be Working Today …

Mark Whiten, the only switch hitter with a four-homer game, hit all four of his dingers from the left-hander’s batters’ box.

• The Braves’ franchise has had the most four-homer games with three – one each in Boston (Beaneaters); Milwaukee; and Atlanta. The hitters were Bobby Lowe (1894); Joe Adcock (1954); and Bob Horner (1986).

• By position, six first basemen have put up four-homer games; five right fielders; three center fielders; two left fielders; one second baseman; and one third baseman. No catchers, shortstops or pitchers have smacked four homers in a game.

• Five Hall of Famers had four-homer games: Ed Delahanty (1896); Lou Gehrig (1932); Chuck Klein (1936); Willie Mays (1961); and Mike Schmidt (1976).

• Three players needed extra innings to get that fourth home run: Chuck Klein (1936); Pete Seerey (1948); and Mike Schmidt (1976).

It Was an Inside Job …

Two of the home runs in Ed Delahanty’s July 13, 1986 four-homer game were of the “inside-the-park” variety.  He is the only player to include an inside-the-park round tripper in a four-homer outburst.

• Appropriately, seven of the players turning in four-homer games were batting cleanup; five were batting third; two each were in the fifth and sixth spots; and one each occupied the lead-off and number-seven holes. No second, eighth or ninth batter has turned in a four-homer game.

• Shawn Green set the top marks for runs and hits in a four-homer game at six. In his May 23, 2002, performance for the Dodgers (who beat the Brewers 16-3­) he also set the MLB single-game record for total bases at 19 (four homers, a double and a single).

• The age window for four-homer games is narrow. The youngest player ever to record one was Pat Seerey (25 years – 123 days).  The oldest was Chuck Klein (31 years – 257 days).

• In 14 of the 18 games, the four-homer performance got exactly four hits.

I Like a Little Company …

The most RBIs in a four-homer game belong to the Cardinals’ Mark Whiten, who drove in an MLB single-game, record-tying dozen Cardinals’ teammates – as St. Louis topped the Reds 15-2 on September 7, 1993.  On the other side of the coin, Mike Cameron drove in the minimum four tallies with his four round trippers, as his Mariners beat the Sox 15-4 on May 2, 2002.

• July is the most popular month for four-homer games, with five occurrences. It’s happened four times in May, three each in June and September, twice in April and once in August.

• Only three players have collected their four home runs off four different pitchers: Gil Hodges (1950); Joe Adcock (1954); and J.D. Martinez (2017).

• Only two players have logged all four round trippers on their big day against just one pitcher: Ed Delahanty, Quakers/Phillies (1896); Bobby Lowe, Beaneaters/Braves (1894).

• Teams having a player belt four homers in game have outscored their opponents by a 246-124 margin – reaching a high of 20 runs scored twice.

• The fewest runs scored by a team with a player stroking four round trippers in a game is eight – and, in both cases, the eight runs were not enough to win. Ed Delahanty’s Phillies lost 9-8 (July 13, 1896) and Bob Horner’s Braves lost 11-8 (July 6, 1986).

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Now let’s look at these offensive outbursts game–by-game, starting with the most recent and working our way back.

J.D. Martinez, Diamondbacks – September 4, 2017

Photo by GabboT

Martinez – batting fourth and playing RF – started the evening slowly, with a swinging strikeout off Dodgers’ starter Rich Hill leading off the second inning. He went on to hit: a two-run homer to left-center off Hill in the fourth; a solo shot to right field leading off the seventh against Pedro Baez; another solo homer, this time to right-center, off Josh Fields in the eighth; and a second two-run blast (left field) off Wilmer Font in the top of the ninth.  The D-backs won 13-0 and Martinez was 4-for-5, with four runs scored and six RBI.

Martinez logged his four-homer game after being traded mi-season. (He was traded form the Tigers to the Diamondbacks on July 18).  He ended the 2017 season with a .303-45-104 line.  Still active, he is now in his ninth season and has a career line of .294-199-619 as this is written (as of April 28). He has topped 30 home runs in three seasons, with a high of 45 in 2017 and 43 in 2018.

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Scooter Gennett. Reds – June 6, 2017

Photo by haydenschiff

Okay, four-homer guys have (well-earned)  nicknames like The Iron Horse, Rocky and The Hammerin’ Hoosier.  Ryan “Scooter” Gennett is a bit of an  exception to that rule.

Gennett started the Reds’ game against the Cardinals batting fifth and playing left field. Going into the contest, he was hitting .270, with just three round trippers and 20 RBI on the season (46 games played).  He dramatically improved those numbers that early June evening.

Gennett started simply enough, with a run-scoring single off Adam Wainwright in the bottom of the first. The next time he faced Wainwright was in the third, with the bases loaded and one out.  Gennett responded with a Grand Slam to deep right. So far, two-for-two with a homer and five RBI, but the night was young. With the Reds up 8-0, Gennett faced reliever John Gant in the fourth inning – and stroked a two-run home run to deep center. Two innings later, with Gant still in the game and the Reds up 10-0, Gennett went yard again – a solo short to down the left field line. Then in the eighth, apparently wanting to prove this power surge was no fluke, he added another two-run shot, this time off John Brebbia.

Gennett’s night? He went five-for-five, with four homers, four runs scored and ten RBI – as the Reds won 13-1.  In that one game, he raised his average 30 points (.270 to .302); more than doubled his season home run total (from three to seven); and raised his RBI total by 50 percent (20 to 30). He finished the season at .295-27-97. Still active, Gennett (on the IL so far this season), has a .289 average, with 85 home runs and 349 RBI over six MLB seasons. He hit 20+ home runs in 2017 and 2018.

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Josh Hamilton, Rangers – May 8, 2012

Photo by Keith Allison

Good things apparently come in twos.  Hamilton popped four two-run homers on his big night. They were his numbers 11-14 for this season.  Hamilton was batting third and playing CF.

The 2010 AL MVP started with a two-run shot off the Orioles’ Jake Arrietta in the top of the first inning; touched Arrietta for another two-run blast in the third; doubled to right off Arrietta in the fifth; homered with a runner on off Zach Phillips in the seventh; and capped it off with another blast (this one off Darren O’Day) in the eighth. His final line for the day: five-for-five (four homers and a double), four runs scored and eight RBI.

Hamilton finished the season at .285-43-128. He hit .290, with 200 home runs in nine MLB seasons.

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Carlos Delgado, Blue jays – September 25, 2003

By the time Carlos Delgado had his four-homer game, he already had 299 MLB round trippers and was in his seventh consecutive campaign of 30 or more home runs. In his big game, Delgado was playing first and batting cleanup. The slugger hit a three-run shot off the Rays’ Jorge Sosa the bottom of the first inning.  His next three round trippers would all come leading off an inning:  a solo short off Sosa leading off the fourth; another solo home run leading off the sixth, off Joe Kennedy; and a final solo homer off Lance Carter to start the eighth.

Delgado ended the day four-for-four, with four home runs and six RBI.  He finished 2003 with a .302 average, 42 home runs and an AL-leading 145 RBI (his sixth straight campaign of 100+ RBI). He retired in 2009, with a .280 career average, 473 home runs and 1,512 RBI in 17 MLB seasons.

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Shawn Green, Dodgers – May 23, 2002

Green was batting third and playing right field for the Dodgers on his big day – arguably the best day anyone ever had at the plate.  Not only did he bang out four home runs, he added a double and a single in a six-for-six performance.

Green’s day went like this: RBI double off Glendon Rusch in the top of the first; three-run homer off Rusch in the second inning; lead-off homer of Brian Mallette in the fourth; solo shot of Mallette in the fifth; single off Jose Cabrera in the eighth; a solo home run with two out in the ninth off Cabrera. Green’s ninth-inning shot was one of three back-to-back home runs in the inning (3B Adrian Beltre – Green – 2B Dave Hansen).  The Dodgers topped the Brewers (in Milwaukee) 16-3 – hitting eight home runs in the process.

Shawn Green’s 19 total bases on May 23, 2002, stand as the MLB single-game total-base record.

Green ended the season at .285-42-112, notching his third 40+ home run season. He finished his 15-season MLB career at .283-328-1,070.

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Mike Cameron, Mariners, May 2, 2002

Cameron, starting in RF and batting third, got his four-homer game off to a good start, going yard twice in the top of the first inning (as the Mariners scored ten times). Those round trippers came off Jon Rauch and Jim Parque.  (Rauch retired only one of the nine batters he faced.)

Tee (off) for Two …

Each of the home runs that Mike Cameron hit in the first inning of that May 2, 2002 Mariners’ game against the White Sox was immediately preceded by a home run off the bat of Mariners’ 2B Brett Boone.  It is the only time two MLB players hit back-to-back home runs TWICE in the same inning.

Cameron added solo home runs off Parque in the third and fifth innings – giving him four home runs in the first five innings (and the Mariners as 13-1 lead). His next at bat came in the seventh, but his didn’t get a chance to make history with a fifth long ball. He was hit, in the leg, by a pitch from Mike Porzio – causing even the White Sox home crowd to boo.  Cameron did get one more at bat – lining out to the warning track in right field in the top of the ninth. For the day, he was four-for-five, with four runs scored, four RBI and, of course, four home runs. Seattle won the contest 15-4.

Cameron finished the season at .239-25-80 – one of eight seasons (in a 17-season MLB career) in which he topped 20 home runs (he hit a career-high 30 in 2004). For his 17-season MLB career, Cameron was .249-278-968, with 297 steals.

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Mark Whiten, Cardinals, September 7, 1993

Whiten was playing CF and batting seventh for the Cardinals (at Cincinnati) when he had his four -homer day.  It was in the second game of a double header.  In the contest, Whiten went four-for-five with four runs scored and 12 RBI – as St. Louis won 15-2. (The Redbirds had lost the opener 14-13. So, despite scoring 28 rims in the twin bill, all they got was a split).

Mark Whiten’s 12 Runs batted in Game Two of that September 7, 1993 twin bill is the MLB RBI record (tied with Jim Bottomley) for a single game.

Whiten hit a Grand Slam off Larry Leubbers in the top of the first; popped to third off Leubbers in the fourth; knocked a three-run homer off Mike Anderson in the sixth; smacked a  two-run shot off Anderson in the seventh; and launched a two-run shot off Rob Dibble in the ninth.  (Hit, knocked, smacked, launched – so many ways to describe a long ball.)

While Whiten is a switch hitter, he hit all four of his homers in his record-tying game left-handed.

Whiten finished the season at .253-25-99, with 15 steals. It was one of only two seasons in which he would hit at least 20 home runs.  His career line was .259-105-423.

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Bob Horner, Braves, July 6, 1986

Horner was playing first base and batting cleanup on the day he put four balls out of the yard. And, despite his efforts, the Braves lost to the Expos (in Atlanta) by a 13-8 score. Horner homered to lead off the bottom of the second (off Andy McGaffigan); hit another solo shot off McGaffigan in the fourth; hit a three-run homer (again off McGaffigan) in the fifth (ending McGaffigan’s outing);  fouled out off Tim Burke in the seventh; and touched Jeff Reardon for a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. (Touched – a softer way to say blasted.)

Horner ended the game four-for-five, with four runs scored and six RBI. He finished the season at .273-27-87 and his career line was .277-218-685 (10 MLB seasons). He hit 20 or more home runs in seven season and topped 30 three times.

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Mike Schmidt, Phillies, April 17, 1976

Schmidt – playing third base and batting sixth as his Phillies faced the Cubs in Chicago – got off to a slow start on his four-homer day.  He flied out to center in the second inning and singled to left in the fourth.  Not only that, the game was looking pretty much out of hand, and not in the way you might have expected.  When Schmidt poked his first home run – a two-run shot in the fifth off Rick Reuschel – it cut the CUBS’ lead to 13-4.   Two innings later, Schmidt popped his second homer, a solo shot off Reuschel – reducing the Cubs lead to 13-7. In the eighth, with the Phillies storming back, Schmidt homered again.  This time it was off reliever Mike Garman – a three-run blast that got the Phillies within one at 13-12.

Then a bit of luck intervened to give Schmidt his shot at four long balls in one a game. The Phillies took the lead 15-13 in the top of the ninth, without Schmidt coming to the plate.  It looked like his day was over. The Cubs, however, tied it at 15 in the bottom of the inning, and Schmidt hit a two-run homer of Paul Reuschel (Rick’s brother) in the top of the tenth.  The Phillies eventually won 18-15 and Schmidt went five-for-six, with four runs scored and eight RBI.

Schmidt finished the season hitting .262, with 107 RBI and a NL-leading 38 home runs (it was his third consecutive NL home run crown).  He eventually led the league in round trippers eight times and put up a .267-548-1,595 line. Notably, Schmidt’s also stole 174 bases in his 18-season MLB career – with a high of 29 in 1975. The three-time MVP also earned 10 Gold Gloves.

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Willie Mays, Giants – April 30, 1961

The Say Hey Kid started in center field, batting third, against the Braves (in Milwaukee) on April 30, 1961.  He took Lew Burdette deep (solo) in the first inning; added a two-run shot off Burdette in the third; flew out to center off Moe Drabowsky in the fifth; hit a three-run shot off Seth Morehead in the sixth; and topped off his day with a two-run homer of Don McMahon in the eighth. The Giants won 14-4, with Mays going four-for-five, with four runs scored and eight RBI.

Mays finished the 1961 season at .308-40-123. In his 22-season MLB career, he had six seasons with forty of more home runs (two of those with 50+) and won four league home runs crowns and four league stolen base titles.  His final stat line was .302-660-1,903, with 3,283 hits and 338 stolen bases.

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Rocky Colavito, Indians – June 10, 1959

Colavito was playing RF and batting cleanup for the Indians (at the Orioles) when he put up his four-homer day. He walked in the first – appropriately by Orioles’ starter Jerry Walker – which might have been a good strategy for the day. He then hit a two-run home run off Walker in the third (driving in Vic Power who had been walked by Walker). In his next at bat, in the top of the fifth, Colavito hit a solo home run off Arnie Portocarrero. He added to his day in the sixth, with another homer (two-run) off Portocarrero and, in the ninth, with a solo shot off Ernie Johnson.   The Indians prevailed 11-8, with Colavito going four-for-four, with five runs scored and six RBI.

Colavito ended the 1959 season with a .257 average, a league-topping 42 home runs and 111 RBI. In his 14-season MLB career he topped 30 home runs in seven seasons (40+ homers three times).  His career line was .266-374-1,159.

After his league-leading 42 home runs in 1959 (and, of course, his four-homer game), Rocky Colavito was traded by the Indians to the Tigers for 1959 AL batting champ (.353) Harvey Kuenn. The only time a defending HR champion has been traded for a batting champion.

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Joe Adcock, Braves – July 31, 1954

Adcock was playing first base and batting fifth (versus the Dodgers in Brooklyn), when the Milwaukee Brave had a four-homer day.  Surprisingly, the two hitters immediately preceding him in the lineup – future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews – never accomplished the feat.  Adcock started his assault with a home run off Don Newcombe leading off the second inning. He then doubled off Erv Palica in the third (at this point in the game, Mathews had two home runs and Adcock one).  Adcock added a three-run homer off Erv Palica in the fifth; a two-run shot off Pete Wojey in the seventh; and solo round tripper off Johnny Padres leading off the ninth.  The Braves won the game 15-7, with Adcock going five-for-five (four homers and a double), with five runs scored and seven RBI.

Adcock finished the 1954 season with a .308-23-87 stat line and was .277-336-1,122 in a 17-season MLB career (topping 20 home runs in seven campaigns).

The day after his four-homer game, Joe Adcock collected one double in two at bats before being hit by a Clem Labine fastball to the batting helmet (knocking Adcock out of the game – pun intended) in the fourth inning. The Braves were ahead 8-2 at the time.

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Gil Hodges, Dodgers – August 31, 1950

Hodges was playing first base and batting sixth for the Dodgers when he exploded for four home runs against the Boston Braves (in Brooklyn). He started in style with a two-run home run off lefty Warren Spahn in the second inning.  He went on to hit a three-run homer off Normie Roy in the third; a two-run homer off Bob Hall in the sixth; a single off Johnny Antonelli in the seventh; and a two-run home run off Antonelli in the  eighth.     He also grounded out off Mickey Haefner in the fourth inning.

The Dodgers won 19-3, with Hodges going five-for-six (four homers and a single), scoring five times and plating nine. Hodges went .283-32-113 for the season.  In his career, he put up a .273-370-1,274 stat line in 18 seasons.  He hit 20 or more home runs in 11 seasons (with a high of 42 in 1954).

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Pete Seerey, White Sox – July 18, 1948

Seerey got his four-homer game in the first game of a double header. Seerey was in left field batting cleanup that day; as his White Sox took on the Athletics in Philadelphia.

It didn’t start out that well for Seerey, as he struck out of Carl Scheib to open the second inning. He warmed up in the fourth, touching Scheib for a home run to open the inning. He added a two-run home run off Scheib in the fifth and a three-run long ball off Bob Savage in the sixth.  He then popped out to the catcher (off Bubba Harris) in the seventh and walked (off Joe Coleman) in the ninth.

Fortunately for Seerey, eleven proved to be a lucky number.  The game was knotted at 11-11 after nine, so he got another chance to hit.  That came in the 11^th inning – and Seerey delivered a home run off Lou Brissie.  The White Sox won 12-11 and Seerey went four-for-six, with four runs scored, seven RBI, a walk and a strikeout.

Seerey finished the season at .229 with 18 home runs and 64 RBI. In a seven-season MLB career (mostly in the WW II years), Seerey hit .224 with 86 home runs and 261 RBI. He led the AL in strikeouts in four of his seven campaigns.

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Chuck Klein, Phillies – July 10, 1936

Klein was batting third and playing right field when his four-homer day helped the Phillies defeat the Pirates in Pittsburgh by a 9-6 score. Klein hit a three-run homer off Jim Weaver in the first inning; popped out against Weaver in the third; led off the fifth with a homer (again off Weaver); and hit a solo shot off Mace Brown in the seventh.

Ah, Lady Luck. The game went into the bottom of the ninth with the Phillies up 6-4 and Klein sitting on three home runs.  The Buccos scored twice to tie it and Klein got another at bat – leading off the tenth – in which he popped his fourth home run; this one a lead-off shot off Bill Swift.

Klein ended the game four-for-five with four runs scored and six RBI. He hit .306 for the season, with 25 home runs and 104 RBI.   He finished his 17-season MLB career at .320-300-1,201 and was a four-time league leader in home runs.

1933 A Royal Year for Philadelphia Baseball

Chuck Klein won the NL Triple Crown with the Phillies in 1933 – going .368-28-120.  It was the only season in which both the NL and AL featured a Triple Crown winner and they were both from the same city – as the crosstown AL Philadelphia Athletics’ Jimmy Foxx took the AL Triple Crown (.356-48-163).  

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Lou Gehrig, Yankees. – June 3, 1932

Lou Gehrig was the first player to notch a four-homer game post-1900. On June 3, 1932, as the Yankees took on the Athletics in Philadelphia, Gehrig was at first base and batting cleanup. And cleanup he did, starting with a two-run homer in the first inning off George Earnshaw, followed by a solo shot off (again off Earnshaw) leading off the fourth, another solo homer off Earnshaw in the fifth (back-to-back with Babe Ruth) and a solo home run off Roy Mahaffey leading off the seventh.  In his final two at bats, he grounded out against Lew Krausse in eighth and hit a fly to wall in center off Eddie Rommel in the ninth (that came close to being home run number five).

Gehrig ended the day four-for-six with four runs and six RBI, as the Yankees topped the Athletics 20-13.  Gehrig finished the 1932 season at .349-34-151 – and put up a career line (17 seasons) of .340-493-1,995. He led the AL in home runs three times (and had five seasons of 40+ homers), RBI five times and won one batting title.

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Ed Delahanty, Phillies (Quakers) – July 13, 1896

Delahanty was playing 1B and batting cleanup as his Phillies took on the Cubs in Chicago on July 13, 1896.  In the first inning of that contest, Delahanty hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run off William “Adonis” Terry (who would pitch the whole game). In the third, he added a single and the fifth inning he launched a three-run shot over the right field scoreboard.  In the seventh, with his team down 9-6, Delahanty hit a drive to deep center for a second inside-the-park home run and, finally in the ninth, Delahanty homered for the record-tying fourth time. Despite Delahanty’s heroics, the Philadelphia squad lost 9-8.

Delahanty ended the day five-for-five, with four runs scored and seven RBI. He finished the 1896 season at .397, with an NL-leading 13 home runs and a league-topping 126 RBI. Over his 16-season MLB career, Delahanty hit .345, with 101 home runs and 1,466 RBI – as well as 456 stolen bases.  He won two batting titles (and hit over .400 in three seasons), led the league in doubles five times, RBI three times, home runs twice, triples once and stolen bases once.

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Bobby Lowe, Beaneaters (Braves) – May 30, 1894

Lowe was playing second base and leading off for the Boston Beaneaters (versus the Cincinnati Reds in Boston) when he enjoyed his four-homer afternoon.  It came in the second game of a split-admission double header. (Boston won the morning contest 13-10.)

Lowe was put out to start the game, but homered twice in the third inning off Reds’ hurler Elton “Icebox” Chamberlain (who would pitch the entire game – despite falling behind 11-2 after three frames). Lowe homered again in the fifth and sixth innings and added a single in the seventh – as Boston prevailed 20-11.   He ended the day five-for-six with four runs scored and six RBI – and finished the season at .346-17-115, notching what would prove to be career highs in all three categories. For his 18 MLB seasons, Lowe went .273-71-989, with 303 stolen bases.

Primary resources:  Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; MLB.com

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This post updated April 20, 2019.

UPDATE – ADD ANOTHER FIRST-AT BAT HOME RUN

How appropriate. Not long after this post was published, Cardinals’ pinch hitter Lane Thomas joined the list of players with a home run in their first MLB at bat (the stats in the post have been updated to reflect his April 19 blast. ). His long ball was a two-run shot in the bottom of  sixth inning of the Redbirds’ 5-4 loss to the Mets. Notably, the homer to right barely cleared the wall. In fact, it took an umpire’s review to confirm that Thomas had indeed joined the first-at bat HR Club. Thomas, of course, is now part of the group of first-at bat home run hitters with only one career round tripper. Given the fact that his is coming off a 2018 Double A season that included 21 homers, that may not last long.

On this date (April 19) in 1938, the Dodgers (of Brooklyn) opened the season against the Phillies in Philadelphia.  Yes, that’s right, Opening Day on April 19 (How the times have changed).   That day a couple of rookies showed they truly knew how to “get the party started” – hitting home runs in their first MLB at bats on Opening Day.

Batting third for Brooklyn was 28-year-old rookie left fielder Ernie Koy. In his first-ever MLB at bat, he took Phillies’ starter Wayne LaMaster deep to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.  Leading off for Philadelphia in the bottom of the inning was 25-year-old rookie second baseman Heinie Mueller.  In his first MLB at bat, Mueller homered off Dodgers’ starter Van Lingle Mungo to tie the game.  It was the first time in MLB history that two players homered in their first MLB at bat in the same game – a feat that would not be matched for nearly 80 years (2016).

The Dodgers, by the way, won 12-5; with Koy going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Mueller went 2-for-3, with two walks, three runs scored and one RBI. In that rookie season, Koy hit .299, with a career-high 11 home runs.  He played six MLB seasons (558 games) and put up a .279-36-260 line. Mueller finished 1938 with a .250-4-34 stat line and went .253-17-127 in four MLB seasons.

Aaron Judge. Photo by Keith Allison

Tyler Austin. Photo by slgckgc

It wasn’t until August 13, 2016, that two players again homered in their first MLB at bat in the same game. This time, they were on the same team – and accomplished the feat back-to-back. It came in the bottom of the second inning, with the Yankees facing the Rays. With two outs and the bases empty, Yankee rookie 1B Tyler Austin took Rays’ starter Matt Andriese deep to right field to give the Bronx Bombers a 1-0 lead.  Rookie RF Aaron Judge immediately followed up with a home run of his own (also in his first MLB at bat); this one to straight-away center.  Austin ended the season with five home runs in 31 games, while Judge got in just 17 games and hit just .179 with four home runs.  Note: By virtue of that limited playing time, Judge kept his rookie status for 2017 – when he went .284-52-114, setting a new MLB rookie record for home runs and leading the AL in runs scored (128), home runs, walks (127) and whiffs (208), while winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award. 

Here are a few other first at-bat home run factoids.

• A total of 123 players (AL. NL, AA) have homered in their first MLB at bat.
• Twenty-nine of those players hit their home run on the very first MLB pitch they ever saw.
• Just four players have hit a Grand Slam home run in their first MLB at bat: Bill Duggleby, Phillies, April 21, 1898; Jeremy Hermida, Marlins, August 31, 2005; Kevin Kouzmanoff, Indians, September 2, 2006; and Danial Nava, Red Sox, June 12, 2010. Notably, Kouzmanoff and Nava put a little icing on the cake, hitting their Grand Slams on the first MLB pitch they ever saw.
• Twenty pitchers, including the first player to hit a Grand Slam in his first at bat, homered in their first-ever MLB at bat.

• Only two players have homered in their first two at bats: Bob Nieman, Browns, 1952 and Keith McDonald, Cardinals, July 4, 2000. Note: McDonald collected just three base hits in his MLB career – and they were all home runs.  For that story, click here.
• Only three players have hit (run) for an inside-the-park homer in their first MLB at bat: Luke Stuart, Browns, August 8, 1921; Walter Mueller, Pirates, May 7, 1922; and Johnnie LeMaster, Giants, September 2, 1975.
• The first recorded instances of a player homering in their first MLB at bat came on April 16, 1887 – Orioles’ OF Mike Griffin and Red Stockings’ OF George Tebeau (in separate games).
• Twenty-three of the players to homer in their first MLB at bat ever have only one MLB home run on their resumes (three are still active).

Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; MLB.com

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Yesterday (April 17, 2019), the Cubs and Marlins faced off in Miami.  It wasn’t a particularly memorable game – the Cubs won 6-0.  Something did catch BBRT’s attention, however.  In the nine-inning contest, only one walk was issued (by Marlins’ starter Sandy Alcantara).  That compares to a 2019 MLB average of 5.26 walks (combined) per game through yesterday.  That spurred me to take a look at pitchers who “took control of the situation” – and prompted today’s Baseball Roundtable Trivia Teaser.

BASEBALL ROUNDTABLE TRIVIA TEASER

When you look at the MLB leaders in fewest walks per nine innings in a season, one thing stands out.  Only one of the top 25 qualifying seasons occurred since 1900. (Keep in mind, the four-ball walk rule didn’t come into play until 1889.)  Your question: Who is the only post-1899 MLB player to record one of the 25 lowest-ever  walks-per-nine innings rates? 

A couple of hints:  He came in at a very respectable number seven – and he exhibited that control not just post-1899, but also post-1999.

Answer:  Twins’ right-hander Carlos Silva, who – in 2005 – walked just nine batters (two of those intentionally) in 188 1/3 innings (a 0.4301 batters-per nine rate).  This gives Silva the best single-season walks-per nine rate since 1900, the seventh-best all time and makes him one of only eleven pitchers in MLB history to record a qualifying season of less than .50 walks-per nine.  Silva went 9-8, 3.44 in 27 starts that season.  Silva had a nine season MLB career (2002-2010 for the Phillies, Twins, Mariners And Cubs) – going 70-70, 4.68.  In 1,241 career innings, he walked 238 and fanned 554.  His best season was 2004, when he went 14-8, 4.21 for Minnesota.

Note: If you are wondering, the best-ever BB/9 ratio belongs to George Zettlein of the 1876 National League Philadelphia Athletics, who walked just six batters in 234 innings. (0.2308 per nine frames pitched). Keep in mind that, in 1876, it took eight balls outside the zone to work a walk.  Zettlein, by the way, went 4-20, 3.88 that season.

A TALE OF TWO BUBBA’S

The MLB record for the most consecutive innings pitched without issuing a free pass belongs to the Kansas City Athletics’ Bill Fischer – at 84 1/3.  Fischer walked the first batter he faced (the Indians’ Bubba Phillips) in a start on August 3, 1962 and didn’t walk another batter that game.  (He went the distance in a 1-0 loss.)  In fact, he didn’t walk another batter until the final day of the season (September 30), when he issued a free pass to the Tigers’ Bubba Morton in the bottom of the fifth inning. In between, he tossed his 84 1/3 walk-less frames and put up 12 straight walk-less appearances (11 starts).

As you might guess, the best career walks-per nine inning rates are dominated by pitchers whose careers ended before 1900.  The best of all?  That was Hall of Famer Candy Cummings, whose career spanned six seasons (1872-77). Cummings walked 113 batters in 2,149 2/3 innings – for a ratio of 0.4731. His final stat line was 145-94, 2.42, with 233 complete games in 241 starts.

The first primarily post-1899 hurler to appear on the career list is Deacon Phillipe, whose career spanned 13 seasons (1899-1911).  The Pirates’ righty walked 363 batter in 2,607 innings pitched (1.2532 per nine innings) for 16th place.  The only other post-1900 players in the top twenty are Babe Adams (19 seasons between 1906 and 1926 and a 1.2910/9 ratio) in the 18th spot and Dan Quisenberry (1979-90, with a 1.3974/9 ratio) at number twenty..

OKAY, SO WE DIDN’T ALWAYS TRACK EVERYTHING

Photo by apardavila

MLB didn’t really get into pitch-by-pitch record keeping until 1988.  However, since that time, the then Oakland A’s Bartolo Colon holds the record for consecutive strikes thrown in a game (strikes, foul balls, balls put in play) at 38. His string started with the second pitch of the fifth inning (against the Angels in Anaheim) and went through the seventh pitch of the eighth frame.  In between, he put together a string of 11 batters without tossing a “ball.” Colon, by the way, threw eight innings of four-hit shutout ball in the 6-0 Athletics’ victory.  He threw 82 strikes and 26 balls.

Primary Resource: Baseball-Reference.com

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Okay, it April 11 (2019) and I am looking out of the windows of my Roseville, Minnesota home at a blizzard (snow, wind, rain, sleet and even hail) that has closed schools, roads and even businesses.  I did brave the weather to retrieve my morning paper from a snowbank – I prefer my box scores be accompanied by the scents of hot coffee and newsprint.

At times like these, I console myself by thinking “baseball” and pursuing baseball oddities. Certainly that beats reflecting on yesterday’s Twins’ game, when the boys gave up six runs on two hits, six walks and a hit batsman in the fifth inning of a 9-6 loss to the Mets – talk about a blizzard of wildness.    Hence, today’s trivia question … which you’ll find below the wintry photo.

Who is the only player to both surrender a home run to the first MLB batter he faced and hit a home run in his first MLB appearance as a hitter. Hint:  Although it may not help (except perhaps to date the player in question), this player acted as the body double for Kevin Costner in the 1990 movie “For the Love of the Game.”  Also, this player is in the International League Hall of fame. 

The answer is right-hander Dave Eiland, who made his debut with the Yankees on August 3, 1988. Eiland actually pitched a pretty good game against the Brewers that day – giving up just one run on three hits and two walks (three strike outs) over seven innings. The first batter he faced was future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, leading off and playing third base for the Brew Crew.  Molitor popped a 1-2 pitch for a home run – and the only run Eiland would surrender that day.

Fast forward to 1992. Eiland had been released by the Yankees and signed (as a free agent) by the Padres.  In the National League, of course, he found himself not just on the mound, by (for the first time) in an MLB batter’s box.  In his very first at bat (April 10, 1992), Eiland took the Dodgers’ Bob Ojeda deep to left-center for a two-run home run.  Eiland pitched four scoreless innings in the 8-3 Padres’ win, but did not get the decision.  Note: Eiland would go 2-for-22 as a hitter in his MLB career – scoring twice  and driving in two.

Here’s a bit more on Eiland. He was an all-around athlete, playing baseball, football, basketball and golf in high school.  He received a athletic scholarship to the University of Florida (where he played football)  in 1985 and transferred to the University of South Florida in 1986 (focusing on baseball) – where he earned All-Sun Belt Conference recognition.

The Yankees’ seventh-round draft choice in 1987,  Eiland pitched in ten MLB seasons (1988-91 and 1995 for the Yankees; 1992-93 for the Padres; 1998-2000 for the Devil Rays). Eiland went 12-27, with a 5.74 earned run average in an MLB career cut short by a pair of Tommy John surgeries.  While he didn’t find great success in the major leagues, Eiland did make a mark in the minors. In 1990, he was named the International League Pitcher of the Year  and the Yankees’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year after going 16-5, 2.87 for Columbus (27 games/26 starts). In 2012, he was elected to the International League Hall of Fame. His International League record was 82-42, 3.44.  Overall, he pitched parts or all of 14 seasons in the minors, going 109-58, 3.42.

Eiland’s pitching expertise is exemplified by the fact that he has gone on to a successful MLB coaching career (Yankees 2008-10; Royals 2011-17; Mets 2018-current);  notably serving as the pitching coach for the 2009 World Champion Yankees.

Primary Resources:  Baseball-Reference.com; NationalPastime.com

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