It’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
During the 2025 post-season, the Blue Jays’’ Ernie Clement established double-unicorn status. Clement collected 30 base hits in 18 2025 post-season games – surpassing the Rays’ Randy Arozarena, who collected 29 hits in 18 games during the 2020 post season. (Side note: The Blue Jays’ Vlad Guerrero, Jr. collected 29 base hits in the 2025 post season.) Clement also set a new MLB record for most multi-hit games in a single post season with ten – breaking a three-way tie at nine: Marty Barrett, Red Sox, 1986 (in 18 games); Marquis Grissom, Braves, 1996 (16 games); Troy Glaus, Angels, 2002 (16 games). Oh and, again, Vlad Guerrero, Jr., fell one short of Clement’s new record, with nine multi-hit games this post-season.
How hot was Clement and how unexpected was his performance? After a .277-9-50 stat line in 157 2025 regular-season games, he put up a .411-1-9 for the 2025 post-season. He also smacked two or more hits in 55.6 percent of his 2025 post-season games, while collecting multiple hits in 26.8 percent of his regular-season games (although he only batted in just 151 of those games, which would improve that percentage to 27.7 percent).
Clement has played five MLB seasons (2021-25 … Indians, A’s Blue Jays), going .260-25-126 (434 games). He was a fourth -round pick in the 2017 MLB draft (Indians), out of the University of Virginia, where he hit .306-4-86 over 179 games in three seasons. He hit.287-19-159 over six minor-league campaigns.
Now, of course, with The Roundtable “one thing always seems to lead to another,” and I got to thinking about what kind of numbers (raw total and percentages), we might see if we looked at multi-hit games over a full season (or career). My usual disclaimer here: While the Negro Leagues from 1920-48 have been designated major leagues, the game-by-game statistics not yet fully documented nor incorporated in the MLB record books.
MOST MULTI-HIT GAMES – CAREER AND SEASON
Photo: Conlon, Charles Martin, 1868-1945 (Photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The leader in multi-hit g mes in an MLB season is Al Simmons, who had 85 multi-hit games for the 1925 Athletics – collecting two or more hits in 55.6 percent of his games played. Simmons put up a .387-24-129 line, leading the major leagues with 253 hits. Simmons ultimately played in 20 MLB seasons (1924-42, 1943-44 … Athletics, White Sox, Tigers, Nationals, Braves, Reds, Red Sox), hitting .334-307-1,828 over 2,215 games. The Hall of Famer won two batting titles and twice led the league in hits (six times collecting 200 or more hits in a season). During the 1925 season, Simmons had three streaks of seven straight multi-hit games, including one (September 21-26), during which he went 19-for-33 (.576), with three three-hit, one four-hit and three two-hit games. Surprisingly, he didn’t draw a single walk during the streak.
PhotoJeffrey Hayes, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons:
The list of players with at least 80 multi-hit games in a season pretty much takes us to back to before I was on the scene: Simmons, Ty Cobb (1911); Chuck Klein (1930); Joe Medwick (1937). The unique exception is Ichiro Suzuki, who delivered 80 multi-hit games for the 2004 Mariners – in a season in which he led MLB with a .372 average and collected an MLB single-season record of 262 hits. In a 19-season, MLB career (2001-2019 … Mariners, Yankees, Marlins), Suzuki hit .311-117-780 (1,420 runs scored and 509 steals). He won two batting titles and led the league in hits seven times. From 2001-214, he ran off a streak of ten straight 200+ hit seasons. Suzuki also collected 1,278 hits (.353 average) in nine seasons in the Japanese Pacific League before joining the Mariners in 2001 (his age-27 season).
For those who like to know such things: The Rays’ Yandy Diaz and Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez tied for the most multi-hit games in the 2025 season at 53. Diaz played in 150 games and went .300-25-83, while Rodriguez played in 160 games and went .267-32-95, giving them multiple hits in 35.3 percent and 33.1 percent of their 2025 games, respectively. The leader in career multi-hit games among active players is the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman with 687. The 36-year-old Freeman has played in 16 MLB seasons (2010-25 … Braves, Dodgers) and gone .300-367-1,322. He has collected multiple hits in 31.5 percent of his 2,179 MLB games.
Photo: Paul Thompson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The leader for most multi-hit games in a career is, as you might expect, Ty Cobb, with 1,293 multi-hit games (out of 3,034 games played for a 42.6 percent career ratio.) Cobb played in 24 MLB seasons (1905-28 … and Tigers, Athletics), and put up a .366-117-1,944 line over 3,034 games. He was a twelve-time batting champion, and led the league in hits eight times, runs scored five times, doubles three times, triples four times and stolen bases six times.
The list of players with 1,000 or more career multi-hit games reads pretty much like a Baseball Hall of Fame brochure (with a notable exception at number-two). Joining Cobb are Pete Rose, Tris Speaker, Stan Musial, Henry Aaron and Derek Jeter.
George Sisler is the only player with more than one season with ten or more four-hit games (he had three such seasons out of MLB’s 13). He also he also holds the number-one spot (unicorn) for four-hit games in a season with 12 – and he did it twice (1920 and 1922). The Hall of Famer played in 15 MLB seasons (1915-22, 1924-30), going .340-102-1,178. He won a pair of batting titles, hitting over .400 both times (.407 in 1920 and .420 in 1922 (both for the Browns). Sisler also led the league in hits twice, runs scored once, triples twice and stolen bases four times.
What Might Have Been
George Sisler missed the 1923 season (his age-30 season) struggling with a sinus infection that led to chronic severe headaches and impaired vision. He worked his way back and, while still delivering superior performance, was not as dangerous a hitter as before then illness. In the season before the illness, he went .420-8-105) and in the first season back after the illness, he went .305-9-74. Further, in the eight seasons before the illness, he went .361-60-612, in the seven seasons after returning from the illness, he went .320-42-566.
As you might expect, Ty Cobb recorded the most career four-hit games, with 95. As the chart below shows, the “usual suspects” drawn from multiple eras top this list.
FIVE-HIT GAMES
The list of players with four five-hit games in a season contains four of the games purest hitters – Ty Cobb, Stan MUsial, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki – among them they have 29 batting titles and career averages of .366 (Cobb), .331 (Musial); .338 (Gwynn) and .311 (Suzuki).
The list of players with the most career five-hit games, includes leader Ty Cobb (with 12 batting titles and a .366 career average); Pete Rose (three batting titles and a .303 career average); and Tony Gwynn (eight batting titles and a career .338 average).
The surprise in the top four is Max Carey, who never won a batting title (.285 career average). Carey played in 20 MLB seasons (1910-29) and went .285-70-802 with 1,5645 runs scored and 738 steals. The Hall of Famer led his league in steals ten times.
SEVEN- AND NINE-HIT GAMES
Photo: Goudey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Nine Hits
MLB has seen just one nine-hit game. On July 10, 1932, Indians SS Johnny Burnett went nine-for-eleven in a Cleveland 18-inning, 18-17 loss to the Athletics. (Burnett had seven singles and two doubles in 11 at bats.) Burnett played in nine MLB seasons (1927-35 … Indians, Browns), going .284-9-213 in 558 games.
Seven-Hit Games and a Unicorn
Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates.jpg|Rennie Stennett, second baseman with Pittsburgh Pirates, circa 1977.]]
There have been four seven-hit games, but only one nine-inning seven-hit game. On September 16, 1975, as his Pirates rocked the Cubs 22-0 in Chicago, Pittsburgh second baseman and leadoff hitter Rennie Stennett went seven-for-seven, with tw0 doubles, a triple, five runs scored and two RBI. Stennett played 11 MLB seasons (1971-81 … Pirates, Giants), going .274-41-432 in 1,237 games.
Others with seven hit games include; the Tigers’ Rocky Colavito (seven-for-ten in a June 24, 1962, 22-inning, 9-1 loss to the Yankees); the Giants’ Brandon Crawford in an August 8, 2016, 14-inning, 8-7 win over the Marlins; and the Tigers’ Cesar Gutierrez in a June 21, 1970, 12-inning, 9-8 win over the Indians.
Six-Hit Games
There have been 117 six-hit games, but only four players have had two such offensive outbursts: Jim Bottomley (for the Cardinals in 1924 and 1931); Doc Cramer (for the Athletics in 1932 & 1936); Jimmie Foxx (for the Athletics in 1930 & 1932); and Kirby Puckett (for the Twins in 1987 and 1991).
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