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.
This week, we are looking back at a game that generated two unicorns – one at the plate and one on the mound. A contest that saw Johnny Burnett of the Indians turn in MLB’s only nine-hit game and Athletics’ righty Eddie Rommel give up the most hits ever in an MLB game (29) … and still get the win. Read on for a look at this contest, and the other records Burnett and Rommel set that day.
As a teaser, here’s the line score.
Side note: The most runs ever scored by an MLB team in a loss (Modern Era) is 23. On August 25, 1922, the Phillies lost to the Cubs 26-23 in Chicago – and it was a nine-inning game. The Phillies did make quite a comeback; they were down 25-6 after four innings. A bit of a tidbit. The second-most runs scored in a losing cause also involved the Phillies and Cubs, playing in Chicago. On May 17, 1979, The Phillies topped the Cubs 23-22 in ten innings. But, I digress (as I most often do in these posts.)
Now to our regularly slated tidbit.
Due to a combination of factors (earlier weather- related postponements, Sunday Blue Laws), the Athletics found themselves facing a demanding schedule in early-July. This included including a stretch (July 7-11) when they were slated to play nine games in five days – home doubleheaders (hosting Chicago)part- on July 7, 8 and 9; a single road game in Cleveland on July 10; and a home doubleheader (hosting the Indians) on July 11. And, they faced this demanding schedule with a short and overworked pitching staff. In response, Athletics’ part-owner and manager Connie Mack decided (either to protect his beleaguered hurlers or to save money … or both) to send only two pitchers (Lew Krausse and Ed Rommel) on the one-day railway turn-around for the July 10 game in Cleveland. And, the rest, as they say, is history … and thus are MLB unicorns born. For those who like to know such things, the Athletics went 5-4 over that nine-game stretch.
Johnny Burnett, Indians – Only Player with Nine Hits in an MLB Game
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Indians lost to the Athletics in that June 10, 1932 game – by an 18-17 score – but it wasn’t Johnny Burnett’s fault. Burnett earned unicorn status with a still MLB all-time, single-game record nine-hits.
Burnett, playing shortstop and batting second (hitting .298 at the time), came to the plate 11 times in the game and delivered seven singles and two doubles in 11 at bats (raising his average to .323) ; scoring four times; and driving in two runs. His day went like this:
First inning – Singled off Lew Krausse, scored on a home run by CF Earl Averill;
Second inning – Singled off Eddie Rommel;
Fourth Inning – Singled off Rommel;
Fifth Inning – RBI double off Rommel (tying the score at 6-6);
Seventh Inning – Led off with a single off Rommel, scored on a double by LF Joe Vosmik, batted again and struck out for the final out of the frame (Rommel);
Ninth Inning – Hit a two-out Single off Rommel, driving in 3B Willie Kamm and tying the game at 15-15 (extending the contest and giving Burnett the chance at his nine-hit day);
Eleventh Inning– Doubled off Rommel;
Thirteenth Inning – Singled off Rommel;
Sixteenth Inning – Singled off Rommel, later scored on a single by 1B Ed Morgan, tying the game at 17 apiece
Burnett finished the season at .297-4-53, with 81 runs scored (in 129 games). He played in nine MLB seasons (1927-35 … Indians, Browns) and went .284-9-213, with 288 runs scored in 558 games. He played in 100 or more games in just two of his nine seasons. His best seasons were in 1931 and 1932, when he played in a total of 240 games for the Indians and hit .298.
Johnny Burnett’s record-setting nine-hit game came in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak (game seven of the streak), during which he hit .417 (25-for-60) and raised his average from .289 to .319.
In another nod to unicorn status, Burnett’s eight hits off Rommel during his nine-hit day makes him the answer to the question “What are the most hits any batter got off a single pitcher in a game?” Or the reverse for Rommel – “Who is the only MLB pitcher to give up eight hits to a single batter in a single game?”
Take a Licking and Keeps on Ticking – Eddie Rommel Achieves Multiple Unicorn Status (29 Hits in an MLB Game … For the Win)
Photo: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The starting pitchers in that July 10, 1932 game were Clint Brown for the Indians and Lew Krausse for the Athletics. While Brown lasted 6 2/3 innings for the Indians, Krausse was pulled after giving up three runs in the first inning (a walk, three singles and a home run). That set the stage for Rommel’s unicorn performance (remember, Mack only brought two pitchers).
Rommel, known for his reliance on the knuckleball (a rarity at the time), pitched 17 innings in the game, gave up 29 hits, nine walks and 14 runs (13 earned), but got the win. Interestingly (at least to The Roundtable), Rommel appeared to get better as the game went on. In his first eight innings of work (frames two through nine), he gave up 18 hits, walked six, surrendered 12 runs, tossed two wild pitches and struck out three batters. Over his final nine frames, Rommel gave up 11 hits and three walks (one intentional), allowed only two runs, did not throw a wild pitch and fanned four.
His final inning, in fact, was his best. Facing the Indians 3, 4 and 5 hitters (Averill, Vosmik and Morgan), Rommel went strikeout, groundout, strikeout.
A Bit of a Tidbit
In 1932, Rommel was in the final season of his 13-season MLB career (1920-32 … Athletics). That July 10, 1932 win – in which he surrendered that record 29 hits – was the final MLB victory of his career. Rommel pitched in only five more MLB games (all in 1932) – going 0-2, 3.86 in those games and 1-2, 5.51 on the season.
Now for those unicorn stats, which might make for some fun bar trivia questions. Rommel set the still-standing (and I can confidently say “never to be broken”) records for:
- The most hits allowed by a pitcher in an MLB game – 29;
- The most hits allowed in a game in which the pitcher earned a victory and most hits allowed in a single relief appearance;
- The most baserunners allowed by a pitcher in a game – 39 (and, of course, in a game in which the pitcher got the win);
- The most batters faced in a relief appearance – 87 (no other reliever has even reached 70).
Cleveland Swings
Only twice in MLB’s Modern Era has a pitcher has surrendered 14 runs in a game and come away with the win. In both cases the game was played in Cleveland and the winning pitcher was with the Athletics (Chick Fraser on May 31, 1901 and Eddie Rommel on July 10, 1932).
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Another Brief Diversion
A usual with The Roundtable, one thing led to another – including a look at MLB’s longest relief appearances … which took me all the way to the end of the alphabet. Number-one on the list is the (wonderfully named) Cubs’ righty George Washington “Zip” Zabel, who threw 18 1/3 innings in relief (and picked up a win) as the Cubs topped the Dodgers (in Chicago) in 19 innings on June 17, 1915. Zabel’s long relief stint was necessitated after Chicagor starter Bert Humphries was injured in the first inning. Zabel gave up just two runs (one earned) on nine hits, while walking one and fanning six. By comparison, the last time a reliever went even nine innings was in 1988 (Neil Allen, Yankees/May 31) and 2025’s longest MLB relief appearance was 7 2/3 innings (Jonathan Cannon, White Sox, April 26).
Perhaps, what could have been. 1915 would prove to be Zabel’s final MLB seasons (at age 24). In the Society for American Baseball Research Zabel biography, author Bill Lamb notes that Zabel “was never quite the same after his marathon outing. He lasted only two innings in his next start, and was soon complaining of a sore arm.” Bill Zabel pitched in three MLB seasons (1913-15 … Cubs), going 12-14, 2.71 in 66 games (25 starts, ten complee games, three shutouts.)
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Rommel’s MLB career, by the way, was not defined by that 29-hit outing. Rommel finished at 171-119, 3.54, in 501 appearances, 249 starts (145 complete games). He twice led the AL in wins (27-13 in 1922 & 21-10 in 1925), and won 15 or more games in five seasons. In 1922, Rommel’s 27 wins came for an Athletics’ team that won only 65 games (89 losses).
For The Love of the Game
After retiring as a player, Eddie Rommel continued as a major-league coach and minor-league manager, before eventually working his way back to the major leagues as an umpire. He umpired in the majors for 22 seasons, along the way umpiring in six All Star Games and two World Series.
Primary Resources: Stathead.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; Eddie Rommel Society for American Baseball Research bio, by Tim Deale;
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