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’re looking at multi-hit games, specifically – at the first chart shows – the career leaders in games with five or more hits. However, the post goes much deeper – delving into such areas as:
- Players with the most five (or more)– hit games in a season;
- Players with five-hit games after turning forty;
- Teenagers with MLB games with five hits;
- The record for hits in an MLB game (nine innings and extra innings);
- Players with the most career six-hit games.
As you can see in the chart, Ty Cobb is the all-time MLB leader in games with five or more hits (14), followed by Pete Rose (10). No surprise there, those two are also the top two all-time hit leaders. I was a bit surprised, when looking at this top eight, to find two players with fewer than 3,000 career hits and career batting averages below .300.
If I was going to pen (key) a trivia question here, it would be “What player, among the top eight in all-time games with five or more hits, has the fewest total career hits and lowest career batting average?” That would be Rabbit Maranville (tied for fifth on the list with eight five-hit games and with a career average of just .258 and 2,605 total hits). Maranville, in fact, hit .300 or better just once – in a season in which he appeared in only 11 games. He is the only player among the top eight who never hit .300 or better in a season in which qualified for the batting title.
When you look at the most games with five or more hits in a single season, you find three of those leading the way with four such games in a season can also be found in the career top eight. The lone exception is Ichiro Suzuki, who most likely would be in the all-time top eight if he hadn’t spent so much time in Japan.
Now for some Trivia(l) Tidbit-style observations.
Oldest Players With a Game of Five or More Hits
Pete Rose leads the way here with a five-hit game at age 45 years-119 days. That’s nearly three years older than number-two on the age list (Nelson Cruz at age 42 years–302 days). Rose’s final five-hit game came on August 11, 1986, when he had four singles and a double in five plate appearances, as the Reds lost to the Giants 13-3 in Cincinnati. (Rose drove in three of the four Reds’ tallies.) Rose had a total of 10 five-hit games (two after turning forty).
Paul Molitor had the most five-hit games after turning forty, with three. Molitor has a career total of seven five-hit games. All three of those in his 40’s came with the Twins. He also had three such games with the Brewers and one with the Blue Jays.
Others with five-hit games after turning forty (one each); Ty Cobb; Johnny Cooney; Stan Musial; Davey Lopes; Bob Boone; Carlton Fisk; Craig Biggio; and Chipper Jones.
Players with Five-Hit Games as Teenagers
Only four players have notched an MLB five-hit game before turning twenty. The youngest was the Cubs’ Phil Cavarretta at 19 years-33 Days of age. It came on August 21, 1935, as his Cubs beat the Phillies 19-5 in Philadelphia. Cavaretta started at 1B, batting sixth, and went five-for-six (a double and four singles), with two runs scored and four RBI. Cavaretta, who debuted in the majors as a 17-year-old, was in his 121st big-league game at the time.
Others with five-hit games as teenagers (all 19): Les Mann, 1913 Braves; Cecil Travis, 1933 Nationals; and Claudell Washington, 1974 Athletics.
Most Hits in an MLB Game of Any Length
Photo: Goudy, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
On July 10, 1932, Indians’ SS and number-two hitter Johnny Burnett had an MLB-record nine hits, as his Indians lost to the Athletics 18-17 in 18 innings (in Cleveland). Burnett went 9-for-11, with two doubles, four runs scored and two RBI in the contest. Burnett came into the game hitting .298 on the season and was at .323 at the end of the day. He finished the 1932 season at .297-4-53 in 129 games and had a .284 average over his nine-season MLB career.
Others with seven or more hits in an extra-inning contest (all with seven) are: Rocky Colavito, Tigers, June 24, 1962 (22 innings, 11 plate appearances); Cesar Gutierrez, Tigers, June 21, 1970 (12 innings, 7 plate appearances); and Brandon Crawford, Giants, August 8, 2016 (14 innings, 8 plate appearances).
Five MLB players have collected seven of more hits in a game, but not one of those37 hits was a home run.
Most Hits in a Nine-Inning Game
Photo: Hostess via tradingcarddb.com, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Pirates’ 2B Rennie Stennett holds the record for the most hits in nine-inning game, with seven hits in a 22-0 Pirates win over the Cubs (in Chicago) on September 18, 1975. Stennett, batting leadoff, went seven-for-seven, with two doubles and a triple, five runs scored and two RBI. Stennett was a career .274 hitter over 11 MLB seasons.
Multiple Six-Hit Games
While MLB has seen 119 six-hit games, only four players have had two six-hit games: Jim Bottomley (1924 & 1931); Jimmie Foxx (1930 & 1932); Doc Cramer (1932 & 1935); and Kirby Puckett (1987 & 1991).
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