J.J. Hardy - Twice the middle man in a three-homer start.
As we move through the 2012 season, rarities abound. A perfect game (one of only 21 in baseball history); a four-homer game (one of just 16 – also making 2012 the only season in which we saw a perfect game AND a four-homer game), and yesterday, for just the fourth time ever, a team started off a game with back-to-back-to-back home runs.
The team was the surprising Orioles, with Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis leading off a 6-5 home victory over the Rangers with long balls (number one of the season for Flaherty, number eight for Hardy and number five for Markakis).
Here’s some tidbits about the contests in which a team has started off with three straight dingers.
The first three-homer jump start came on April 13, 1987, as the Padres’ Marvelle Wynn, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk pulled off the feat in a 13-6 home loss to the Giants. The Padres remain the only team to start with three long balls and still lose. They also had the least likely trio to pull of the accomplishment, as Wynn, Gwynn and Kruk (sounds like a law firm to me) totaled only 29 homers for the year. Wynn, in fact, finished the 1987 season with only 2 roundtrippers. It was also the first homer of the 1987 season for all three players.
The second three-homer start came on May 28, 2003, courtesy of the Braves’ Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield – in a 15-3 home victory over the Reds. Furcal, DeRosa and Sheffield totaled 60 homers for the year.
The third group of long-ball initiators was made up of the Brewers Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun. They joined the list on September 9, 2007, in a 10-5 road win over the Reds – making the Brewers the only team to achieve the feat on the road; the Reds the only team to be victimized by a three-homer start at home, as well as the only team to have the feat accomplished against them twice. (Weeks, Hardy and Braun totaled 76 homers for the year).
Notably, by being part of yesterday’s three-homer Orioles’ start, J.J. Hardy became the only player to twice be part of an event that has occurred only four times in MLB history. (Boy, don’t we keep track of everything in baseball.)
