Most baseball fans are aware of the fact that on May 1, 1920, the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves played in MLB’s longest-ever (by innings) MLB game – a 26-inning 1-1 tie in Boston. It’s also well-known that both starting pitchers Joe Oeschger and Leon Cadore “went the distance.” Those are a couple of records (length of game and length of a pitching appearance), that are pretty much unbreakable.
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A Good Pick for A tough Day as a “Hitter“
As always with Baseball Roundtable “one thing leads to another” and perusing the box score of that Oeschger/Cadore game led to another record that has stood the test of time. Braves’ 2B Charlie Pick – batting second, did not reach base a single time in eleven plate appearances. That zero-for-eleven represents the MLB record for plate appearances in a game without reaching base, as well as the record for the most times a specific batter was retired by the same in pitcher in the same game (in baseball, we do track everything). This, of course, was another thing that led to another – and this post will look at some of the most futile days spent in the batter’s box in MLB history.
But first, let’s finish with Charlie Pick. Pick was no pushover. He came into the game hitting a robust .324 over the Braves’ first nine games of the season. (He would finish the season at .274.) Here’s how his day went:
- First inning – Pop out to second;
- Third inning – Foul pop to catcher;
- Fifth inning – Fly out to RF;
- Seventh inning – Ground out to pitcher;
- Ninth inning – Grounded into a second-to-first double play;
- Twelfth inning – Fly out to CF;
- Fourteenth inning – Strikeout (looking);
- Sixteenth inning – Ground out second-to-first;
- Nineteenth inning – Fly out to RF;
- Twenty-second inning – Fly out to CF;
- Twenty-fifth inning – Pop out to shortstop.
Over the course of the game, Pick’s average dropped from .324 to .250.
Pick played in six MLB seasons (1914-16, 1918-20 … Nationals, Athletics, Cubs, Braves), hitting .261-3-86 in 367 games.
Side note: The only other player in the Braves’ lineup that went hitless that day was catcher Mickey O’Neil – and he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth after going zero-for-two with a sacrifice bunt.
A Hard Day’s Night
The only other player to record a .000 on-base percentage in eleven plate appearances in a single game is Twins’ shortstop Danny Thompson – and he falls slightly behind Pick here, since Thompson actually got on base once (via a fielder’s choice) and scored a run. On May 12, 1972, Thompson went zero-for-ten, with two strikeouts and one sacrifice in 11 plate appearances, as the Twins fell to the Brewers 4-3 in 22-innings (in Milwaukee). Side note: Scoring rules on a fielder’s choice are that the players is not credited with a hit or time on base, but does record an at bat and plate appearance. )
Thompson’s feat was a bit unique in that it took place over two days. The first 21-innings took the teams into the morning of May 13 and – due to the rule that no inning could start after one a.m., the game was suspended with the score knotted at three apiece. After a break of just over 12 hours, the game was resumed and the Brewers won it in the very first resumed inning. Unlike the 26-inning Robins/Braves game (above), the two teams used 13 pitchers and Thompson faced five different Brewers’ hurlers (the Brewers used six pitchers). Fittingly, Thompson made the final out of the game (in the bottom of the twenty-second inning, facing Jim Lonborg.)
Thompson entered the game hitting .333 over 18 games. At the end of the 22 innings, his average was .294. For the season, Thompson hit .276-4-48 over 144 games. In a seven-season MLB career (1970-76 … Twins, Rangers), Thompson hit .248-15-194 in 694 games. Thompson passed away on December 10, 1976, at the age of 29, from complications related to leukemia.
For those who like to know such things – the losing pitcher in the May 12 game was the Twins’ Bert Blyleven, who came in (after the suspension) to pitch the top of the twenty-second inning. After that one inning of work, Blyleven started the regularly scheduled May 13 game and pitched nine innings (three runs) in a 5-4, 15-inning Twins loss. The winner in the May 12 game was the Brewers’ Jim Colborn, who pitched the fifteenth through the twenty-first innings (six hits, no runs). Lonborg got the save in the May 12 game – coming in on May 13 to pitch the final inning of the suspended contest. Lonborg then started the regularly slated May 13 contest and went four innings (six hits, five walks, three runs).
April 15 … A Taxing Day for This Met
On April 15, 1968. Mets’ RF and clean-up hitter Ron Swoboda fanned five times and went zero-for-ten, as the Mets lost to the Astros 1-0 in 25 innings (in Houston). It’s the most strikeouts by any player in a game in which he had double-digits in plate appearances and a.000 on-base percentage. Surprisingly, the clean-up hitter ending up leading off an inning in six of his ten plate appearances. Swoboda’s game:
Second inning – Lead off fly out to RF of Don Wilson;
Fourth inning – Lead off pop out to first base off Wilson;
Sixth inning – One out (no one on base) strikeout off Wilson;
Eighth inning – Two out (no one on) strikeout off Wilson;
Eleventh inning – Lead off strikeout off John Buzhardt;
Thirteenth inning – Lead off fly out to CF off Danny Coombs;
Sixteenth inning – Lead off flyout to CF off Jim Ray;
Eighteenth inning – Two out (no one on) strikeout off Ray;
Twenty-first inning – Lead off strikeout off Wade Blasingame;
Twenty-third inning – Two out (no one on) flyball to RF off Blasingame.
Sidenote: The second most strikeouts by a player with a zero on-base percentage in a game with at least ten plate appearances is four – by Swoboda’s teammate CF Tommy Agee in the same game.
Swoboda came into the game hitting .385 on the seasons (just four games) and left the field hitting .217. He hit .242-11-69 on the season and .242-73-344 over his nine-season MLB career (1965-73 … Mets, Expos, Yankees).
Mirror Images? More Roundtable “#one thing leads to another.”
The April 15, 1968 Mets Astros game went longer without a run scoring than any other game in MLB history. For the game:
- Each time had one hit in 79 at bats – so each had a .139 average for the game;
- Each team had ten singles and one double – each team had a .152 slugging percentage;
- Each team left 16 men on base.
- Each team made one error.
- Each am turned one double play.
- Each tram used four pinch hitters.
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Before we move on to some strikeout marks, the chart below shows all the MLB players with a .000 on-base percentage in a game of ten or more plate appearances. A few notes:
- As you might expect, all the games were at least 22 innings;
- The May 1, 1920, 26-inning Braves/Robins game accounts for three of the eight qualifiers;
- Robins’ SS Chuck Ward is the only person to not strike out a single time while qualifying for this list;
- Five games are included on the list and two of the five ended in 1-1 ties.
——–SOME STRIKING PERFORMANCES——–
Just eight players have fanned six times in an MLB game – and each of those instances came in an extra-inning contest. Lets’ take a look at some of those performances.
A Perfect Six-for-Six … Cark Weilman and Alex Gonzalez
The 1913 St. Louis Browns’ Carl Weilman was the first player to strikeout six times in a game in which he had just six plate appearances. We can probably forgive him, though. He was after all, a pitcher (and he wasn’t even slated to pitch that day.
On July 25, 1913, Weilman was called on in relief with one out in the first innings of the Browns-Nationals tilt (In Washington). Browns’ starter George Baumgardner had given up hits three hits (two home runs) while retiring just one batter. Weilman came in and finished the contest, which ended in an 8-8, 15-inning tie.
Unfortunately for Weilman, the Senators’ first two pitchers did not fare well and future Hall of Famer (and ultimately 12-time AL strikeout leader) Walter Johnson pitched 11 1/3 innings in relief for the Senators. Four of Weilman’s six whiffs were against Johnson. Of course, Weilman wasn’t the only one to have trouble with Johnson’s offerings. The Big Train fanned 15 batters in his 11 1/3-inning relief stint.
Carl Weilman, who fanned a record six times in six plate appearances on July 25, 2012 also recorded six strikeouts as a pitcher that day.
Weilman pitched in eight MLB seasons (1912-17, 1919-20), all for the Browns. He went 84-93, 2.67. At the plate, he hit .170-0-25 in 560 plate appearances. Waler Johnson? Well, you know all about him.
Another “Six-for-Six” Strike outing.”
Among positions players, Blue Jays’ SS Alex Gonzalez matched Weilman’s six-whiffs in six plate appearances on September 9, 1998 – as the Blue Jays lost to the Indians (in Toronto) 6-3. Gonzalez, batting ninth, enjoyed this day:
Second inning – Two out (two on bae) swinging strikeout versus Dwight Gooden;
Fourth inning – Two out (one on) swinging strikeout versus Gooden;
Seventh inning – One out (none on) swinging strikeout versus Gooden;
Ninth inning – Two out (none on) swinging strikeout versus Paul Shuey;
Eleventh inning- Two out (two on) strikeout looking versus Doug Jones;
Thirteenth inning – One out (one on) swinging strikeout versus Michael Jackson.
Equal Opportunity (or more #InBaseballWeCountyEverything)
Don Hoak shares the record for strikeout in a game and holds the record for being struck out by the most different pitchers in a game. On May 2, 1956, Hoak – playing third base and leading off for the Cubs – came to the plate nine times in a Cubs 6-5, 17-inning loss to the Giants. He collected a single, a walk, a sacrifice and six whiffs (tying the MLB record for strikeouts in a single game).
The Giants used eight pitchers in the game, and Hoak was fanned by six of them: Al Worthington; Don Liddle; Hoyt Wilhelm; Steve Ridzik; Wendy McCall; and Ruben Gomez.
Hoak, by the way, almost didn’t get that sixth whiff. In the bottom of the final (seventeenth) inning and the Cubs down 6-5, the first two Cubs hitters were retired by Joe Margoneri. Cubs’ Pitcher Jim Brosnan was up next and the Cubs sent Clyde McCullough up to pinch hit. McCullough doubled, bringing up Hoak. Ruben Gomez was brought in to pitch and Hoak fanned to end the game.
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Now, Let’s move on to five-strikeout games. There have been 199 of them – nothing very rare air there. Of those 199, 89 have been nine-inning contests. Still not very rare. There have, however, also just 20 players with multiple five strikeout games. So, let’s go there
We’ll start with players with multiple, five-strikeout game – all of nine innings.
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, NJ, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Javier Baez leads the way there, with three such games. One each in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The opposing starting pitchers in those contests were: Carlos Rodon in 2017; Gerrit Cole in 2019; and Braxton Garrett in 2021.
Baez, still active, has 10 MLB seasons on his resume (2014-23 … Cubs, Mets, Tigers), His stat line is .256-175-591. Over his 1,142 MLB games, he has fanned 1,225 times – leading the league once (184 in 2021) and topping 150 whiffs in three seasons. His best season was 2018, when he hit .290, with 34 homers and a league-leading 11l RBI for the Cubs.
As the chart below show, multiple nine-inning strikeout game are a bit of a rarity.
Now, how about five strikeout games -including extra-inning tilts.
Number One in Platinum Sombreros
Photo: Jeffrey Hayes, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Sammy Sosa leads the way here with four five-whiff games – one each in 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2003. The starting pitchers in those games were Tom Gordon; Dave Burba; Kip Wells; and Roy Oswalt. Sosa, is not a total surprise on this list. In 18 MLB seasons (1989-2005, 2007 … Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Orioles, he fanned 3,306 times in 2,354 games. He led the league in whiffs three times and fanned 150 or more times in six seasons. He put up a pretty good offensive stat line despite the whiffs – .273-609-1,667 for his career. Sosa was a seven-time All Star, and the 1998 National League MVP – when he went ,308-66-158 for the Cubs. Sosa the league in runs scored three times, home runs twice and RBI three times.
Three is Company … or not
Ray Lankford has no company among players with three five-strikeout games in a single season. (See the chart immediately above or the chart at the end of at end of post. Yes, Lankford made it to two charts.) The Cardinals’ outfielder “accomplished” the feat in 1998 – racking up five-strikeout games on May 24, June 6 and August 8. Still. Lankford had a solid 1998 season, hitting .298-31-105, with 26 steals (151 strikeouts, his career high). Lankford played in 14 MLB seasons (1990-2002, 2004 … Cardinals, Padres).
Let’s Get This Over with Fast
Ray Lanford may have racked up three five-whiff games in a single season, but Giancarlo Stanton had two five-strikeout games in less than a week. On April 3, 2018 – as the Yankees lost to the Rays 11-4 in New York, Stanton went zero-for-five with five strikeouts. Playing LF and batting third in the lineup, his day went like this:
First inning – Two-out (no one on base) swinging strikeouts versus Chris Archer.
Third inning -No out, (two on) strikeout looking versus Archer.
Fifth Inning – One out (one one) swinging strikeout versus Archer.
Seventh Inning – One out (two on) swinging strikeout versus Austin Pruitt;
Eighth inning – One out (bases loaded) swinging strikeout versus Sergio Romo.
Then, just five days later (April 8), in a 12-inning 8-7 loss to the Orioles (in Yankee Stadium), Stanton (batting third and playing RF) had another five-whiff game – wit one strikeout against five different pitchers.
First inning – No outs (two on base) strikeout looking versus Mike Wright, Jr.
Second inning – One out (none on) strikeout swinging versus Pedro Araujo;
Fourth inning – Two out (one on) strikeout looking versus Miguel Castro.
Sixth inning – Could things get worse? One on, one out, Stanton swing at the first pitch from Tanner Scott and lined into a double play.
Eighth inning – One out (one on) strikeout swinging versus Darren O’Day;
Tenth inning – Two out (two on) First-pitch swinging, Stanton grounded into a force out at second.
Twelfth inning – With one on and two out, Stanton struck out on four pitches versus Brad Bach to end the game.
The two five-whiff games were the bookends of a six-game stretch during which Stanton came to the plate 30 times (28 at bats) and fanned 16. For the 2018 season, Stanton hit .266-38-100 and fanned 211 times in 705 plate appearances. To date, Stanton has fanned 1,820 times in 1,535 MLB games (2010-2023 … Marlins, Yankees). His stat line is .259-402-1,031. He has fanned more than 150 times in five seasons. Stanton is a five-time Al Star and was the AL MVP in 2017, when he hit .281, with a league-leading 59 home runs and a league-best 132 RBI in 159 games for the Marlins. He has topped 30 home runs in seven seasons.
Primary resource: Baseball-References.com
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