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. (Disclaimer: Game-by-game stats from 1920-48 Negro League games have not been fully incorporated into MLB records.)
This week’s Tidbit was prompted by the fact that on this date (June 2) in 2002, Phillies righthander Robert Person started on the mound (in Philadelphia) against the Expos. Although he gave up three hits and four walks (five strikeouts) in five innings, he surrendered only one run and picked up the win. It’s what he did at the plate, however, that got The Roundtable’s attention.
In the bottom of the first inning, with the Phillies already up 3-0, he rapped a 0-1 pitch from Montreal starter Britt Reames for a Grand Slam home run. In the third inning, he drew a five-pitch walk (Bruce Chen now on the mound) and later scored on a Bobby Abreu double. In the fifth frame (Masato Yoshii on the bump), Person battled through a six-pitch at bat and slammed a three-run homer to left. He was relieved from pitching (and hitting) duties in the top of the sixth with the Phillies up 17-1.
In five innings, Person had gone two-for-two (two homers) with a walk in three plate appearances, scoring three runs and driving in seven. Not a bad day for a moundsman. (Person, by the way, hit .117-4-16 over nine MLB seasons … 251 plate appearances. As a pitcher, he was 51-42, 4.64 for the Mets, Blue Jays, Phillies and Red Sox.)
Well, as usual, one thing led to another and I got to thinking about pitchers with multi-homer games. Turns out they are a bit rare (but not unicorn rare). There have been 72 documented two-homer games by pitchers – delivered by 59 different hurlers. (No pitcher has ever had a regular-season three-homer game.) Well, 59 is (as noted earlier) not unicorn territory, do I decided to pare it down and look at pitchers with multiple two-homer games at the plate. There were nine. Now, we were getting somewhere.
Still, I was looking a little bit rarer air. So, I made one more cut – paring down to pitchers with multiple two-homer games in the same season. That got me to a manageable five. The pitchers with two two-homer games in a season are:
- Wes Ferrell, 1934 Red Sox;
- Don Newcombe, 1955 Dodgers;
- Jack Harshman, 1958 Orioles;
- Dick Donovan, 1962 Indians;
- Tony Cloninger, 1966 Braves; and
- Rick Wise, 1971 Phillies
Here a few Tidbits about these five moundsmen, in the order in which they piqued my interest.
Rick Wise, RHP, 1971 Phillies
Wise tops my list because, in the first of his two 1971 two-homer games (June 23), he also pitched a no-hitter, shutting down the Reds (no hits, one walk, three strikeouts) 4-0 in Cincinnati. In the game, Wise went two-for-four, with the two long balls, two runs scored and three RBI. That gives Wise unicorn status as the only MLB pitcher to pitch a no-hitter and hit TWO home runs in the same game. His homers came in the second inning (two-run) and eighth (solo). Accounting for three of the Orioles’ four runs.
Wise’s second two-homer game of the season came on August 28, in a 7-3 over the Giants in Philadelphia. Wise went two-for-three, with two homers and five RBI in that one. Those blasts came in fifth inning, a solo shot giving the Phillies a 3-2 lead and in the seventh (a Grand Slam) breaking a 3-3 tie. Wise gave up a more mundane three runs (two earned) in the complete game (eight hits, two walks and eleven strikeouts).
Wise finished 1971 at 17-14, 2.88, with 17 complete games and four shutouts in 35 starts; and .237-6-15 at the plate.
In 18 MLB seasons (1964, 1966-82 … Phillies, Cardinals, Red Sox, Indians, Padres) as a moundsman, Wise (a two-time All Star) went 188-181, 3.69 in 506 games (455 starts), with 138 complete games and 30 shutouts. He won 15 or more games in five seasons. As a hitter, he went .195-15-66. He hit at least one homer in six seasons, with a high of six in 1971 (when he also saw his career high in RBI with 15).
Tony Cloninger, RHP, 1966 Braves
Close call here. Cloninger came close to pushing Wise off the top of this list, but that no-hitter was a bright and shiny distraction. Cloninger had two two-homer games with the Braves in 1966, and they were both laughers (Braves winning by scores of 17-1 and 17-3). In the second of those games, Cloninger made unicorn status, as both of his homers were Grand Slams – making him then (and still) the only MLB pitcher with two Grand Slams in a game. In the July 3, 1966 17-3 win over the Giants in San Francisco, Cloninger went three-for-five, with two runs scored and nine RBI (the MLB record for RBI in a game by a pitcher). In addition to the two Grand Slams, he had an RBI single. On the mound, he went the distance, giving up three runs on seven hits (two walks, five strikeouts).
In his first two-homer game of the season (June 6), he had a less unicorn-like three-for-five with two runs scored and two RBI in a 17-1 win over the Mets (in Atlanta).
In 1966, Cloninger went 14-11, 4.12 with 11 complete games and one shutout on the mound (39 appearances/38 starts). At the plate, he was .234-5-23, with career highs in homers and RBI.
In 12 MLB seasons (1961-72 … Braves, Reds, Cardinals), Cloninger went 113-97, 4.07 on the mound, with 352 appearances (247 starts), 63 complete games and 13 shutouts. As a hitter he went .192-11-67. He had his best season as a pitcher in 1965, 24-11, 3.29 in the Braves’ last season in Milwaukee. Side note: After retirement from MLB, Cloninger went on to become and All-World Slo-pitch Softball third baseman. For more on his career, click here.
A Little Diversion
The first documented regular-seasons two-homer game by a pitcher belongs to none other than Cy Young (April 20, 1984). The most recent? You can guess it. Shohei Ohtani (June 27, 2023). Ohtani also has a three-homer game as a pitcher in the post-season (Game Four of the 2025 National League Championship Series).
Wes Ferrell, RHP, 1934 Red Sox
Photo: The Sporting News Archives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ferrell, who pitched in 15 MLB seasons (1927-41 … Indians, Red Sox, Nationals, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves) holds the all-time record for home runs in a season by a pitcher (9) and in a career by a pitcher (37) … he also had one as a pinch hitter). He homered in ten of his fifteen seasons and, between 1931 and 1936, hit .289-34-147 over 334 games. He also holds the record for most multi-homer games as a pitcher at five. He is a unicorn.
His first two-homer game of 1934 came in a July 13 7-2 win over the Browns in Saint Louis. Ferrell went three-for-four with: a leadoff homer in the third to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead; a three-run homer in the fifth; was retired in the sixth; and laid down a sacrifice bunt in the eighth. His second two-homer game of 1934 came on August 22, in a 10-inning 3-2 over the White Sox (in Boston). Ferrell went two-for-three (a pair of solo homers) with a walk in that one. His second long ball of the game was a walk-off, game winner with two out in the tenth. In his ten frames on the mound, he gave up two runs (one earned) on seven hits (one walk, five strikeouts).
In 1934, Ferrell was 14-5, 3.63 on the mound (26 games/23 starts, 17 complete games and three shutouts) – and .284-4-17 at the plate. For his career, he was 192-128, 4.04 on the mound (374 appearances/323 starts, 227 complete games, 17 shutouts) – and .280-38-208 at the plate. (Yes, you read that right 34 more complete games than victories.) He was a six-time 20+ game winner and led his league in complete games four times and innings pitched three times. As a hitter, he had four seasons of five or more homers and five seasons of 20 or more RBI.
Jack Harshman, LHP, 1958 Orioles
Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
As you might imagine, a lot of these pitcher’s multi-homer games were blowouts. In Hartman’s case, his dingers were crucial to a pair of one-run wins for his Orioles: 6-5 over the White Sox on July 16, 1958 and 3-2 over the Nationals on September 23.
In the first game, Harshman’s first homer (solo) came with the Orioles trailing 3-0 in the third inning. His second homer, a three-run shot in the sixth gave Baltimore a 6-5 lead (the final score of the game). He was two-for-three, with a walk and pitched a complete game (five runs – three earned – on nine hits and one walk, one strikeout).
In his second two-homer game of the season, Harshman went yard in the third to cut the Senators’ lead to 2-1 and he went deep again in the fifth to tie the game at two. Frosting on the cake: In his third, and final, plate appearance, Harshman hit an RBI double in the seventh to provide the winning run (and driving in all his team’s runs in the game). In this one, he again gave up nine hits (just two runs), but he walked none and fanned nine.
In 1958, Harshman went 12-15, 2.89 on the mound (34 appearances/29 starts, 17 complete games and three shutouts). As a hitter, he went .195-6-14.
Over his MLB career, Harshman went 69-65, 3.50 in 217 appearances (155 starts) over eight seasons (1952, 1954-1960 … Giants, White Sox, Orioles, Red Sox, Indians). He had 61 complete games and 12 shutouts. As a hitter, he was .179-21-65. Side note: Harshman first made it to the majors as a first baseman (14 games for the Giants in 1948 & 1950).
Don Newcombe, RHP,1955 Dodgers
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (image from a 1955 issue of Baseball Digest.)
Newcombe gets a little extra interest with three two-homer MLB games (two in 1955), second only to Wes Ferrell’s five career-two homer games. His first 1955 two-homer game came on April 14, in a 10-8 win over the rival Giants at the Polo Grounds. Newcombe hit a solo shot in the fourth to extend the Giants lead to 4-1 and added a two-run shot in the seventh to extend the lead to 10-3. For the game, he was two-for-four, with two runs scored and three RBI. On the mound, He got the win, but was roughed up for eight runs on 12 hits and two walks (three strikeouts) in seven innings.
His second two-homer game of the season came on May 30, in an 8-3 win over the Pirates. Newcombe singled in the first (and later scored); hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead; and added a solo shot in the six to extend the lead to 4-2. He grounded out in his last at bat in the eighth. On the mound, her went the distance, giving up 12 hits and two walks, but only three runs (he fanned nine).
In 1955, Newcombe went 20-5, 3.20 in 34 games (31 starts), with 17 complete games and one shutout. That season, he hit .359-7-23 (his career highs in homer and RBI).
As a pitcher “Newk” was 156-96, 3.58 over 12 seasons (1944-45 in the Negro Leagues, 1949-51 & 1954-60 … Dodgers, Reds, Indians). He had 308 starts in 362 appearances, with 148 complete games and 24 shutouts. The four-time All Star’s best season on the mound was 1956 (Dodgers), when he went 27-7, 3.06 and won both the Cy Young and MVP Awards. That season, he hit .234-2-16. Newcombe hit over .300 in four seasons and finished with a stat line of .270-15-110.
Dick Donovan, RHP, 1962 Indians
Donovan’s two two-homer games came in 1962 (for the Indians). His first two-homer game came on May 18 in a 9-2 win over the Tigers (in Cleveland). Donovan hit a solo homer in the third (to tie the game at one) and a second solo homer in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1. He was two-for three, with just the two homers in the contest. On the mound, he went the full nine innings (five hits, two runs, one walk, three strikeouts).
His second two-homer game of the season came on August 31 – in a 9-6 win over the Orioles in Cleveland. In that one, Donovan again had two solo homers (in four at bats this time) – one in the second, tying the game at 1-1; one in the third, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead. (Both homers were hit off future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. Donovan went the distance, giving up six runs on ten hits (one walk, five strikeouts).
The 1962 season was Donovan’s only 20-win season (20-10, 3.59) In 34 starts, he had 16 complete games and a league-topping five shutouts. At the plate, he went .180-4-9. Donovan pitched in 15 MLB seasons (1950-52, 1954-65 … Braves, Tigers, White Sox, Senators, Indians), going 122-99, 3.67 in 345 appearances (273 starts), with 101 complete games and 25 shutouts. As a hitter, he was .163-15-64.
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