Photo by THE Laura Smith 
Yesterday (April 5, 2019), the Diamondback’s Ketel Marte hit a pair of 400-foot+ home runs, as the Arizona squad belted five round trippers while drubbing the Red Sox 15-8. Marte scored two and drove in five in the game. What BBRT found noteworthy (or post-worthy) was the fact that, for the second time in his five-season career, the switch-hitting infielder hit home runs from both side of the plate in the same game. That prompted BBRT to look into the roster of players who have gone yard from both batters’ boxes in the same game.
It’s really not as rare an occurrence as you might think. It’s been done in the regular season a total of 330 times, and by 112 different players.
A LITTLE MORE OF A UNICORN
Only three players have homered from both sides of the plate in a post-season game.
Bernie Williams, Yankees ALDS Game Three (October 6, 1995
Bernie Williams, Yankees ALDS Game Four (October 5, 1996)
Chipper Jones, Braves NLDS Game Four (October 4, 2003)
Milton Bradley, A’s ALCS Game Two (October 10, 2006)
The first player to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game was Wally Schange of the Philadelphia Athletics on September 8, 1916.
The career record for homering from both sides of the plate in the same game is 14 – shared by Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher. Leaders among players homering from both side of the plate in the same game:
Mark Teixeira – 14 times
Nick Swisher – 14
Carlos Beltran – 12
Chili Davis – 11
Eddie Murray – 11
Tony Clark- 10
Ken Caminiti – 10
Mickey Mantle – 10
In 1996, the Padres’ Ken Caminiti hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game a record four times in a single season – three times in the month of August alone. Note: Caminiti also achieved the feat three times in a single month in September of 1995.
No team has had more instances of a player hitting long balls from both sides of the plate in a game than the Yankees – 56 times. Here are the perpetrators:
Mickey Mantle (10X)
Mark Teixeira (9X)
Bernie Williams (8X)
Jorge Posada (8X)
Roy White (5X)
Nick Swisher (5X)
Tom Tresh (3X)
Aaron Hicks (2X)
Roy Smalley
Ruben Sierra
Tony Clark
Melky Cabrera
Carlos Beltran
Neil Walker
BIG BOMBS IN THE BIG APPLE
From 1955-1965, a game in which a player homered from both sides of the plate occurred in the AL 14 times, with 13 of those being Yankees (Mickey Mantle 10, Tom Tresh 3).
The only non-Yankee to achieve the feat in the AL during that time span was the Red Sox’ Pumpsie Green (August 15, 1961). Green hit a total of just 13 home runs in his five-season MLB career. BBRT Note: Green achieved historic significance as the first African-American player for the Boston Red Sox – the last MLB team to break the color line (1959). In the 1955-65 time span, there were only three NL games which saw a player homer from both sides of the plate – two by the Cubs’ Ellis Burton, one by the Dodgers’ Maury Wills.
Only three players have hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same inning:
- Carlos Baerga, Indians (April 9, 1993);
- Mark Bellhorn, Cubs (August 29, 2002);
- Kendrys Morales, Angels (July 30, 2012).
SHARE IT AROUND
Carlos Beltran and Nick Swisher share the record for hitting a home run from both side of the plate in a single game for the most teams at five: Beltran – Mets, Cardinals, Royals, Astros, Yankees; Swisher – A’s, Yankees, White Sox, Indians, Braves.
Bonus chart
SWITCH HITTERS WITH AT LEAST 400 CAREER HOME RUNS
Mickey Mantle 536
Eddie Murray 504
Chipper Jones 468
Carlos Beltran 435
Mark Teixeira 409
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