On this date *May 27) in 1955, Red Sox rookie 1B Norm Zauchin had a rare – very rare – day at the plate. As the Red Sox prevailed 16-0 over the Nationals (in Boston), Zauchin smacked:
- a two-run home run in the first inning (off Bob Porterfield);
- A Grand Slam in the second frame (off Dean Stone);
- An RBI double in the fourth (off Ted Abernathy); and
- A three-run home run in the fifth (off Abernathy).
Five innings, three-homers and a double, ten RBI. (In his final at bat, Zauchin struck out versus Pedro Ramos.)
In the process, Zauchin set the MLB rookie record for RBI in a game (ten) – later tied by the Red Sox Fred Lynn (on June 18, 1975). That, by the way, was the season Lynn won both the American League’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable player Awards.
Norm Zauchin and Fred Lynn remain the only AL/NL rookies to record ten RBI in a game. Side note: Ten-RBI games are an MLB rarity, with just 15 games of ten or more RBI in the MLB record books. (Negro League game records from 1920-48 are no yet fully incorporate into the MLB record books.)
In his ten-RBI game, Zauchin also tied the rookie record for home runs in a game (three). Zauchin was the eighth AL/NL rookie to accomplish that feat. (The count is now 35. See the list at the 3end of this post.) Side Note: Ten-RBI games are a relatively rare MLB feat, with just 16 such games on the books (per Basebalk-Almanac.com). By contrast, there have been 24 MLB perfect games pitched and 18 players have launched four homers in a game. The single-game RBI record is 12, shared by two Cardinals: Jim Bottomley (1924) and Mark Whiten (1993).
Zauchin signed with the Red Sox as a teenager and, in 1948, the eighteen-year-old hit .353-33-138 for the Class D Milford Red Sox, leading heh league in home runs and RBI. By 1951, he had established himself as a run producer, having logged seasons of 100+ RBI at Class D; Double-A and Triple-A. His 1951 Triple-A (Louisville Colonels) season of .267-12-104 earned him a September call up to the Red Sox (just 12 games, keeping his rookie status intact).
In 1952, military service interrupted Zauchin’s professional career and he didn’t return to the Red Sox system until Spring Training 1954 (although he did play service ball while in the Army). Zauchin didn’t miss a beat on his return, hitting .289-18-118 at Triple-A in 1954.
In 1955, Zauchin was plying his trade for the Red Sox and he put up a .239-27-93 season. As a result of a combination of injuries, competition for the first base job and a low batting average (.233 in six MLB seasons with the Red Sox and Senators), 1955 proved to be Zauchin’s’ best season. In his remaining four MLB campaigns, he played in just 211 games, with 23 home runs and 66 RBI. Ultimately, in that 1955 season, Zauchin collected 54 percent of his career MLB homers and 58 percent of his career RBI.
Fred Lynn, of course, had a more successful MLB run – 17 Seasons, nine All Star Selections, and a .283-306-1,111 stat line. In his three-homer, ten-RBI rookie games, Lynn had five hits in six at bats – including a two-run homer in the first inning; a three-run homer in the second; a two-run triple in the third; a lineout in the fifth; a single in the eighth and a three-run homer in the ninth.
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com
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