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David Ortiz never did it in his 20-season, 541-home run career. Hank Aaron (755 career home runs) accomplished the feat just once in 23 seasons, as did Frank Robinson (586 career home runs) in 21 seasons. Heck, even Babe Ruth (714 career dingers) only did it twice in 22 campaigns. And, these guys had nicknames like Big Papi, The Hammer, The Judge and The Sultan of Swat. I’m talking about going deep three times in a game – and, yesterday (lucky August 13), Markus “Mookie” Betts hit three home runs in a game for the sixth time in his career – tying the major -league record for three-blast contests.
Betts had his sixth three-homer night out of the leadoff spot, as his Dodgers topped the Padres 11-2 … and maybe there was a bit of retribution involved (he was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance of the game). Overall, Betts was four-for-four (he also had an infield single), with four runs scored and five driven in.
As you can see in the chart below, Betts got to his sixth three-homer game much more quickly than either of his predecessors (Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa). It clearly seems like this is a record likely to fall.
Through Yesterday, Betts had a career average of .302 (in 813 games), with 146 home runs, 485 RBI, 627 runs scored and 127 stolen bases. He is a four-time All Star, the 2018 AL Most Valuable player (when he won the batting title at .346, hit 32 home runs, drove in 80 and scored a league-topping 129 times). Overall, he scored 100+ runs in four of his first six seasons, drove in 100+ in two of those campaigns and hit.300+ twice.
Now, let take a look at some additional three-homer game tidbits.
- While no teenager has recorded an MLB three-homer game, two twenty-year-olds have done it. The Tigers’ Al Kaline (April 17, 1955) at 20 years-119 days and the Braves’ Eddie Mathews (September 27, 1952) at 20 years-350 days.
- Stan Musial is the oldest player to go deep three times in a game. He had his second (and final) career three-homer game on July 8, 1962 at 41 years-229 days old. Here’s a chart of those 40 or over to hit three long balls in a single contest.
- The White Sox’ Merv Conn0rs (three-homer game on September 17, 1938) hit the fewest career home runs of any player with a three-HR contest – eight. Connors played just 52 games for the White Sox in two MLB seasons (1937-38) – going .279 (46-for-165), with eight home runs and 25 RBI. At the time of his three-homer game, he was playing in his 38th MLB game and had hit a total of three home runs in the previous 37.
- Two father-son combos have each recorded three-homer games – Cecil Fielder (May 6 & June 6, 1990, April 16, 1996) and Prince Fielder (September 27, 2011) and Ken Griffey Sr. (July 22, 1986) and Ken Griffey Jr. (May 24, 1996, April 25, 1997).
- One grandfather-grandson combo has each recorded a three-homer game Carl Yastrzemski (May 19, 1976) and grandson Mike Yastrzemski (August 16, 2019).
Knock Three Times – Three Home Runs on Opening Day
The Opening Day, single-game record of three home runs is shared by four players – the Blue Jays’ George Bell, Cubs’ Tuffy Rhodes, Tigers’ Dmitri Young and White Sox’ Matt Davidson.
On April 4, 1988, George Bell – batting clean-up and serving as the DH – became the first major leaguer to hit three home runs in an Opening Day game, as his Blue Jays topped the Royals 5-3 in Kansas City. Bell went three-for-four with three runs scored and four RBI, hitting all three home runs off Royals’ starter Brett Saberhagen.
On a windy April 4, 1994, Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes (leading off and playing CF for the Cubs in Chicago) hit three solo shots off Mets’ starter Dwight Gooden. Rhodes also had a single and a walk in five plate appearances. Despite Rhodes’ record-tying performance, the Cubs lost to the visiting Mets 12-8. At the time, Rhodes had played 107 MLB games in four seasons – hitting a total of five home runs. His MLB career consisted of 225 games in six seasons, with a .224 average and just 13 round trippers (with a high of eight in 1994).
On April 4, 2005 the Tigers’ Dmitri Young joined Bell and Rhodes on the list of batters with three home runs in an Opening Day game – as the Tigers topped the Royals 11-2 in Detroit. Young started at DH and went four-for-four with four runs and five RBI. Young, an All Star in 2003 and 2007, hit a total of 21 home runs in 2005 – and 171 in 13 MLB seasons.
On March 29, 2018, as the White Sox topped the Royals 14-7 in Kansas City, DH and (appropriately) cleanup hitter Matt Davidson opened the season with a three-homer, five-RBI game. He went three-for-four with a walk, four runs scored and five RBI. Davidson, in his fourth MLB season, went on to a .228-20-62 campaign. In his 273 MLB games (2013, 1015-18), Davidson has just three multi-homer contests. and a total of 49 round trippers.
- Babe Ruth is the only player to twice hit three-homers in a World Series game. Ruth accomplished the feat in the 1926 (Game Four) and 1928 (Game Four) Series. Additional players with a three-HR World Series game include Reggie Jackson in the 1977 Series (Game Six); Albert Pujols in the 2011 Series (Game Three); and Pablo Sandoval in the 2012 Series (Game One).
- Two pitchers have hit three home runs in a game. On August 15, 1986, Guy Hecker of the American Association (considered a major league) Louisville Colonels collected three singles and three home runs in a 22-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles. In a May 13, 1942 game against the Cubs, the Boston Braves’ Jim Tobin flied out to deep right field in the third inning; homered to lead off the fifth; homered again to lead off the seventh; and hit a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth (to break a 4-4 tie in a game the Braves won 6-5).
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; MLB.com
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