Longest home run streaks to start a season
Posted by Andy on April 4, 2011
By now you've probably heard that there were a lot of home runs in some ballparks during the first weekend of the season.
Here are the 26 players since 1919 to homer in each of his team's first 3 games of the season:
| Rk | Player | Year ▾ | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nelson Cruz | 2011 | 3 | Ind. Games | 12 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .364 | .417 | 1.182 | 1.598 |
| 2 | Mark Teixeira | 2011 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | .333 | .429 | 1.083 | 1.512 |
| 3 | Ian Kinsler | 2011 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | .400 | .571 | 1.400 | 1.971 |
| 4 | Vernon Wells | 2010 | 3 | Ind. Games | 13 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | .600 | .692 | 1.800 | 2.492 |
| 5 | Brandon Inge | 2009 | 3 | Ind. Games | 12 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | .364 | .417 | 1.273 | 1.689 |
| 6 | Grady Sizemore | 2007 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | .429 | .467 | 1.071 | 1.538 |
| 7 | Lance Berkman | 2002 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | .462 | .533 | 1.154 | 1.687 |
| 8 | Gary Sheffield | 2002 | 3 | Ind. Games | 13 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .462 | .462 | 1.154 | 1.615 |
| 9 | Derrek Lee | 2002 | 3 | Ind. Games | 12 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | .364 | .417 | 1.273 | 1.689 |
| 10 | Chris Truby | 2001 | 3 | Ind. Games | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | .444 | .615 | 1.444 | 2.060 |
| 11 | Fernando Tatis | 1999 | 3 | Ind. Games | 13 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | .400 | .538 | 1.300 | 1.838 |
| 12 | Mark McGwire | 1998 | 3 | Ind. Games | 16 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 6 | .417 | .563 | 1.250 | 1.813 |
| 13 | Dean Palmer | 1992 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | .400 | .571 | 1.300 | 1.871 |
| 14 | Kevin Mitchell | 1991 | 3 | Ind. Games | 12 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | .400 | .500 | 1.300 | 1.800 |
| 15 | Mike Greenwell | 1989 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | .385 | .429 | 1.077 | 1.505 |
| 16 | Glenn Davis | 1988 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | .417 | .533 | 1.250 | 1.783 |
| 17 | Darryl Strawberry | 1987 | 3 | Ind. Games | 11 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 2 | .364 | .364 | 1.273 | 1.636 |
| 18 | Dave Winfield | 1983 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | .333 | .429 | 1.083 | 1.512 |
| 19 | Jim Wynn | 1974 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | .538 | .533 | 1.308 | 1.841 |
| 20 | Willie Mays | 1971 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 3 | .429 | .467 | 1.143 | 1.610 |
| 21 | Billy Williams | 1971 | 3 | Ind. Games | 13 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .400 | .538 | 1.300 | 1.838 |
| 22 | Frank Howard | 1969 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 | .357 | .357 | 1.214 | 1.571 |
| 23 | Frank Robinson | 1966 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | .333 | .467 | 1.083 | 1.550 |
| 24 | Carl Furillo | 1955 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | .417 | .500 | 1.417 | 1.917 |
| 25 | Bobby Doerr | 1941 | 3 | Ind. Games | 14 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 0 | .545 | .643 | 1.636 | 2.279 |
| 26 | Bob Johnson | 1937 | 3 | Ind. Games | 15 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | .500 | .667 | 1.500 | 2.167 |
Mark Teixeira, Nelson Cruz, and Ian Kinsler all joined the club this year.
Amazingly, there was one other occasion, in 2002, when 3 guys did it as well.
The record is homers in the first4 games, done twice:
| Rk | Player | Year | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark McGwire | 1998 | 4 | Ind. Games | 21 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .438 | .571 | 1.250 | 1.821 |
| 2 | Willie Mays | 1971 | 4 | Ind. Games | 20 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 4 | .389 | .450 | 1.111 | 1.561 |
Oh wow...1998....we all know what happened that year. That was the year Barry Bonds became super-jealous of Mark McGwire (allegedly).
So the 3 active guys above all have a shot of tying this record in their next game.
April 4th, 2011 at 10:15 am
Cruz and Kinsler were the first teammates to do it. They are also the second and third (Frank Robinson being the first) to have just 3 RBIs. That obviously means they each hit 3 solo blasts. It is possible some other guys here also hit only solo shots but recorded RBIs in other ways, though we'd have to go through all the individual game logs to sort that out.
April 4th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Kind of a last hurrah for Mays, who turned 40 that year and hit just 15 more after that outburst. The next year, he'd be dealt to the Mets, and as anyone who saw him in 1972 and 1973 knows, those final two years weren't pretty.
April 4th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Mays in fact homered in his first four games that season. It's amazing how his decline happened almost exactly at the age of 40. He turned 40 on May 6th of 1971. From Opening Day through the games of May 10th, Mays hit .387-7-23 in 27 games. From May 11th on, .238-11-38 in 109 games.
April 4th, 2011 at 10:40 am
Well, although Mays didn't hit a lot of homers that year he still led the league in OBP and had his most walks in a season.
April 4th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I have to say, for a stat that's a little bit random and fluky that's an awfully impressive list of players.
April 4th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
and now Chris Truby can go back into obscurity for another year...
April 4th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
It's too bad Mike Napoli didn't get an AB in Saturday's game. The Rangers could have had 3 in 2011.
April 4th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I think when assessing Bond's jealousy, we, as Saber-heads, owe it to ourselves and the general public to quantify Bond's emotional states into numeric values that are fair to both abstract feelings, such as envy - and the context in which he allegedly feels them. Also add park effect. So I'd change "SUPER-JEALOUS" to ENVY+178.
April 4th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Cruz extends it to 4.
April 5th, 2011 at 9:20 am
Willie Mays hit quite well when he joined the Mets in 1972--.267, but it was a good .267, with some power and an OBP over .400. Nobody would have called it a sad ending if he had quit then. It was 1973 when he really didn't have it anymore.
April 5th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
@4.
Mays led the league in OBP in '71, primarily on the strength of a league-leading 112 walks. This was a career high for Mays (next highest mark of 81 in 1961), and represented better than one walk every 5 PAs. He had a similar walk rate in '72 with 60 BB in 309 PA. Aside from those two years, Mays' walk rate was about one every 9 PAs.
Seems like a cagey veteran adapting his game to still provide value even with declining skills. But, it stopped working in '73 as pitchers apparently started going after Mays, and instead of a walk rate of one every 5 PAs, it was Mays' K rate that reached that level with 47 Ks in only 239 PAs, compared to about one K for every 8 PAs for his career.
April 5th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
@5.
Absolutely echo your sentiment about the result of this query. Of 26 guys, only one (Chris Truby) of the never-heard-of or long-forgotten-about variety.
Cream evidently does rise to the top.
April 5th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
How could Chris Truby be long forgotten about on an Internet baseball site?
April 5th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I love this site, you always have cool stats like this. Side thought, I wonder how many should have asterisks that say *may have taken steriods