Four hitters in the same game with 2500+ career hits
Posted by Andy on April 17, 2011
On a recent post, some readers got into an interesting discussion about whether there has ever been a major-league game with 4 batters each having at least 2,500 career hits.
It would've happened this year when the Rays faced the Yankees, before Manny Ramirez 'retired'. He would have joined Jeter, A-rod, and Damon.
Reader Doug N writes in with the following gems:
In your Blog posting last week about the Rays not hitting, quite a discussion got going on the topic of players in a game having 2500+ hits.
The consensus view at that time was that this had probably not happened since 1927 in As/Senators games of that year. In fact, though, this occurred in two games just last year, involving Jeter, ARod, Manny and Garret Anderson.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN201006260.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN201006270.shtml
I suspect this may be of interest to Dukeofflatbush, DavidRF and others, if you have a way to pass this on.
Nice finds by Doug. Then, he wrote back to add the following:
Some other really close calls.
The Orioles acquired Harold Baines from the White Sox July 29, 1997. The Angels acquired Rickey Henderson from the Padres Aug 13, 1997. Both Baines and Henderson had reached the 2500 hit mark shortly before being traded. After the Henderson trade, the Angels then released Eddie Murray the next day, Aug 14. The Angels and the Orioles played Aug 8-10, and again Aug 16-18. Had Murray stayed a few more days, or Henderson arrived a few days earlier, then Murray, Henderson, Ripken and Baines would have been in uniform for one (or both) of the Angels/Orioles series.
Texas and the Yankees played Aug 27-29, 2009. The Rangers had Omar Vizquel and Ivan Rodriquez, and the Yankees had Jeter and A-Rod. Alex picked up 4 hits in the series to bring his career total to (alas) 2,494, just shy of the milestone. It was the last meeting of the season for the two teams.
The oddest set of 2500 hit teammates? Personal taste, of course, but I'll go with Babe Ruth and Rabbit Maranville. The appeared together in 3 games including this one, where each both played in the field and reached base safely.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN193505090.shtml
Thanks to Doug and all the other readers for researching this--a very interesting question.
Now who can guess when it will happen next?
April 17th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
It's easy understandable why the Yankee-Dodger games from last year didn't leap right out, beyond the fact that our minds probably aren't quite conditioned to think of these two teams playing each other during the regular season.
Both Manny and Anderson were only barely over 2,500 hits, and more importantly, Anderson was almost a forgotten man, not starting and appearing in both games as a PHer.
April 17th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Ah... I was foiled by interleague play. Kudos to Doug N.
April 17th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
The first set of 2500H teammates was Wagner/Clarke from 1911-15.
Delahanty/Ryan came close for the 1903 Senators. Ryan reached the milestone late in the season but that was after Delahanty wandered off the train and fell into the Niagara river and got swept over the falls. So close!
Wagner/Clarke - 1911-15
Cobb/Collins/Wheat - 1927
Cobb/Collins/Speaker - 1928
Hornsby/Frisch -1933
Maranville/Ruth - 1935
Simmons/Goslin - 1936/1938 (two teams)
Waner/Manush - 1938-39
FRobinson/Pinson - 1973
Perez/Yastrzemski - 1982
Rose/Perez - 1983-86 (two teams)
Buckner/Brett - 1989
Yount/Parker - 1990
Parker/Winfield - 1991
Winfield/Murray - 1995
Ripken/Murray - 1996
Gwynn/Henderson - 1997, 2001
Murray/Henderson - 1997
Baines/Ripken - 1998-2000
Raines/Ripken - 2001
Bonds/Finley - 2006
Bonds/Vizquel - 2007
IRod/Sheffield - 2008*
IRod/Jeter - 2008*
Jeter/ARod - 2009-present
Vizquel/IRod - 2009
GAnderson/Ramirez - 2010
Vizquel/Ramirez - 2010
*I'm not quite sure about the IRod/Jeter/Sheffield trio there because Pudge was traded in midseason. I'll leave it on the list for now.
April 17th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
I originally sent this in before the Manny debacle, but have since looked and due to free agency, players traded at the deadline, players traded toward the end of their careers due to sentimental reasons (Raines going to the Orioles to play with his son/or a player going to his old team to retire as a member of their old organization) and interleague play, this is much more common then I thought. I just found a Brave/Yankee game from 2009 that featured Anderson/Jones & A-Rod/Jeter and a 2400 Johnny Damon.
April 17th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
In my original message about the pairing I also mentioned that Manny and company would also have some pretty hefty counting stats all around, including all 4 players having over 1,500 R.
Then there would be the fact that (in Descending order) A-Rod, Manny, Tex, Posada, Jeter, Damon, would all be over 200 HRs. That has to be a record!
April 17th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
@5
The lower you set the bar, the easier it is to surpass it.200 HRs is not what it used to be. Six is not that many. You could get that with a Tiger/RedSox game way back in late 1973:
Cash - 370
Howard - 382
Horton - 208
Kaline - 386
Cepeda - 378
Yaz - 288
April 17th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Very interesting list there, #3. Cool that 2 DIFFERENT sets of guys did it with 2 separate teams. And I had a funny feeling I would see Vada Pinson's name there somewhere. But no , Staub, Palmiero, Oliver, or Sam Rice. Hmm!
April 17th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
David RF
I know what you mean. It is just Manny and A-Rod would tip those #s so high on the average, but not anymore...
In a related note; on my first trip to Cooperstown I saw a certificate that was issued to MLBers that passed 200 HRs. I think the one I saw was for Hack Wilson. And I remember thinking, "200 HRs?!?" so what."
April 17th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I'm looking for 7 in a game. There are many instances of 4 and even 5 on a team in the past 10-15 years but its really hard to get seven guys to all be in the lineup on a given day. Seems like someone always has the day off. 🙂
April 17th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Here is 7:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI200507060.shtml
Edmonds, Walker, Rolen, Sanders, LGonzalez, Glaus, Green.
Looking at the box, I think Tony Clark makes it 8. Huh... must be a bug in my script somewhere. I don't know why Tony C isn't on my list of possibles. That's where Doug N helps! 😉
I'm just looking for single games right now. I'm not trying to be rigorous. It wouldn't shock me if more 8's or even a 9 was found.
April 17th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
I found my bug. I some leftover 300's from a previous look at 300HR guys. They're all 200s now.
Here's 9:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA201009240.shtml
ARod, Jeter, Posada, Berkman, Teixeira, Lowell, Ortiz, Drew, Beltre ... with Cameron on the DL
April 17th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I'll leave the quest for double-digits up to others. My searches can look for season-ending totals for teammates but not who is playing in the individual games. The Yankees had several teams between 2003-2008 with 6 or 7 200 HR guys on the roster. The Dodgers and Mets also had years of 6. Many other teams had 4 during this era but I don't have the tools for hunting down individual games. The Yankees have a penchant for trading for a big bat after another bat went on the DL.
April 17th, 2011 at 5:48 pm
@4, Duke. If it was in 2009, then Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson would have both just been under 2500 hits, or are you sorting by a lower number? I might have missed something in the posts.
April 17th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
This kind of reminds of those 1980 Red Sox. That was a team that 6 players go on to hit 300+ career HR: Yaz, Lynn, Perez, Evans, Fisk and Rice.
There were two games that season that had all six Red Sox players plus Lance Parish (4/14/80), George Brett (5/13/80).
I would think that 7 players in a pre-steroids era (1994) game with a present of future career of 300+HR to be pretty rare.
April 17th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
When will it happen next? If it happens again within, say, the next 3 years, then I'm betting on it involving the Yankees - I don't see Jeter or ARod going anywhere.
The way guys move around nowadays, it really could involve almost anyone. Vizquel or IRod might be defensive insurance for a team with post-season aspirations, or Vlad a potent bat for the same reason (I don't see Jones moving from the Braves - he'll be a lifer, a la Jeter and Ripken). If two of them ended up together later this year, a subsequent game with the Yanks could be the next time.
Also, don't forget Ichiro. Will he hang around forever with a Mariners team going nowhere? The Ms might trade him, out of respect for his loyalty and to give him a shot at a championship before he retires. If he ended up with the Yankees in a couple of years, you could see a whole whack of these games.
Fun to speculate.
April 17th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
@14
You guys keep changing the search rules. OK. Members of the 300HR club at any point in their career. The earliest I could come up with 7 would be Giants-Cubs games of 1964. Snider, Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Santo, Williams, Banks.
Here's one example:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN196409272.shtml
I'll see how many more than 7 I can find.
April 17th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
@3 and 2500-hit teammates
Re: "IRod/Sheffield - 2008*, IRod/Jeter - 2008*
*I'm not quite sure about the IRod/Jeter/Sheffield trio there because Pudge was traded in midseason. I'll leave it on the list for now."
Both of these pairs are good matches as IRod started the season in Detroit with Sheffield and finished in New York with Jeter (who got 2500 on Aug 22). But, there is no Irod/Sheffield/Jeter trio. Sheffield didn't get to 2500 until after he last played for the Yanks (or maybe you were meaning something else by "trio"?)
Also, one more for the list: Damon/Ramirez - 2011
April 17th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
@14,16
Earliest I could come up with 8 is a Giants-Reds game in late 1961
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197109240.shtml
Mays, McCovey, Kingman, Bonds, May, Perez, Bench, Foster
April 17th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
@18
This will make the Red Sox fans happy. The earliest 9-300HR game I could find would be Red Sox/Tiger games from 1973:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197304160.shtml
Cepeda, Fisk, Yaz, Evans, Smith, Howard, Horton, Cash, Kaline.
April 17th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Its not until the 90s/00s for double digits (if any). There are some possibilties with late-90s Indians/Mariners Braves/Rockies or some early 00s Yankees/Cardinals, but they all involve part time players all getting into the same game. I don't know how to track all those down.
April 17th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Most 2500+ hit guys active in the same season? It's 8 guys, on a few occasions:
1976 - Aaron, FRobinson, BRobinson, Billy Williams, Rose, Brock, Yaz, Willie Davis
2007 - Bonds, Biggio, Franco, Finley, Vizquel, Griffey, Sheffield, Gonzalez
2010 - Vizquel, Griffey, Jeter, ARod, IRod, GAnderson, Damon, Ramirez
2011 - Vizquel, Jeter, ARod, IRod, Damon, Ramirez, Jones, Vlad (probably)
Guys are playing longer now, and it shows !
April 18th, 2011 at 12:56 am
@18, David RF,
Great research!
You know what's even more crazy is that Foster was traded by the Giants during the '71 season. Foster for Frank Duffy?? What a horrible trade! That's one of those lopsided trades that you never hear about but you should.
Then the Giants traded Duffy WITH Gaylord Perry for Sam McDowell.
The Giants made some terrible trades during the 70's.
April 18th, 2011 at 2:57 am
As far as Home Runs are concerned, a good place to look has to be that 1995 Cleveland team.
Eddie Murray
Dave Winfield
Jim Thome
Albert Belle
Manny Ramirez
Jeromy Burnitz 315 eventual career home runs and being used as a pinch runner on this team!
April 18th, 2011 at 4:28 am
@23
Good thought, Thomas, about the '95 Tribe. Unfortunately, Burnitz appeared in only 9 games, and Winfield only 46. However, this game did feature all six of their 300 HR club members.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199509280.shtml
I guessed that, if the stars we're aligned, there might be 10 in a Mariners game that year with Griffey, Martinez, Buhner and ARod for the Ms. But, Murray missed most of July (when 8 of just 9 Ms/Tribe games were played), and Griffey also missed those games with a long stint on the IL that year. Bottom line, it didn't happen - most I could find was 7 (4 Indians and 3 Mariners) in 3 of their games.
Will keep looking for the magic 10.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Brian Giles was on that '95 Indians team too, and he finished with 287 home runs.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Here's an interesting HR story.
The 1996 Orioles had 9 players on their team with 200+ career HR: Ripken, Palmeiro, Alomar, Murray, Bonilla, Surhoff, B. Anderson, Zeille, and Incaviglia. They spent most of September and part of August of that year with (8) 200+ HR guys in their lineup.
On September 19th 1996, they played the Yankees who had (6) 200+ HR guys in their line-up: T. Martinez, Fielder, O'neil, B. Williams, Strawberry and Jeter.
Incaviglia started the game but Surhoff pinch-hit for him in the 9th so there were (15) 200+ HR guys who played in that game.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:52 am
@26,
My bad on that one, Surhoff only had 184 HR. So that's 14 players with 200+hr on 9/19/96
April 18th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Back to 4 guys with 2500 hits.
Manny, ARod and Jeter almost pulled off the trick a second time last year.
The White Sox (with Omar Vizquel) claimed Manny off of waivers on Aug 30. That was one day after the Sox last game of the year with the Yanks.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
In 1971, you had some big HR names winding down their careers in the NL. Aaron, Mays, Banks; whom all had a teammate with at least 300 HR. Aaron/Cepeda- 992. Banks/Williams/Santo- 1121. Mays/McCovey- 1016.
I think the Aaron/Mays/McCovey/Cepedea - 2008 HRs is the record, although the 4 players only played in the same game together towards the beginning of the season, despite having a few Sept games, so it is likely the # was in the high 1,900's and not 2,000.
Still impressive.
April 18th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Going back to 2500 hits, the 1980 Rangers were an unlikely team to have 3 players that would eventually get 2500 hits: Oliver, Staub and Bell.
They played the Red Sox on 4/19/80 and Yaz & Tony Perez were in the lineup, so that's 5 players with 2500 hits in one game.
On 8/22/80 The Rangers played the Brewers with Yount & Molitor. So that's another game with 5 players with 2500 hits.
April 18th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
I found 4 occasions in 1983 where 6 players with 2500 career hits played in the same game.
Expos vs. Phillies: 5/6/83, 6/20/83, 6/21/83, 6/28/83.
Expos 2500+ hitters:
Oliver
Raines
Dawson
Phillies 2500+ hitters:
Rose
Morgan
Perez
April 18th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
@31
That's a different question. The original question pertained to players who had already reached the milestone. That's OK, just clarifying that point before we go ahead with the new parameters.
You could possibly get 6 2500+ players in the same game as early as Phillies/Giants games of 1897. The Phillies had Delahanty, Lajoie and Cross while the Giants had Davis, Beckley and Van Haltren.
April 18th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
@31,@32
The 1927 A's had 5 current-or-future 2500 H players. Cobb, Collins, Wheat, Simmons and Foxx. There are possibilities for as many as eight when they played the Tigers (Heilmann, Manush, Gehringer) or Senators (Speaker, Goslin, Rice).
In 1928 there were similar possibilities: The A's had 5: Cobb, Collins, Speaker, Simmons, Foxx while the Senators had 3: Sisler, Rice, Goslin.
I'm at work so I don't have time to chase down box scores.
April 18th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
@32 David RF,
Yeah, I knew I wasn't answering the exact question but I thought the fact that there were 6 players in the same game that would eventually get 2500+ hits kind of interesting.
The Expos had 3 seasons in a row of 3 players playing at the same time that would eventually get 2500 hits:
'82: Oliver, Raines and Dawson
'83: Oliver, Raines and Dawson
'84: Rose, Raines and Dawson
The 1979 Expos had 4 players eventually get 2500 hits and on two occasions, 9/16/79 and 9/29/79, all four played in the same game:
Perez
Dawson
Staub
Raines
April 18th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Yup. Just clarifying for the other readers. There were a few 4-count teams in the 90s but I couldn't find two of them active at the same time. CLE/BAL both had four in 1996 and 1998 but both cases involve a player shared due to a mid-season trade (Murray in 1996 and Alomar in 1998).
April 18th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Here's a 1996 Ms/Tribe game with 9 guys in the 300 HR club.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE199606050.shtml
Murray, Belle, Ramirez, Thome, Burnitz, Griffey, ARod, Martinez, Buhner
I think that's the best we can do for Ms/Indians from the late 90s. But the 300 HR hitters who passed through Cleveland at this time was incredible: in addition to above there was Jeff Kent, Matt Williams, Cecil Fielder, David Justice, Richie Sexson, and Harold Baines, if only briefly in many cases.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
@ Dukeofflatbush
The last game with Aaron, Mays, McCovey and Cepeda together was May 9, 1971. It included a Mays homer.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN197105091.shtml
Through that game, HR totals were 347 (Cepeda), 357 (McCovey), 604 (Aaron) and 635 (Mays). Total of 1943.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:13 am
@Doug 36 & 37,
Good research!
I was always fascinated by that '71 Giants team. they won 90 games and won the Western division that year. It really looked like they were going to be a power house team in the 70's but they made a series of bad trades.
They had one player end up with 600+ HR (Mays), another with 500+ (McCovey), another with 400+ (Kingman), and two other players with 300+ (Bonds & Foster). Plus they had Gary Mathews & Gary Maddox in the minors and Two HOF pitchers in Marichal and Perry.
What's amazing is that by 1975, the only player still on the Giants out of those nine players was Gary Mathews and he would be gone by '77.