The Baseball Medal of Conor
Posted: April 30th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball | 60 Comments »
Awesome, awesome cycle factoid brought to us by brilliant reader Lance … not sure how we missed it last year.
On April 18, 2008, Conor Jackson led off with a triple against the great Greg Maddux.
Next time up, he homered off Maddux. So, now, he HAD to be thinking cycle.
Next time up, he singled off Maddux. So here it was, he only needed the double for the cycle. Seriously, how often is Conor Jackson going to hit for the cycle in his career?
Fourth time up, facing Maddux one more time, he hit a long fly ball to center. Understand, the Diamondbacks were already leading 7-0 — and the hit scored another run so really the score was 8-0 — and Conor Jackson tore around the bases. He got to second base and … he kept going. And he got his second triple of the game.
“Yeah, I thought about it,” Jackson told reporters afterward as quoted in the Arizona Republic. “I’m not going to lie — of course it crossed my mind. But one out and a runner on third is pretty appealing, I think, for Mark Reynolds.”
Now, THAT GUY is either the world’s greatest team player or, well, something. To give up the cycle when up 8-0 so you could give Mark Reynolds a sac fly situation … man, I hope Reynolds has a photo of Conor Jackson on his mantle.
Lance wondered if this combination has ever happened before. Well, that’s the fascinating part. It has happened … three other times since 1954.
In 2003, Dmitri Young had a preposterous game against the Orioles. He hit a homer his first at-bat. Then a triple. Then another home run. Then a single. And in his last at-bat in the ninth, he crushed a long ball to left off of Buddy Groom … he had a chance for THE GRAND CYCLE — single, double, triple, two home runs. But, like Conor Jackson, he too ran right past second, slid into third, for a five-for-five game, single, two triples, two homers.
The difference there is that the game was close … the Tigers won that game 7-6. “It crossed my mind, but since the game was close my individual accomplishment took a back seat,” Young said then.
In September 1962, Eddie Mathews led off with a home run against PIttsburgh’s Bob Friend. He then hit a triple. So same situation as Conor Jackson — he had to be thinking the cycle. He then singled — so all he needed was the double. After hitting into a double play in the sixth, he came up once more in the eighth and tripled off of Vern Law. The Braves were ahead 10-2, so this was a lot like the Conor Jackson game. The funny thing about this game is that in the news reports the next day, Mathews wasn’t even the lead story. Hank Aaron hit two home runs and was the focus of the wire reports.
And finally, Willie Mays pulled off the Medal of Conor on May 13, 1958. And since he did it, maybe we should call it the Mays Medal. Willie Mays led off with a home run off of Los Angeles Dodgers great Don Newcombe. Two innings later, he hit another home run. Newcombe was pulled the next inning.
In the fourth, Mays tripled off of Fred Kipp. So he had the Cycle lined up. Then he singled and stole second base off Eddie Roebuck (though he was caught trying to steal third).
Then he walked off a young pitcher with a familiar name … Sandy Koufax. Man, this game was EPIC. And finally, in the eighth inning, facing Danny McDevitt, Mays hit a long fly ball to center field, a sure double, only he was Willie Mays and so he made it into a triple.
I cannot find any quotes from Mays about why he didn’t stop for the double, but I can imagine what he would have said. In one game, he had a walk, single, two triples, two homers and a stole base. And he was on some kind of streak at that point. The papers put up a chart of the three games he had leading into that one — Mays had hit 12 of 17 with 7 homers in four games.
“I didn’t change anything,” Mays said. “I just started to hit.”
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I’m first… I guess this is an honor or something? I think we need to get a Medal of Conor and a Billy Cycle plaque to hand out to players.
Not first
[...] Joe Posnanski created an interesting post today on The Baseball Medal of ConorHere’s a short outlineAwesome, awesome cycle factoid brought to us by brilliant reader Lance … not sure how we missed it last year. On April 18, 2008, Conor Jackson led off with a triple against the great Greg Maddux. Next time up, he homered off Maddux. So, now, he HAD to be thinking cycle. Next time up, he singled off Maddux. So here it was, he only needed the double for the cycle. Seriously, how often is Conor Jackson going to hit for the cycle in his career? Fourth time up, facing Maddux one more ti [...]
The cycle is a weird accomplishment to highlight like “we” do. A game with 2 doubles and 2 homers is objectively better, and no one would mention it as the lead story on SportsCenter. It’s a terrific accomplishment, but I’d be happy if I never heard about it (or hit streaks) ever again.
Stephen Drew had a five-hit cycle last September, with a bonus double.
The thing that I hate hearing about is when a guy is “a triple shy of the cycle.” I looked it up after Carlos Zambrano was “a triple shy” of being the first pitcher to hit for the cycle on Tuesday night.
Since 2000 (as of Tuesday’s games):
Cycles: 41
1B shy of the cycle: 70
2B shy of the cycle: 217
HR shy of the cycle: 504
3B shy of the cycle: 2,540.
To put that into perspective, between the start of the 2000 season and the end of Tuesday’s games, 1,178 pitchers struck out ten men in a game. Not that striking out ten men is so common, but “coming a triple shy of the cycle!” is more than twice as likely to happen. It happens hundreds of times a year. Can we stop talking about it like it’s any kind of achievement, writers of game stories?
Last year, Dustin Pedroia had a pseudo cycle as well. He had a double, triple and HR, and then doubled in his final at bat. It was in the 8th and the double scored a run to put the Sox up 7-5.
Oh, and as of Tuesday night, there had already been 37 “triple-less cycles” in baseball this season, almost as many as there have been actual cycles since 2000. Mark DeRosa has already done it twice in three weeks of action. It’s not a story.
the cycle is the stupidest statistic in sports. i would rather have a guy hits 2 hr or 2 doubles. i hate hearing about it more than anything in sports.
[...] Joe Posnanski added an interesting post on The Baseball Medal of Conor » Joe PosnanskiHere’s a small excerpt30 Apr 2009 Baseball · Print This Post Comments 2. Awesome, awesome cycle factoid brought to us by brilliant reader Lance … not sure how we missed it last year. On April 18, 2008, Conor Jackson led off with a triple against the great … [...]
What we should be honoring is the number of total bases. A cycle comes out to 10 total bases, which is a nice, round number. Plus it’s high enough that no matter how you get there, it’s a good game. Then you could also say someone has hit a cycle-and-a-half at 15 TB. Or a double-cycle with 20, though that has yet to happen.
Agreeing with you a little bit, BigFlax, in this sense: The triple-less cycle is overrated, but it’s overrated because the cycle itself is overated.
And the reason it’s overrated is at the heart of this whole blog post. Because you can do something better, and be less celebrated! Just because the cycle is so rare does not at all mean that it’s the best possible outcome. What about all those single/double/2HR games–less rare then cycles, arguably less exciting (although I’d say not necessarily a one-sided argument), and definitely more valuable.
The other problem with cycles is that they include singles. Wouldn’t hitting three homers and striking out be better than going for the cycle in four trips? Or any combination of plate appearances netting more than 10 total bases?
I don’t get the bah-humbug attitudes about cycles. They are not the ultimate in single game performance; no one claimed they are. But they are a fun little amusement. Isn’t that what baseball is supposed to be? I’ll bet Buck O’Neill enjoyed them.
Building off of Sean (#11)’s point:
Why stop at 10 total bases of Greg Maddux? I mean, if you can get *MORE* than 10 bases off Greg Friggin’ Maddux IN A SINGLE GAME, you’ve *got* to go for it, right?
I mean, MORE THAN 10 BASES OFF GREG MADDUX IN A SINGLE GAME!!!!
GREG MADDUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
***************
But seriously, is there a way to find the best days anyone has had off of a single pitcher? Not career, just day.
And how many better days do you think anyone had hitting Maddux? Linking back to the previous posts of the the week, during their seven year primes, who do think gave up the best day to a hitter, Maddux or Pedro?
Mr. Grammar suggests that Willie Mays should have had a stolen base instead of “and a stole base.”
So I guess Steve Garvey’s great day (three doubles, two homers) counts as some sort of cycle. My poker background (I designed the last two computer games based on the World Series of Poker) says to call it a Full House, but given the number of cheap full houses possible (three singles, two doubles) makes me think more qualifiers are needed. Manny Ramirez had an interesting full house the other day, two walks, three doubles.
Willie Mays is/was the greatest ballplayer in my viewing lifetime. I started seeing and remembering games around 1959. His play in CF, his great baserunning and his consistent, strong hitting puts him in a league with no one else.
I should have added above that Willie Mays was the one baseball player that my mother (an Ohio farmgirl) would make a point to stop and watch on TV or go to Pittsburgh to see in person.
The truly preposterous thing is that Dmitri Young had two triples in the same game. The odds of that are much longer than him hitting for the cycle.
I am surprised no one mentioned Jeff Frye.
In 2001, Frye needed a single to hit for the cycle.
In his next at bat he pulled a ball into the LF corner and had two bases easily but stopped at first.
I’m guessing Conor Jackson learned to be a good teammate from his father, actor John M. Jackson, who has spent a respectable career as a Hollywood That Guy who is always more about the total product than his personal role in it. At least, that’s what I’d like to think.
Joe
There is one player that I know of who has “run” for the cycle instead of hitting for the cycle. Running for the cycle is getting thrown or tagged out while attempting to get a single, double, triple, and inside the park homerun. This the best triva question I know the answer to so I will not give it away but I will confirm it.
Remember, Joe, if these guys had gotten thrown out on the way to third, they’d have gotten credit for the double and therefore the cycle. And I have to believe that there was a solid chance that Young, at least, wasn’t going to make it to third.
I hate, hate, HATE the cycle. Most stupid, made-up pseudostatistic ever. As many others have pointed out, it should be about doing what’s best for the team. I wish ESPN would stop talking about it every time I hear someone hit for it.
I don’t mind tossing a bit of recognition in the direction of a player who hits for the cycle. It’s quirky and rare enough to merit at least a mention. It’s not worthy of a mention, but not deification as a truly great game.
Besides, there are other things in baseball that gain players a decent amount of fame when they’re not as impressive as others’ achievements. A.J. Burnett will go into the books as having thrown a no-hitter when he walked eight guys (I think) in that game. How many guys that season had one-hitters, or two-hitters, or even gave up seven singles with a dozen Ks and no walks? You never hear of them.
I do agree that the “triple shy of the cycle” talk has to stop, especially when you’re talking about some plodding Frank Thomas-type. I’d wager he (and most other power hitters) had more games in which they racked up a 1B-2B-HR than they had career triples. It’s worse than saying Juan Pierre’s a homer shy of the cycle.
@dlf #13 – There’s a famous Buck story documented in The Soul of Baseball about the best day in his life. He had a double, then a single, and then a home run. In the last at bat, he hit a fly ball that got past an outfielder. Rather than pull off a Billy Cycle with a single, double and 2HR, he stopped at third to get the cycle. So yeah, he liked the cycle all right.
And after the game, he met his future wife Ora.
Sorry, shouldn’t have included a “not” in the previous post. It’s (dele ‘not’) worthy of a mention, but…
I like the cycle too BECAUSE it is hard to do yet pretty meaningless, it’s just such a ‘baseball” kind of thing. As “overrated” it isn’t too far below a “triple double” in basketball….isn’t scoring 40 pts/9 rebounds/9 assists a far better game than 10 pts/10 reb/10 assists (which is a triple double)? I also like the “natural hat trick” and the “Gordie Howe hat trick” in hockey. What would the NFL equilvalent be? Scoring a touchdown running, passing, receiving and kicking a field goal and an extra point?
I don’t think the cycle was ever supposed to be a “statistic” of note. It was more like a triple play…an oddity, notable for its rarity without really saying much about the player who gets it.
It’s not really like a triple double…to get the cycle you just need to have some hitting skill, some power, and some luck. A 3d needs all around game, and indicates the presence of such.
Shark #27 –
And I guess you would call the NFL equivalent the “Paul Hornung”?
Shark – the NFL equivalent would have to be something odd and uncommon, and not necessarily linked to victory. Having one rush TD, one pass TD, and one caught TD is more like hitting three homers in a game, in that a touchdown is the maximum positive value of any football lay. And with specialization, it’s way too rare to have that guy also kicking the ball. (Maybe an old-schooler like Paul Hornung could pull it off, but it would be a long long shot.)
Maybe it’d be something like kicking an XP, a 30 yd FG, a 40 yd FG, and a 50 yd FG. (The PAT would take place from the 20 so that’s a nice bit of symmetry.) Or, something less amazing that three scores – a rush, reception, completed pass, and kick return all in the same game. (Probably not as common as we think, and just as random and relevant to who won the game as a cycle.) Or on defense, having an INT, a sack, a blocked pass, and a tackle, roughly equivalent to the HR-3b-2b-1b combo.
* NOT a forced fumble/fumble recovery… the idea is that it’s four different good plays. If fumbles and scoring and such were involved, you could get all four legs in one shot – a sack/forced fumble that one recovered oneself and return for six points. Awesome play – like a grand slam – but only one play, not four.
Not sure how 20-sided dice are involved with that theory, though I used to use 2 six and 2 eight siders for my homemade baseball game. (I had way too much time on my hands even then.)
PS – I have one of those WSoP games. Thank you, Richard Aronson. Well done, except unrealistic – unlike real life, I actually win every once in a while. I guess that’s to keep the player somewhat invested in the game… =)
What I am still waiting to see in a major league game is the “out cycle.” That means getting thrown out at all four bases in one game. My friend says he saw it once at a Durham Bulls game, but I am not sure I believe him.
I bet in the 1980s when teams were stealing bases like crazy, it probably wasn’t that rare to see a guy ground out, and get caught stealing second and third. But getting all four????
The other crazy part is that in order to make the “out cycle,” you need to reach base safely at least three times. So you actually have to have a successful game at the plate. Man, that would be cool. Unless, of course, it happened to a guy on my team.
It’s foggy but…my first ball game, Red Sox vs A’s at Fenway. It was ‘75 and Cecil Cooper was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. I remember him hitting a ball deep to the outfield—a sure triple!—and he tripped over second and got nailed at third. I looked for the game on retrosheet once and did find a game where that’s exactly what happened (thrown out at third, credited with a double). I always felt bad for him but the part that troubles me is did I remember it correctly. It was a long time ago and I was young. I’ve always wanted to know did he trip? Or was he just trying to stretch a double into a triple going for the cycle?
This is related to a topic that was covered a week ago, but I figured I might as well post it here. The Royals turned six double plays today against the Blue Jays. Although it wasn’t in consecutive innings, the Royals are the first team in the BR database in 1954-2009 to ground into and turn six double plays in a game in the same season!
@theSyndes3000 – From the Washington Post on August 30, 1975: “Cooper appeared to have an easy triple in a bid to hit for the cycle in the ninth. However, he tripped and fell flat after rounding second and was an easy out at third.” So apparently your memory after 34 years is still correct.
trivia answer:
Lou Piniella…..
and if it wasn’t Lou Piniella, it was definitely Joe Torre…
As far as “running” for the cycle goes, I know that Eric Young had a “stolen base cycle” for the Rockies back in the 1996. Against the Dodgers and Hideo Nomo (with Piazza behind the plate), he stole 2nd, 3rd, and home his first time on, then stole 2nd and 3rd his second time on, then stole 2nd his third time on. I believe he’s still tied for the all-time record for steals in a game.
I remember because I was at the game, and it was billed on Sportscenter as the “end of pitching as we know it.” Final: 16-15 Rockies. You had to love the pre-humidor Coors Field.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL199606300.shtml
The really great thing is, in September of that same season Nomo no-hit the Rockies at Coors.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL199609170.shtml
Lou Pinella was the answer to the triva question about running for the cycle. I remember reading about it when I was a kid in the “The Umpire Strikes Back” by Ron Luciano. I think Lou did it when he was playing for the Royals.
Yes, it was Lou Piniella who was thrown out for the cycle. I remember reading about it in Ron Luciano’s “The Umpire Strikes Back.” Luciano wrote that Lou Piniella was the worst baserunner of all time, and noted that Piniella did something unequaled in baseball history: “He ran for the cycle. In a single game he managed to get himself thrown out at every base.” It was when he was with Kansas City. After Piniella had been nailed at home, first, second and, finally, third, Luciano says the fans “cheered him off the field with a standing ovation.” I loved that story!
Against the Cubs (98% sure it was the Cubs) sometime in the 1986-88 region, Darryl Strawberry had the double/triple/HR going into his last at-bat. He lines the ball into the outfield, and as the Mets’ coach is yelling for him to stop, stretches his single into a double. Good for Darryl, too!
What I hate is hearing about the cycle. Most pointless thing in sports.
How often does a player get 4 hits in a game? Now take those players with at least 4 hits in a game and divide them into subcategories of all the possibilities.
4 singles/doubles/triples/or homers
3 of 1b/2b/3b/hr + 1 of something else (ex: 3 singles and a double or 3 homers a single, etc.)
2 and 2 combos
Now how often do each of those combos happen? Since 1954 (as far back as baseball references play index allowed me to go), there have been 15,379 games where hitters get 4 hits or more. That works out to 308 times a year. So about 1.5 players a day get 4 hits in a game.
Now let’s just look at straight up cycles since 1959 (at least 1 of each hit). 139 times it has happened.
4 hits or more without a single (better than cycle): Less than 77. I can’t know exactly without subscribing to Baseball Reference’s Play Index due to only 4 conditions I can set.
Here’s a better one. At least 4 hits with 2 doubles and 2 homers: 69 times
At least 4 hits with 2 triples: 94 times
At least 4 hits with 3 triples: 4 (Lance Johnson did it in 1995)
At least 4 hits, with 2 triples, 2 homers: 2
At least 4 hits, with 4 singles: 4,153
Yeah, it’s a nice game, but it’s like congratulating a QB for throwing 1, 10, 25, and 40 yard TDs.
It’s fun to note them, but they mean absolutely nothing.
To #14: “But seriously, is there a way to find the best days anyone has had off of a single pitcher? Not career, just day. ”
Great question, I’d love to know that too. Alex Rodriguez and his 3 HR, 9 RBIs off Bartolo Colon (he later added a single and a 10th RBI after Colon was out of the game…off Kevin Gregg in fact) springs to mind, and that was in the season that Colon actually won the Cy Young. Anyone got more?
I guess it’s not quite 3 HRs and 10 RBIs, but Fernando Tatis did hit 2 grand slams against Chan Ho Park–in ONE inning!
Can we name something after Fred Lynn for what he did in Detroit on June 18th, 1975? Homer in the first, homer in the second, triple in the third, single in the 8th, homer in the 9th. That’s single-triple-homer-homer-homer. He’s the only player in Retrosheet’s data back to 1954 with three homers and a triple in one game. I mean, if we’re going to name things after people, this one seems worthy.
Or how about Shawn Green’s infamous single-double-homer-homer-homer-homer game in 2002? We could call that a Green Hornet.
The cycle is overrated as an accomplishment. But it’s not overrated as a story. It’s a rare thing and it’s interesting, and so it is worthy of mention. (No-hitters happen more often than cycles).
Amen to everyone pleading with ESPN to stop telling us about guys who are a triple shy of the cycle, though. Total non-event.
Also, love to the reference to The Umpire Strikes Back by Ron Luciano. That was a really excellent baseball book. I read it sometime around 1985, I think. I didn’t remember the Lou Piniella story. I do remember a hilarious story he told about umpiring school though…guys practicing flipping off their masks in the hallway bumping into guys practicing taking off the old chest protector and tucking it away, bumping into guys walking up and down trying to work the count clicker with their pinkies (one dial of it anyway).
I think Ron’s line about the clicker was “I figured something that small had to be easy to handle and fun to play with. Many years later I would make the same mistake about Earl Weaver.”
And I remember he said Doug Harvey was the best he ever saw using the chest protecor. But he wound up in the NL where they had already gotten rid of the big chest protector.
There were a couple of baseball books from that 80s era that were really entertaining like that but seem to be totally forgotten now. The Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker was a hilarious one, and I remember enjoying Jay Johnstone’s book, though I can’t remember what it was called.
I’m with dlf [#13] on this. There seems to be an almost palpable hatred from some commenters about even hearing about a cycle. I don’t get it. I think it’s a cool little thing to happen. I haven’t heard anyone suggest (ever, anywhere, anytime) that a cycle is better that 2 HR 2triples or any other countless combination of things.
What’s wrong with people taking notice and some enjoyment out of seeing a cycle? It’s a nice little symmetrical kind of thing to happen. What’s the big deal? It makes me happy.
I never got one.
One question about the Conor Jackson/Greg Maddux game April 18, 2008….
What the nuts is Maddux doing still out on the mound, behind 7-0 and facing a guy who has already hit a homer, triple and single off of him in 3 previous at bats? Was the bullpen already out of gas 2 weeks into the season? Did the manager and/or pitching coach think it was 1944 and all his good arms were in another kind of uniform? That seems like very strange pitching/managerial strategy, no? Was he wearing a Dodger or Padre uniform for this game? Near the end I kind of wondered if Maddux didn’t belong to both organizations…
Oh, I’m sort of like #45 above. Why all of the hate for the cycle? It’s quirky, fun, something to remember in the winter…Frankly, too much Sabermetrics gives me a headache. Baseball for some fans is meant to be fun, yes – a business for the pros involved but otherwise it’s a damn game that can get too completely tied up into knots with its numbers/stats. A cycle is some combo of 1-2-3-4 like at the Chinese restaurant of your choice. Cut it some slack!
Oh, BTW – Ron Luciano (bless his soul) was a complete blowhard.
#21 Tom in St. Paul: Jose Reyes did that last year I believe, in Arizona.
And yea cycles are the worst thing ever! They are so overrated! I f’ing hate them! There are so many better things! Aaargh! People who like them are nincompoops!
Seriously, though, who doesn’t like a cycle? What is wrong with you people?
Gotta play Devil’s advocate about the cycle. I think the reason that it is perceived as interesting isn’t because it is better than hitting 3 HRs and a double; obviously it is not. The presumption is that each hit in the cycle takes a different skill set (whether that is really true or not). Pure power for HRs, a little speed for triples, hitting a gap for a double and bat control for a single.
Now a true cycle where one displayed each of those skills in doing it, would in fact be pretty remarkable, but the fact is that most cycles are not the product of displaying those diverse skills.
Many are a product of the ballpark you are playing in (gotta think the K is going to produce cycles because it is really easy to hit triples there, as John Buck demonstrated yesterday). A cycle at Fenway Park is a lot harder than one at the K, for instance (pretty much no way you are getting a triple on a ball hit from left center to the left field foul pole at Fenway and seems pretty unlikely to get one to RF either)
Still, no matter the ballpark, we can safely assume Ernie Lombardi and Duane Kuiper never hit for a cycle, because they couldn’t get one the hits needed to get one. Other players (Brett Butler and Harmon Killebrew, for instance) would also be safe bets not to get a cycle.
Something different but similar happened last night in the Minors. Carlos Gonzalez of the Pacific Coast League’s Colorado Springs Sky Sox lacked an HR in the seventh or eighth inning and tripled again instead.
In case anyone was wondering, Reynolds DID hit the sac fly to drive Jackson in.
My favorite 10 total base game ever didn’t even have a double or triple in it, but I would bet the combination of the 10 bases is pretty unlikely. I will call it the Willie-cycle.
Setting: Milwaukee County Stadium
Date: June 15, 1979
Teams: Royals and Brewers
Top of 1st: Willie Wilson leads off game with fly out to left field off Mike Caldwell
Top of 3rd (Brewers up 4-0): With Patek on 1st and one out Willie flies out to Center field
Top of 5th (Brewers up 11-2): With one out, Willie singles and later scores on an AO single
Top of 6th (Brewers up 11-3): With two outs, Wathan on 3rd and Todd Cruz on 1st, Willie hits a ball out of the park off Caldwell to make the score 11-6.
Top of 9th: (Brewers up 11-6): Willie leads off the inning with a single off Paul Mithchell and scores on a George Scott single, along with Jamie Quirk, making the score 11-8.
Willie then comes up again after the Royals hit through the lineup, Mitchell had given way to Reggie Cleveland who gave way to Bill Castro who is now on the mound. Game is now 11-11, with U.L. Washington on 1st, Frank White on 2nd and two out. Willie promptly hits a game winning 3 run Inside the Park HR.
Greatest ninth inning comeback in Royals’ history. Only two home run game of Willie’s life. First outside the Park HR of his career from Willie (prior to 1985, Willie only hit 3 outside the park HRs out of the 18 he hit)
So in short, 10 total bases, 2 singles, 1 outside the park HR and 1 inside the park HR. And 1 glorious comeback, all heard by this young man on his radio after his ogre parents made him go to bed, claiming that the game was “over”
Brent – Wonderful story. I always like to hear when people recall something from deep in the past when they were alone when it happened. It’s almost like it becomes your own event to have and to hold forever. I know it sounds silly but it’s almost like that event was as much yours as it was Willie Wilson’s!! Thanks for sharing.
Ah…Ron Luciano. Great reference. Loved his book. Loved watching him call a game. He may have been a blowhard, but he was darned entertaining.
I feel bad now…I just read a long article about Ron Luciano and his death by suicide at the age of 57 in 1995. Very sad. I take back the blowhard reference. He did have a way, however, to not let the facts get in the way of a good story! Maybe that’s why his books were so popular. My apologies to his family, friends and fans.
To Brent @ 52:
Perhaps one of the more interesting things about Willie’s 10 TB game…in how many 10 TB games in history has the player only had 1 TB through 5 innings?
ajnrules @33 – thank you.
Brad above mentioned Jeff Frye stopping at first to get the cycle when he had a sure double.
In Frye’s defense, that one was on the first base coach. I distinctly remember seeing the replay: Fyre is tearing down the line toward first, making the turn for second and the coach is yelling ‘get back here.’
Dusty, the cycle is not the stupidest stat in sports; the triple double is. At least everyone can agree what a cycle is.
In basketball, one guy could score 40 points, have 20 rebounds and 9 assists, and be overshadowed by someone who gets 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Plus the cycle is at least a rarity. A triple double happens every other day.
I agree with the general dislike of the cycle, although the “SI cover jinx” is far more annoying, the kind of thing that gets magazines closed down.
But still, I’m still interested in facts like the following:
In 2007, Curtis Granderson became the first player ever to have at least 22 of the four kinds of hit in a season: in fact, he finished with at least 23 of each. In 1911, Wildfire Schulte had been the only other player with 21 of each.
Stan Musial was the only player to finish his career with at least 175 singles, doubles, triples and home runs. (He had one “cycle”). Johnny Damon is the active triples leader, with 93, so Musial’s record is safe.
In the postseason, there has never been a “cycle”, but there have been six of Keith Woolner’s “supercycles”, by Bob Robertson, George Brett, Will Clark, John Valentin, Adam Kennedy and Hideki Matsui.
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