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ShareThis3-HR games in seasons with fewest HR
I was just looking at the back of Larry Parrish's 1988 Score Rookies & Traded baseball card (for my blog featuring that set) and it mentioned that had a bunch of 3-HR games despite not having large HR totals in many years.
That got me to wondering what the lowest season total for HR was for a player with a 3-HR game occurring in that same season.
Let's start with this list, which captures all 3-HR games. Clicking through on Parrish's 4 such games shows you this:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 1977-05-29 MON @STL W 14-4 5 5 5 5 0 0 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th 3B 2 1978-07-30 MON @ATL W 19-0 6 6 4 4 1 0 3 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5th 3B 3 1980-04-25 MON @ATL L 7-8 5 5 3 3 0 0 3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5th 3B 4 1985-04-29 TEX NYY W 7-5 4 4 3 3 0 0 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4th RF
Going back to Parrish's main page, you can learn that in 1977, he hit only 11 HR for the whole season. (Also in 1978 he had 15, in 1980 he also had 15, and in 1985 he had 17.) That figure of 11 is pretty small. I wonder if it's the lowest seasonal total ever?
Looking down the list some more, Claudell Washington did it in 1980, when he also had just 11 HR for the season.
I think we have a winner with Darnell Coles, though:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 1987-09-30(2) PIT CHC L 8-10 5 4 3 4 0 0 3 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5th 3B 2 1994-07-05 TOR @MIN W 14-3 5 5 3 3 0 0 3 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7th 3B
In 1987, he hit 10 homers all year. But in 1994, he hit just 4 homers all year! (He had just 143 AB.)
I wonder if there's anybody who had a season with 3 homers, having them all come in the same season. I'm not going to research the rest of this list, but you can if you like.
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 8:20 am and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
February 13th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I was recently wondering about a related question -- what is the most HR's hit by a player (season or career) who never hit more than one in a game?
February 13th, 2009 at 9:49 am
That is very difficult to search for because the PI is not designed to allow game searches based on a seasonal requirement. I was able to do this one because the total number of 3HR games is small and therefore easily searched manually after the PI does the heavy lifting. Your query, and many other similarly interesting ones, require a lot more manual analysis. (Older journalists must cringe when they hear me make this complaint.)
February 13th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Not sure if I get the point.
Tuffy Rhodes had 3 HRs on opening day for the Cubs in '94. (all off Gooden) & ended up with 8 HRs for the year. & he also had a 2 HR game off Kile that year...
February 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
My first thought was of Tuffy, but we've got a few other winners. Freddy Patek, not exactly known as a slugger, had three homers in a game in 1980 out of his five for the season. Bobby Estalella, in 1997, had three of his four in one game as the young player had just 29 ABs. I was just looking at C, SS and 2B, so there might be a few doozies at other positions, too.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Andy, you might find this article interesting. Its six years old, but its still worth reading.
"King for a day: some of the most unlikely hitters to club three homers in one game" by Tim Olsen
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_6_62/ai_100961687
February 13th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Oh. One more thing about the article. At the end (page 3) there is a list of players who have had a three homerun game sorted by fewest career (through 2002) games.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Obviously it is going to be more common in the deadball era:
*Jack Manning had a 3-HR game in 1884, a year in which he totaled 5 HRs, 14 for his career.
*Guy Hecker (a pitcher) had a 3-HR game in 1886, a year in which he totaled 4 HRs - and 19 for his career.
*Dan Brouthers, 3-HR game in 1886, with 11 for the season.
*Frank Shugart, 3-HR game in 1894, 7 for the season. 22 for his career.
*Tom McCreery, 3-HR game in 1897, 5 for the season.
*Jake Beckley, 3-HR game in 1897, 8 for the season.
*Cobb had a 3-HR game in 1925, a year in which he totaled 12 HRs.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Andy -- thanks for the response. I was thinking the same thing.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Eh just because I think it's interesting - Tim Raines had his only 3 HR game in '94 & ended up with 10 HRs for the season. 5 of his HRs were in 2 games against Bos in April (4/8 & 4/18)
February 15th, 2009 at 1:03 am
[...] a recent comment - aawillsher asked the following [...]
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:50 am
[...] Recently, Andy looked at the unlikely players who hit 3 home runs in a game. I’d like to do the opposite and find the home run hitters who have never have hit 3 in one game. Since 1956, 35 players have 400 or more home runs. Three of those players (the ones on this list whose career home runs are all accounted for) never hit 3 in one game*: [...]