When Hall of Famers Crowded a Boxscore
ALSO: ATLANTA IS ALWAYS INVOLVED IN FOUR-HOMER GAMES
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Reader Reacts
Pregame Pepper: When Bronx Bombers Bombed
Did you know…
When the New York Yankees started their March 29 game with three straight homers, they joined the Dodgers as the only teams to get consecutive home runs to start a game from three former MVPs [Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge for the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman for the 2024 Dodgers] . . .
With nine home runs in that game, the Yanks tied the 1999 Cincinnati Reds for second place on the list of teams with nine homers in a game, trailing only the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays, who hit 10 on Sept. 14, 1987 . . .
Three Yankee home runs were struck by Judge, who thus tied Alex Rodriguez and Joe DiMaggio for second-most in team history, trailing only Lou Gehrig (4) . . .
New York’s outburst was the first time they ever began a ballgame with three straight homers and a later Austin Wells homer gave the Yanks their first four-homer first inning . . .
Paul Goldschmidt, in the uncustomary role of leadoff man for the first time in his career, gave the Yankees leadoff homers in their first two games, since Wells, also leading off for the first time, connected in the March 27 opener . . .
The only other team to get leadoff homers in their first two games of a season was the 2011 Texas Rangers.
Leading Off
The Stars Were Out: Witnessing Greatness From a Collection of Future Hall of Famers
By Bill Pruden
Part of being a baseball fan are the memories that come from years of following the game.
Looking back, we remember (and probably embellish) the highlights of our own “careers,” collecting autographs of the players we worshipped, and never forgetting the greats we were able to see, recalling every detail of the future Hall of Famers as we sat on the edge of our seats in the sun.
Joe DiMaggio clearly understood the connection, responding to a reporter who asked, “Why did you play so hard?” by saying, “Because there might have been somebody in the stands today who'd never seen me play before, and might never see me again.”
Yes, memories are central to what keeps the game alive and in that spirit, few games have offered more than the May 24, 1928 first game of the double-header at Shibe Park between the visiting New York Yankees and the home team Philadelphia Athletics.
That contest, almost a century ago, featured 13 future Hall of Famers in action, not to mention a pair of Hall of Fame managers, and an appropriately under-the-radar Hall of Fame umpire (Tommy Connolly) plus two other future Hall of Fame hurlers (Herb Pennock and Stan Coveleski) at the ready but unneeded that day.
It was a collection that remains unmatched in a single, non-All-Star game.
From the opening match-up between the Yankees’ Earle Combs and Lefty Grove of the A’s, fans were treated to a parade of all-time greats.
Indeed, the follow-up act to the 1927 Murderer’s Row, the 1928 Yankees had center-fielder Combs leading off followed by shortstop Leo Durocher and then a left-fielder by the name of Babe Ruth.
As if those future Hall of Fame denizens were not enough to instill fear in the hearts of the finest of hurlers, the Babe was followed by Lou Gehrig, who had set an American League record for runs batted in the previous year with 175.
Yet Grove appeared unfazed when, after giving up a lead-off double to Combs, he got Durocher on a grounder before striking out both Yankees big guns.
Meanwhile, when the Yankees’ unheralded Al Shealy took the mound, he too was soon confronting baseball royalty. After getting Max Bishop on a pop foul to first, he faced the already-immortal Ty Cobb, who doubled to right. After walking fellow legend Tris Speaker, Shealy struck out the mortal Joe Hauser. Looking to ignite the A’s offense, Cobb stole third, but Shealy got another future Hall of Famer, catcher Mickey Cochrane, to ground out.
The second inning was more pedestrian, as Bob Meusel’s lead-off double was followed by three straight outs, including a pop fly to second by future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri.
The bottom of the second was a three-up-and-three-down affair involving a bunch of mortals, before the teams hit the top of the third where the future Hall of Famer Grove violated one of cardinal rules of pitching by giving up a base-hit to his counterpart, Shealy. That mistake that was followed by another Combs double, setting the stage for the double by Ruth which drove in both Shealy and Combs to break the 0-0 deadlock.
As the game progressed, the future Hall of Fame managers traded strategic moves. While Yankee skipper Miller Huggins had a starting lineup that boasted more future Cooperstown inductees, counterpart Connie Mack showed his historic mettle by using three future Hall members as pinch hitters, calling on Al Simmons, who stroked an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh; Eddie Collins, whose fly to left two batters later ended that inning; and Jimmie Foxx, who grounded to third in the eighth.
All of these machinations occurred against the backdrop of the standard inning-by- inning progression. While the Athletics tallied single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, the Yankees scored in bunches, adding one in the sixth, three in the seventh, and three in the ninth, giving them a 9-5 lead as the teams headed into the final half-inning.
With the game seemingly in hand, Huggins lifted Sealy, replacing him with Wilcy Moore, who gave up a single, and a walk, and wild pitch that allowed Mickey Cochrane to score and another walk that left the A’s down by three with men on first and second and only one out.
With the pitcher due up and expecting a pinch-hitter, Huggins went to his bullpen and called for Waite Hoyt.
While the right-hander’s Hall of Fame career was primarily spent as a starter, he was nevertheless Huggins’s fireman of choice. After walking pinch-hitter Bing Miller, he got lead-off man Max Bishop to ground out, which scored a run but moved the Yankees an out away from victory.
But that prospective out was Ty Cobb, who strode to the plate sporting a batting average of just over .340. But Hoyt did his job, getting Cobb to hit back to the mound for a game-ending play that sealed the 9-7 victory in the star-studded contest.
In the end, the Yankees’ Hall of Fame hitters combined for nine hits in 22 at-bats while driving in all nine of the team’s runs. Lazerri led the way, accounting for six of them.
Meanwhile, the Athletics’ future immortals went 9-for-21 but with only two RBIs. Lefty Grove’s final line did not reflect his Hall of Fame career, as he gave up six runs, all earned, on 10 hits in his eight innings of action. But he did strike out eight, including Ruth twice.
While the first induction ceremony for the National Baseball Hall of Fame was still about a decade away and the official seal of greatness that it would come to symbolize had not yet been established, none of that detracted from the memories of the fans who had been at Shibe Park that May 24 and witnessed that unprecedented Hall of Fame showcase.
Bill Pruden is a high school history and government teacher who has been a baseball fan for over six decades. He has been writing about the game--primarily through SABR sponsored platforms, but also in some historical works--for about a decade. His email address is courtwatchernc@aol.com.
Cleaning Up
Atlanta’s Strange Affinity For Four-Homer Games
By Dan Schlossberg
What is it with the Braves and four-homer games?
They have not only done it three times but finished on the short side twice.
When Arizona third baseman Eugenio Suarez became the 19th player to hit four home runs a game last Saturday, his victims were the Braves –- of course they were!
The Boston Braves were the first team to enter the elite territory of four-homer outbursts –- way back on April 30, 1894. Bobby Lowe connected four times against Cincinnati in a 12-11 victory.
When Joe Adcock pulverized the Brooklyn Dodgers on July 31, 1954, he represented the Milwaukee Braves.
And Bob Horner did it for the Atlanta Braves in a losing effort –- the first time in the modern era the four-homer guy played for the losing team –- as the Montreal Expos outlasted Atlanta, 11-8.
The Braves, who have had three home cities, were based in Boston when Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges enjoyed a four-homer game against them on August 31, 1950 but were in Atlanta when Willie Mays struck for a four-spot on April 30, 1961.
Then came April 26, 2025, when Suarez smacked three solo shots plus a two-run blast. The first three against Atlanta starter Grant Holmes and a game-tying solo shot in the ninth versus beleaguered Braves closer Raisel Iglesias –- in a see-saw game the Braves eventually won, 8-7 in 10 innings. Ironically, Iglesias got the win (as well as a blown save), as he was pitcher of record when the Braves parlayed the Manfred Man into a run-scoring marker that stood up behind lefty Dylan Lee.
Before the streak-hitting Suarez, who was hitting under .200 when the game started, the last man to pop four in a game was J.D. Martinez, also for the Diamondbacks, on Sept. 4, 2017.
No major-leaguer has hit five in a game but Stan Musial and Nate Colbert collected five in one day because they played in double-header.
Neither Babe Ruth nor Hank Aaron hit four home runs in a game but Lou Gehrig did. He became the first man to turn the trick during the modern era that began with the advent of the American League in 1901. He hit four against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in a 20-13 victory on June 4, 1932.
Only five other American Leaguers later joined him: Pat Seerey (White Sox) in 1948, Rocky Colavito (Indians) in 1959, Mike Cameron (Mariners) in 2002, Carlos Delgado (Blue Jays) in 2003, and Josh Hamilton (Rangers) in 2012.
The list of National Leaguers with four-home games, in chronological order, includes Lowe, Ed Delahanty, Chuck Klein, Hodges, Adcock, Mike Schmidt, Horner, Mark Whiten, Shawn Green, Scooter Gennett, and Martinez.
Oddly, only one four-homer game coincided with a shutout: when Martinez marked the Dodgers, he did it during a 13-0 victory.
Even more oddly, only one man witnessed five four-homer games in person: pitcher-turned-broadcaster Ernie Johnson, Sr.
He pitched for the Boston Braves when Hodges had his outburst, clapped from the bullpen when Adcock had his, gave up one of Colavito’s clouts while pitching for Baltimore, served as team Milwaukee team publicist when Mays went wild, and broadcast Horner’s heroics years later.
Thanks to Suarez, the D’backs are now the fourth franchise with multiple four-homer sluggers, joining the Phillies, Dodgers, and Braves. But only Braves pitchers have yielded four homers in a game at least three times –- even though they’ve won one of those three.
The most significant Suarez blast came as the leadoff man in the bottom of the ninth at Chase Field. Iglesias, the Atlanta closer, had already yielded four home runs this season -– matching his 2024 total for the entire year –- but has lacked command this season.
When the count went to 3-2 on Suarez, he had to come over the plate. Walking the slugger would have allowed the potential winning run to come to the plate.
Suarez was ready for the Iglesias heater. It came and went quickly.
Iglesias was the “winning” pitcher but watched his ERA balloon to 6.00 for 10 innings of work. Not pretty, especially for a prospective free agent this fall.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ watched the last few innings of the Suarez game. He writes for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many other outlets. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: LH Relievers Are Good as Gold
They’re hard to find, hard to keep, and hard to maintain . . .
The front-running New York Mets have lost both of their southpaw relievers in A.J. Minter and Danny Young . . .
Former Met closer John Franco has more saves than any left-hander (424) but 2025 Hall of Fame inductee Billy Wagner, the only other southpaw with at least 400, is right behind him at 422 . . .
Randy Myers, who ranks 14th on the career list, has 347 . . .
The still-active Aroldis Chapman, now with the Boston Red Sox, is closing the gap with Myers. He had 339 saves entering play Friday . . .
One of the reasons the 2021 Atlanta Braves won a world championship was the presence of FOUR left-handed relievers: Minter, Tyler Matzek, Will Smith, and Dylan Lee . . .
Smith, who disappeared into the abyss of free agency last winter, won three consecutive World Series rings in as many years while pitching for three different teams (Braves in 2021, Astros in 2022, Rangers in 2023) . . .
Josh Hader (Astros) and Tanner Scott (Dodgers) are two of the best left-handed closers active today, though virtually every club has at least one southpaw in the bullpen.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.