hit for the cycle in 1989]]

In baseball, a player hits for the cycle when he hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game, though not necessarily in that order. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a natural cycle.

The feat is rare in Major League Baseball as it requires a game of no fewer than four hits, and the unusual combination of a home run, which requires a batter to hit for some power, and a triple, which requires a batter to have speed on the basepaths and a favorable fall of the ball. There are only two current major league teams that have not had a player hit for the cycle: the San Diego Padres and Florida Marlins. No player has ever hit for the cycle in a post-season game.

The rarity of hitting for the cycle is reflected in the fact that of the ten players who have had 3,000 career hits and 300 career home runs, only four have ever hit for the cycle. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Rafael Palmeiro, and Al Kaline never did.

Chronological list of players who have hit for the cycle

Listed below are the 291^[1]occurrences of players hitting for the cycle in Major League Baseball (players with multiple occurrences denoted in parentheses, natural cycles in bold):

Number of cycles by team

Players that have hit for two or more cycles

Statistics

• There have been 14 natural cycles in the major leagues; seven in each of the two modern leagues (NL and AL).
• There have been eight cycles in which the home run was a grand slam. This happened seven times in the American League (most recently by Bengie Molina) and once in the National League.
• On June 3,

1. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year, Tony Lazzeri became the only player in major league history to accomplish both feats listed above: hitting a natural cycle and ending it with a grand slam. This is often overlooked because Lazzeri did it in the same game that teammate Lou Gehrig hit four home runs.

• Only once since

1. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year has a player had the minimum of 4 plate appearances and hit for the natural cycle: Brad Wilkerson on June 24,
2. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year for the Expos versus the Pirates.

• Nap Lajoie, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Chuck Klein all hit for the cycle in the same season that they won the Triple Crown.
• Gary Ward (1980) and Daryle Ward (2004) became the first father/son combo to hit for the cycle.
• Gus Bell (1951) and David Bell (2004) became the first grandfather/grandson combo to hit for the cycle.
• Since 1956, three "reverse natural" cycles have been accomplished, i.e., the home run was followed by the triple, then the double, and finally the single: Jim Fregosi (1968), Luke Scott (2006), and Carlos Gomez (2008). The home run of Scott's cycle was also the first of his Major League career.
• John Olerud and Bob Watson are the only players to hit for the cycle in both leagues.
• On August 29, 1948, Jackie Robinson became the first African American player to hit for the cycle in the major leagues.
• On September 1, 2008, Stephen Drew of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Adrián Beltré of the Seattle Mariners each hit for the cycle, marking the second time in major league history that two players accomplished the feat on the same day (Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants on September 17, 1920).
• John Valentin and Troy Tulowitzki are the only players both to hit for the cycle and perform an unassisted triple play during their careers.
• The 1933 season and the 2009 season each featured eight cycles, for the most hit in a single season.
• On April 15, 2009; Ian Kinsler hit for the cycle and had six hits in the same game, becoming the first MLB player to do so since William Farmer Weaver on August 12, 1890.^[2]
• On June 18, 2000 in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Mike Lansing of the Colorado Rockies hit for the cycle in just four innings.
• On July 16, 2010, Bengie Molina became the first catcher in MLB history to hit for the cycle and hit a grand slam in the same game. The feat was extremely unexpected because Molina has been referred to as "the slowest player in baseball" and it was only the sixth time he hit a triple in his career.
• Five players in MLB history have completed a cycle with a walk-off home run: Ken Boyer (

1. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year)^[3], César Tovar (
2. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year)^[4], George Brett (
3. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year)^[5], Dwight Evans (
4. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year)^[6] and Carlos González (
5. REDIRECT Template:Baseball Year)^[7].

References

1. ^ http://www.retrosheet.org/cycles_chron.htm "Cycles Chronologically"
2. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090415&content_id=4289562&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
3. ^ Retrosheet box score – St. Louis Cardinals 6, Chicago Cubs 5 (2), game played on September 14, 1961 at Busch Stadium
4. ^ Retrosheet box score – Minnesota Twins 5, Texas Rangers 3 game played on September 19, 1972 at Metropolitan Stadium
5. ^ Retrosheet box score – Kansas City Royals 5, Baltimore Orioles 4, game played on May 28, 1979 at Royals Stadium
6. ^ Retrosheet box score – Boston Red Sox 9, Seattle Mariners 6, game played on June 28, 1984 at Fenway Park
7. ^ Espn box score – Colorado Rockies 6, Chicago Cubs 5, game played on July 31, 2010 at Coors Field

External links

• MLB.com (omits defunct franchises)
• Baseball Almanac
• Baseball Reference
• Hickok Sports
• http://www.retrosheet.org/cycles.htm