The Historic 2018 Playoffs Give Us More Fun With Baseball Cycles!

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Attention All Basaeball Trivia Fans: The Historic 2018 Playoff Gives US More Fun With Baseball Cycles!

We’re seeing an historic 2018 postseason! It isn’t even over yet, and already we’ve seen two events that are of great interest to those of us who love baseball history…and if you’re reading this page, that means you!

Part of my “job” here on Old-Time Baseball Photos is to report on anything of historic significance, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention them.

One occurred two nights ago in the Dodgers’ thrilling win over the Red Sox in 18 innings. It’s now the longest game in World Series history. The other occurred in the third game of the ALCS, when Brock Holt hit the first cycle in post-season history. Of course, this gives me a great excuse to update and repost my “Fun With Cycles” article from last year!

Some of you will remember that just last week I had written about the 1916 World Series between these two same franchises: the Dodgers (known as the Robins at that time), and the Red Sox. Game Two of that series – the game Babe Ruth threw thirteen shutout innings, and won 2-1, starting a consecutive scoreless innings streak that would reach 29 in 1918 – was the longest game in terms of innings (14) in World Series history, until Game Three of the 2005 World Series. Now we have a new record.

The other historic event occurred in Game Three of the ALCS featuring the Red Sox and Yankees. That’s the game in which the Carmines shellacked the Bronx Bombers 16-1. That score is significant in itself: The lopsided win was the largest road margin of victory in playoff history, and tied for the second-largest ever (behind the Red Sox’ 23-7 thumping of the Indians in 1999). It was also the Yankee’s worst post-season loss in their history, which covers 54 Octobers and 396 playoff games.

But what I really wanted to mention was a truly unique event from that game, something that should get the attention of all of us baseball history buffs: Brock Holt hitting for the cycle, the only cycle ever hit in a post-season game. Think about how rare that is. How many World Series and playoff games have there been since 1903? Maybe someone can do the math for us!

It was also Holt’s second cycle of his career, putting him in elite company with only 43 other players who have multiple cycles. It was the first Red Sox cycle since 1996 and the 26th in their history.

In the featured photo below, we see Bob Meusel of the Yankees, one of only four players in baseball history to hit three cycles in his career.

And so this gives me the chance to update and repost one of my “Fun With Cycles” articles. If you’re like me and enjoy baseball trivia, this is right up your alley (if not, well, you can skip over this part and go back to watching football today!):

–There have been only 324 cycles since the first one in 1882 by a player named Curry Foley. They are approximately as rare as no-hitters (288).

–The probability of an average major league ball player hitting for a cycle in a game is approximately 0.00590%. This comes to about 2.5 cycles in a 162-game season, about once every 686 games.

–The Miami Marlins are the only franchise who have never had a player hit for the cycle.

–The natural cycle, in which the hits come in order (single, double, triple, and home run), has happened only 14 times in major league history. “Natural cycle” hitters include Jim Hickman, Ken Boyer, Billy Williams, all in the 1960’s.

–The natural cycle has also been accomplished in reverse order (home run, triple, double, single) 10 times, including Bid McPhee (1887), Gee Walker (1937), Jim Fregosi (1968, his second cycle), Luke Scott (2006), and Carlos Gomes (2008).

–Gee Walker is the only player to hit for the cycle on Opening Day.

–The most cycles by one player is three, accomplished by four players: John Reilly, Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, and  Adrián Beltré.

–The most cycles hit in a single major league season is eight.

–There are only five players in history who have hit for the cycle twice in one season: John Reilly (1884), Tip O’Neill (1887), Babe Herman (1931), Aaron Hill (2012), and new addition, Christian Yelich (2018).

–Cycles have occurred on the same day twice in history: September 17, 1920 and September 1, 2008.

–Eight players have hit a grand slam as the home run of their cycle. The list includes recent players Miguel Tejada, Jason Kubel, and Bengie Molina.

–Five players have hit a walk-off home run as the final hit of their cycles: Ken Boyer, Cesar Tovar, George Brett, Dwight Evans, and Carlos Gonzalez.

–Here’s a baseball oddity: In 2009, Ian Kinsler had six hits in the game when he hit his cycle. The accomplishment came on Jackie Robinson Day, honoring the baseball pioneer who had himself hit for the cycle on August 29, 1948.

–Harry Danning, (June 15, 1940), is the last player to hit for the cycle with his home run coming on an inside-the-park home run.

–The longest period between two cycles was 5 years, 1 month, and 10 days (1896 to 1901).

–Family pairs to hit for the cycle: father and son Gary and Daryle Ward (1980 and 2004); and grandfather and grandson Gus and David Bell (1951 and 2004).

–Three players have hit for the cycle in both the National and American Leagues.

–Four batters hit for the cycle in the same season in which they won the Triple Crown: Nap Lojoie (1901), Jimmie Foxx (1933), Chuck Klein (1933); and Lou Gehrig (1934).

–Only three players, John Olerud, Michael Cuddyer, and Bob Watson—have hit for the cycle in both the National and American Leagues.

2018 Updates to “Fun With Cycles”:

–Christian Yelich joined the list of players hitting two cycles in one season. He is the first player to hit for cycles against the same team twice in one season. He hit his against the Reds on August 30 and September 17, 2018. As far as I can tell that is also the shortest span between one player hitting two cycles.

–And here’s the latest addition to “Fun With Cycles”: The only player to hit for a cycle in the post-season…as we now all know…is Brock Holt!

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Baseball Cycles Wikipedia page