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“Fun With Cycles” Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:

Gee Walker hit a “reverse natural cycle” on Opening Day, APril 20, 1937.

Adrian Beltre is one of only fur players to hit for three cycles in his career. He hit them all in the same park.

Stephen Drew hit for the cycle on the same day as Adrian Belre on September 1, 2008

Jim Hickman was one of three players to hit for a natural cycle in the 1960s.

Harry Danning was the last player to hit an inside the park home run as part of his cycle

Babe Herman is one of four players to hit three cycles in his career

Lou Gehrig hit for the cycle in his Triple Crown season, 1934

Chuck Klein hit for the cycle in his Triple Crown season (1933).

Nap Lajoie hit for the cycle in his Triple Crown season, 1901.

Cesar Tovar is one of five players to hit a walk-off home run as part of their cycle.

Carlos Gomez hit for a reverse natural cycle in 2008.

Luke Scott hit a “reverse natural cycle” in 2006.

Jim Fregosi hit a “reverse natural cycle” in 1968, his second cycle.

Billy Williams was one of three players to hit a natural cycle in the 1960s.

Stephen Drew hit for the cycle on the same day as Adrian Beltre on September 1, 2008.

Bid McPhee hit a “reverse natural cycle” in 1887..

John Reilly is one of only four players to hit for the cycle three times in his career.

George Burns, pictured here, and Bobby Veach hit for the cycle on the same day, September 17, 1920.

Bob Meusel is one of only six players to hit for three cycles in his career.

Let’s Have Some Fun With Baseball Cycles!

I opened up my Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday morning and as I gazed through the sports section, I came across a little blurb informing me that on the previous night, Wednesday, May 11, the Brewers’ Christian Yelich became only the sixth player in major league history to hit for a third career cycle. To me, this was big news! Considering the long history of baseball, you can appreciate that joining this elite club is quite an achievement.

Immediately, my baseball history antenna and alarm bells went off. I’d be remiss in my duties as your friendly Baseball History Comes Alive editor if I didn’t follow up on this and report more details. It also gave me an opportunity to do an update on one of my favorite ongoing series: Fun With Baseball Cycles!

Christian Yelich: One of the All-Time Great Baseball Cyclers!

In accomplishing his historic feat, Yelich joins the ranks of only the five other

players with three cycles: Trea Turner, Adrian, Beltre, Babe Herman, Bob Musiel, and John Reilly. It’s quite fitting that this honor falls to Yelich. He already belongs to the small group of five players to hit two cycles in the same season. His two-in-one-season are unique because he is the only player to hit them against the same team. He hit them against the Reds on August 30 and September 17, 2018. In addition, as far as I can tell, that is also the shortest span between one player hitting two cycles. So as you can see, Yelich is one of the most accomplished baseball cyclers of all time.

In the featured photo above, we see Babe Herman. With the addition of Christian Yelich, Herman is now one of only six players in baseball history to hit three cycles in his career.

“Let’s Have Some Fun With Baseball Cycles” Updates

There have been only 335 cycles since the first one in 1882 by a player named Curry Foley. They are approximately as rare as no-hitters (316).
The probability of an average major league ballplayer 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 1960s.
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 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 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).
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.
The only player to hit for a cycle in the post-season is Brock Holt. 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.

Gary Livacari

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Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from Baseball Cycles Wikipedia page

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5 thoughts on “Let’s Have Some Fun With Baseball Cycles!”

Gary,
Great research. I wonder if anyone hit for the cycle in 2 or more decades.

Gary Livacari says:

May 16, 2022 at 10:02 AM

I counted 12 guys who hit them in two or more decades, the longest span between cycles is 11 years and 2 months by George Brett, with Joe Cronin and Joe DiMaggio have spans just short of 11 years. Also found the shortest span is Aaron Hill, with cycles on June 8, 2012 and June 29, 2012, just 11 days later.

Reply

Great stuff Gary and the accompanying photos are terrific. Thanks for making the AC Tuesday Trivia question this week a good one!

Gary,
I echo those sentiments–prodigious research!

Hickman, Boyer, Fregosi, Olerud and Cuddyer were all Mets at one time or another (cycle in order, reverse order, walk-off, both leagues).

The Aaron Hill, three weeks apart in ’12, amazing.

Thanks!

That is some very impressive research. Some names I haven’t heard about in years like Jim Hickman and Cesar Tovar. Great article and lots of fun stats which is why baseball will always be so entertaining.