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 “Fun With Cycles” Photo Gallery
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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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Information: Excerpts edited from Baseball Cycles Wikipedia page