List of Major League Baseball hitters with four home runs in one game

Writers of Sporting News described hitting four home runs in a single Major League Baseball (MLB) game as "baseball's greatest single-game accomplishment".[1] Fifteen players have accomplished the feat to date. No player has done this more than once in his career and no player has ever hit more than four in a game. Bobby Lowe was the first to hit four home runs in a single game, doing so on May 30, 1894. Fans were reportedly so excited that they threw $160 in silver coins ($4,000 today) onto the field after his fourth home run.[1][2][3]

These games have resulted in other MLB single-game records due to the extreme offensive performance. Mark Whiten, for example, tied Jim Bottomley for the most runs batted in in a single game with 12 in his four-homer game.[4] Shawn Green hit a double and a single along with his four home runs for 19 total bases, an MLB record. It surpassed Joe Adcock's mark of 18 which also came from a four-homer game.[5][6] Chuck Klein, Pat Seerey, and Mike Schmidt each hit their four in a game that went into extra innings. Four home runs generate significant offense which generally allows a team to win, although Ed Delahanty's and Bob Horner's teams lost their respective milestone games. Warren Spahn pitched the ball which Gil Hodges hit for the first of his four, the only Hall of Fame pitcher faced during a four-home-run game.[1] Mike Cameron hit his four on May 2, 2002, and Green matched the total 21 days later on May 23, 2002, the shortest span between such games. Lowe and Seerey each hit fewer than 100 home runs over the length of their career while Willie Mays, with 660, hit more than any other player in this group. Both Mays and Schmidt are also members of the 500 home run club.

Of the 11 players eligible for the Hall of Fame who have hit four home runs in a game, five have been elected. Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have played in at least 10 major league seasons, and have either been retired for five seasons or deceased for at least six months.[7] These requirements leave three players ineligible who are living and have played in the past five seasons, and one (Seerey) who did not play 10 seasons in MLB.

Key

Player Name of the player
Date Date of the four home run game
Team The player's team at the time of the game
Opposing team The team against whom the player hit four home runs
Score Final score of the game, with the player's team score listed first
Career HR The number of home runs the player hit in his MLB career
c Indicates that the home runs were in consecutive plate appearances
† Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
* Denotes player who is still active
‡ Indicates the player's team lost the game

Players

Player Date Team Opposing team Score Career HR Ref(s)
Lowe, BobbyBobby Lowec 01894-05-30May 30, 1894 Boston Beaneaters Cincinnati Reds 20–11 71 [8]
Delahanty, EdEd Delahanty† 01896-07-13July 13, 1896 Philadelphia Phillies Chicago Colts 8–9‡ 101 [9]
Gehrig, LouLou Gehrigc† 01932-06-03June 3, 1932 New York Yankees Philadelphia Athletics 20–13 493 [10]
Klein, ChuckChuck Klein† 01936-07-10July 10, 1936 Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates 9–6 300 [11]
Seerey, PatPat Seerey 01948-07-18July 18, 1948 Chicago White Sox Philadelphia Athletics 12–11 86 [12]
Hodges, GilGil Hodges 01950-08-31August 31, 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers Boston Braves 19–3 370 [13]
Adcock, JoeJoe Adcock 01954-07-31July 31, 1954 Milwaukee Braves Brooklyn Dodgers 15–7 336 [14][15]
Colavito, RockyRocky Colavitoc 01959-06-10June 10, 1959 Cleveland Indians Baltimore Orioles 11–8 374 [16][17]
Mays, WillieWillie Mays† 01961-04-30April 30, 1961 San Francisco Giants Milwaukee Braves 14–4 660 [18][19]
Schmidt, MikeMike Schmidtc† 01976-04-17April 17, 1976 Philadelphia Phillies Chicago Cubs 18–16 548 [20][21]
Horner, BobBob Horner 01986-07-06July 6, 1986 Atlanta Braves Montreal Expos 8–11‡ 218 [22][23]
Whiten, MarkMark Whiten 01993-09-07September 7, 1993 St. Louis Cardinals Cincinnati Reds 15–2 105 [24][25]
Cameron, MikeMike Cameronc* 02002-05-02May 2, 2002 Seattle Mariners Chicago White Sox 15–4 266 [26][27]
Green, ShawnShawn Green 02002-05-23May 23, 2002 Los Angeles Dodgers Milwaukee Brewers 16–3 328 [28][29]
Delgado, CarlosCarlos Delgadoc 02003-09-25September 25, 2003 Toronto Blue Jays Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10–8 473 [30][31]

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ a b c Jim, Hoppel; Meier, Jim and Deveney, Sean (August 10, 1999). "Four homers in one game". sportingnews.com. Sporting News. Archived from the original on April 8, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20040408051728/http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/sports2000/moments/173391.html. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  2. ^ Suehsdorf, A. D. (1978). The Great American Baseball Scrapbook, p. 14. Random House. ISBN 0-394-50253-1.
  3. ^ "Bobby Lowe Dead; Baseball Star, 83; First Player to Hit Four Home Runs in One Game Spent 18 Years in Major Leagues". Associated Press. The New York Times. December 9, 1951. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D16F83F5F157A93C2A81789D95F458585F9. Retrieved September 5, 2010.  (subscription required)
  4. ^ SABR, pg. 69
  5. ^ SABR, pg. 70
  6. ^ "Shawn Green slams record four home runs". CBC Sports. May 24, 2002. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2002/05/23/dodgers-brewers020523.html. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
  7. ^ "Rules for Election". National Baseball Hall of Fame. http://baseballhall.org/hall-famers/rules-election/bbwaa. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  8. ^ "Bobby Lowe Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lowebo01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  9. ^ "Ed Delahanty Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/delahed01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Lou Gehrig Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gehrilo01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  11. ^ "Chuck Klein Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kleinch01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  12. ^ "Pat Seerey Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/seerepa01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  13. ^ "Gil Hodges Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hodgegi01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  14. ^ "Joe Adcock Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/adcocjo01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  15. ^ "Joe Adcock Ties Home Run Mark". The Miami News (Associated Press): p. C1. July 31, 1954. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hpIzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s-gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2784,66637&dq=joe-adcock&hl=en. Retrieved September 10, 2010. 
  16. ^ "Rocky Colavito Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/colavro01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  17. ^ Wilks, Ed (June 10, 1959). "Tribe's Rocky Colavito Ties Record in Majors' Toughest Home Run Park". Evening Independent (Associated Press): p. 6A. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5ronAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7108,1574691&dq=rocky-colavito&hl=en. Retrieved September 10, 2010. 
  18. ^ "Willie Mays Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mayswi01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  19. ^ Reichler, Joe (May 1, 1961). "Giants' Slugging Sets or Ties a Flock of Records". The Hour (Associated Press): p. 14. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XeogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=q28FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3714,162355&dq=willie-mays&hl=en. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
  20. ^ "Mike Schmidt Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schmimi01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  21. ^ "Mike Schmidt Hits Four Home Runs: Phillies Outslug Chicago,18–16". TimesDaily (United Press International): p. 21. April 17, 1976. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GxwsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J8kEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5218,3029533&dq=mike-schmidt&hl=en. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
  22. ^ "Bob Horner Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hornebo01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  23. ^ "National League; Horner Ties Mark with 4 Home Runs". New York Times: p. C4. July 7, 1986. 
  24. ^ "Mark Whiten Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitema01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  25. ^ Allen, Karen (September 8, 1993). "Cards' Whiten: 4 HRs, 12 RBI". USA Today: pp. Sports, 1C. 
  26. ^ "Mike Cameron Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/camermi01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  27. ^ Ralph, John (May 2, 2002). "With 4 homers, Cameron crows". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20020502&content_id=17561. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
  28. ^ "Shawn Green Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/greensh01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  29. ^ Gurnick, Ken (May 23, 2002). "A day for the ages for Green". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20020523&content_id=333393. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
  30. ^ "Carlos Delgado Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/delgaca01.shtml. Retrieved September 4, 2010. 
  31. ^ Fordin, Spencer (September 25, 2003). "Delgado smashes four homers". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030925&content_id=543877. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
Baseball statistics (types of records)
General
Batting leaders
Career
Single season
Baserunning leaders
Career
Single season
Pitching leaders
Career
Single season
Managing records
Single-game records
Multiple stat clubs
Major League Baseball players who have hit four home runs in one game