This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.

The Bronx is Burning

Posted by Andy on August 3, 2007

Love or hate the Yankees, you should find this interesting:

What's the only team since 1957 to hit at least 5 HR over three consecutive games?

It was the Red Sox, in 1977, during a 3-game sweep of the Yankees at Fenway:

+---+---------+----+-------+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+--+------------+
 TmG Date       Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RB  BB IW  SO HB  SH  SF RE DP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   LOB Batrs Th Opp. Starter
+---+---------+----+-------+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+--+------------+
  60 Jun 17     NYY W  9-4   38  36   9  14  0  0  6  9   2  0   7  0   0   0  0  1   0  1  .283  .352  .477  .829    5    10  R C.Hunter
  61 Jun 18     NYY W 10-4   41  38  10  16  1  1  5 10   1  0   5  1   0   1  0  1   0  0  .286  .354  .484  .838    7    10  R M.Torrez
  62 Jun 19     NYY W 11-1   44  36  11  14  0  0  5 11   6  0   6  1   0   1  0  0   1  0  .288  .356  .490  .846    9     9  R E.Figueroa

Of course, this is the season that is currently being dramatized in the miniseries called "The Bronx is Burning." It's the middle game of this series where Reggie Jackson was replaced in RF by Paul Blair, and Jackson and manager Billy Martin had a little fracas in the dugout. (Click on the link to that game above and you can read in the play-by-play where he was replaced.)

As you can see above, Boston had a total of 16 HRs over those three games. I believe this is the record over three consecutive games (not necessarily against the same opponent) but I don't have a definitive way of proving that.

Here are other 3-game streaks where the team had at least 15 HR over 3 days. I am not sure that this list is exhaustive.

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 CHC      2002-08-10  2002-08-12     3    2   1   117   33   40   5   0  15   33   19    8    0   0  .342  .403  .769 1.172 COL,HOU
 DET      2006-04-03  2006-04-06     3    3   0   118   27   40   6   0  15   25   20    8    1   1  .339  .383  .771 1.154 KCR,TEX
 LAD      1996-06-29  1996-07-01     3    2   1   130   38   55   4   3  15   38   22    9    4   1  .423  .454  .846 1.300 COL,SDP
 MIN      1963-08-26  1963-08-29     3    2   1   120   27   43   2   2  15   26   19    9    0   0  .358  .412  .783 1.195 WSA         

The Yankees also did it in their last three games (as noted by commenter cchien in this post) but as of this writing the database doesn't yet reflect yesterday's games.

3 Responses to “The Bronx is Burning”

  1. kayde Says:

    Toronto hit 15 HR in a 3-game span in 1987. They hit 5 HR vs. the Yankees on 09/12/87, zero on 09/13/87 and 10 vs. Baltimore on 09/14/87.

  2. Andy Says:

    That's exactly the kind of game I wouldn't have found in my search. I was using the team batting streak finder, so they needed to have HR in all the games. What's more is that I only search as low as 2 HR in each game, so there may be instances where a team hit, for example, 7, 1, then 7, which I wouldn't have found.

  3. kayde Says:

    Here's one more to add to the list. The 1999 Reds hit 1 HR in a 10-2 loss to the Phillies on 09/03, 9 more in a 22-3 drubbing of the Phils on 09/04 and 5 more in their 9-7 win in the series finale on 09/05. They also hit 1 HR in the 09/06 game vs. the Cubs, so they had 15 total HR in the 3-game stretch from 09/03-09/05 and from 09/04-09/06 that year.