Most homers, first 2 career games
Posted by Andy on January 19, 2008
Over at the TwinsCards.com blog, they just finished their first round of Twins-related trivia. I got intrigued by one of the questions there: most homers in the first 2 games of a career.
Using the PI Batting Game Finder and limiting the search to the first 2 career games, we can find players who had at least 1 HR in each game:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Dick Stuart 2 Ind. Games Roberto Pena 2 Ind. Games Keith McDonald 2 Ind. Games Joe Lefebvre 2 Ind. Games Tim Laudner 2 Ind. Games Kevin Kouzmanoff 2 Ind. Games Ricky Jordan 2 Ind. Games Kenji Johjima 2 Ind. Games Sam Horn 2 Ind. Games Todd Helton 2 Ind. Games Elijah Dukes 2 Ind. Games Alvin Davis 2 Ind. Games Josh Bard 2 Ind. Games
If you look at each player's individual games, you'll see (as I did) that every game was a 1-HR game. The only grand slam was by Kouzmanoff, who you might remember hit a slam on the first career pitch he ever saw.
Now, the trivia question asks about most career homers in the first two games, so any players who had a 2-HR game in his first two (and zero in the other) would also count.
There are 8 players who have done that:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Dave Stapleton 1 Ind. Games Mike Ryan 1 Ind. Games Manny Ramirez 1 Ind. Games Mark Quinn 1 Ind. Games Dan Meyer 1 Ind. Games Bert Campaneris 1 Ind. Games Curt Blefary 1 Ind. Games Gabe Alvarez 1 Ind. Games
I remember watching that Manny Ramirez game. Mark Quinn and Gabe Alvarez had the most RBIs in their 2-HR games, with 4.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Bert Campanaris!!
January 19th, 2008 at 9:53 am
These guys collectively averaged less than 100 career HR's (90.95)
January 19th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Campy had a total of 3 multi-homer games in his career:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/sgzz
January 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Mike---there are at least a couple famous guys with your name--are you either of them? Or are you just emulating one of them? 🙂
January 20th, 2008 at 6:31 am
The fastest player (based on career games, only since 1957) to a 3 homer game was Bobby Estalella. On September 4th 1997 ( http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON199709040.shtml ),Estalella's 10th career game, he hit 3 home runs. He would finish his career with 48. (although 25 per 162 games is a good rate)
January 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Re: #4
No Andy, I am not famous, but that is my real name. I didn't know there was a famous guy with the same name - what is he known for?
January 20th, 2008 at 9:50 am
For one, there is a professional poker player with that name.
Raphy--Estalella is still active I think, so he might still get more homers.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Well I checked and I see that he hasn't played in the majors since 2004. Sometimes I confuse him with Johnny Estrada, as they were both Latino catchers who started out with the Phillies. Estrada is still around, but Estallela probably is not, although from here you can see that he went to spring training with the Mets in 2006.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I was at that Manny Ramirez game. Besides the two HR over the LF wall, he also banged a double off the LF fence. And a large contingent of supporters in the upper deck waved Dominican flags and cheered loudly for each at bat.
I think Bill James wrote some about how Bobby Estalella's father got screwed out of a career because he was light enough to get chances in the majors, but too dark for teams to feel comfortable keeping him around for an extended time. And despite obvious hitting talent, Estalella Jr. also seemed to get jerked around -- that may have been due to personality issues.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I know Manny was born in the Dominican Republic, but didn't he spend some time growing up in the Bronx? I thought that was also a reason why he got a lot of attention in those first few games of his career.
January 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Manny grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.
January 20th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Regarding #9 Johnny - Estalella Jr.'s personality issues and hitting talent may be one in the same (see The Mitchell Report).
January 20th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Re: #7
Well, OK, I am the poker player. Wouldn't call myself famous by any stretch though. :o)
January 20th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
what's up with the photo here?
http://www.pokerpages.com/players/profiles/7195/mike-minetti.htm
January 20th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
A joke - that's my high school graduation picture (1977). When they asked me to send in a pic, I thought that would be a good one. The one on cardplayer is from the 2006 WSOP. As you can see the hair is now long gone!