Most hits, first 2 career games
Posted by Andy on May 4, 2010
Check this out:
| Rk | Player | Year | PA ▾ | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilson Ramos | 2010 | Ind. Games | 9 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .778 | .778 | 1.111 | 1.889 |
| 2 | Coaker Triplett | 1938 | Ind. Games | 10 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .700 | .700 | 1.100 | 1.800 |
| 3 | Cecil Travis | 1933 | Ind. Games | 11 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .700 | .727 | .700 | 1.427 |
| 4 | Ian Desmond | 2009 | Ind. Games | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .750 | .778 | 1.500 | 2.278 |
| 5 | Preston Wilson | 1998 | Ind. Games | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .750 | .778 | 1.000 | 1.778 |
| 6 | Bill Bean | 1987 | Ind. Games | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .600 | .600 | .800 | 1.400 |
| 7 | Jim Norris | 1977 | Ind. Games | 12 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .545 | .545 | .909 | 1.455 |
| 8 | Ted Cox | 1977 | Ind. Games | 9 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .750 | .778 | .875 | 1.653 |
| 9 | Spook Jacobs | 1954 | Ind. Games | 9 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 |
| 10 | Barney McCosky | 1939 | Ind. Games | 12 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .667 | .727 | .889 | 1.616 |
| 11 | Enos Slaughter | 1938 | Ind. Games | 10 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .600 | .600 | 1.000 | 1.600 |
| 12 | Joe DiMaggio | 1936 | Ind. Games | 11 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .545 | .545 | .727 | 1.273 |
| 13 | Art Scharein | 1932 | Ind. Games | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .750 | .750 | 1.000 | 1.750 |
| 14 | Charlie English | 1932 | Ind. Games | 11 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .545 | .545 | .636 | 1.182 |
| 15 | Hub Walker | 1931 | Ind. Games | 11 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .545 | .545 | .636 | 1.182 |
| 16 | Charlie Bates | 1927 | Ind. Games | 10 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | .700 | 1.111 | 1.811 |
| 17 | Guy Sturdy | 1927 | Ind. Games | 9 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 |
| 18 | Sparky Adams | 1922 | Ind. Games | 9 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 |
Among the years available to us in the box scores, these are the players I could find with the most hits in their first 2 games.I cheated a little bit by limiting the search to players with at least 2 hits in each of their first 2 games. More on this below for players I might have missed.
As Raphy noted in the comments to my earlier post about Wilson Ramos, he joins Coaker Triplett as the only player to follow a 4-hit game with a 3-hit game. Cecil Travis had a 5-hit game followed by a 2-hit game. Ian Desmond got off the a quick start last year with 6 hits in his first 2 games.
It's possible that other players got 7 hits in their first 2 games by a combination of a 6-hit game and a 1-hit game. They wouldn't have shown up in the search above. However, a search reveals that nobody in the years 1920-1939 and 1952-present had 6 hits in either of their first 2 major-league games. A further search shows that Travis is the only player with a 5-hit game within his first 2 career games (that's amazing!). That means that within those years, there's nobody else with 6 or 7 hits in their first two games who didn't already show up on the list above.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Besides Cecil Travis, Fred Clarke is supposedly the only other player to have 5 hits in his first game (in 1894).
May 4th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Looking ahead, Coaker Triplett had two more hits in his third game (all part of his team's season-opening series @ Cincinnati), but then he went 0-for-22 and was back in the minors by mid-May, not to appear in the Majors again until 1941 with St. Louis. I'm guessing that is not the career Ramos wants to emulate.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I also recall that Ted Cox was 6-for-6 to start his career. Unmatched I'm sure.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Thanks for another great post Andy.
To JDV: Interesting facts on Triplett. On Ramos; he doesn't exactly have the best odds at getting a lot of playing time with top-dollar Mauer on the same roster. However, I suppose he is good competition as Mauer's primary backup, with Drew Butera (relation to former Twins player Sal Butera) providing the nice defensive effort, but not really matching the offensive prowess of Ramos thus far. We need to see more action from Ramos and Butera, before the determination is made; however, as most probably would, I heavily vote on Mauer as THE guy, being one of my favorites, seeing through all he has accomplished so far, although his debut doesn't match Ramos'. Ramos came close to a HR while home at the new ballpark last night also, recorded his first RBI, and hopefully he can continue his great start and stay out of the minors. He's got great competition, teammates and coaches to pick up ideas and tips from once he goes into the inevitable "leveling out" phase, as well as slumps and struggles that all players experience, including the unfortunate Triplett.
May 4th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Jim Norris (#7 above) also made the list of American League DH-era players with the most appearances in a game as a pinch hitter batting for the #9 hitter in the line-up.
Better than Coaker Triplett, anyway.
May 4th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I believe Nanny Fernandez did this in 1942. He would be a good random player one day on this site.
May 4th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
[...] has been made of Wilson Ramos's start to his career. However, Ramos is also the first catcher this season to string together consecutive 3-hit games. [...]