More stats on cycles
Posted by Andy on July 26, 2010
Of the 230 cycles hit since 1920:
- 26 (11.3%) featured only 1 RBI
- 29 (12.6%) featured only 1 run scored
- Only Mel Ott's 1929 cycle featured both 1 RBI and 1 run scored
- 38 (16.5%) included a walk and two featured two walks.
- 23 (10.0%) were done in the minimum 4 plate appearances (meaning the player got only 4 PAs in the game. This figure doesn't include players who did it in their first 4 PAs of the game but went to get get a 5th PA.)
- 7 (3.0%) included 2 home runs. Let's all tip our caps to Joe DiMaggio once again.
- 1 (0.4%) included 2 triples.
- 3 (1.3%) included 6 hits.
- 199 (86.5) came in games of 9 innings or less. Again, this doesn't consider players who might have achieved the cycle within the first 9 innings. If the game went extra innings, it doesn't count in this stat.
- 13 (5.7%) include at least one stolen base. Charlie Moore got 2 in his 1980 cycle. Wow.
- 1 (0.4%) included the player striking out twice.
- 2 (0.9%) included the player getting hit by a pitch.
- 4 (1.7%) included the player grounding into a double play.
- the oldest player to hit one is Dave Winfield in 1991.
- the youngest player to hit one is Arky Vaughan.
Keep in mind these are all since 1920.
What did I leave out?
July 26th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
All this cycle talk got me curious about a semi-related question. Who has fallen a double short of the cycle while hitting two triples? It's happened 10 times, most recently Conor Jackson in this game. And, of course, his fourth hit was a triple. Are there any player, you think, who in that situation would stop at second, even if they likely could get to third? http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI200804180.shtml
July 26th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Excellent thought, Nate.
How about this? 23 times a player has finished a single short of the cycle but with two doubles. And 5 times a player has finished a single short of the cycle but with two triples.
Conceivably, these guys could also have stopped short.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
The earliest to do it in a season, the earliest to do it in a career (and maybe both)
Family members
July 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Perhpas the potential double or single that would have given them a cycle came early in the game. For example, if the two triples came back to back in the first two at bats and then a single followed by the home run. If its the 4th inning and your team is tied your not thinking "If I stop with a double now and I'll just need a homer and a single for the cycle." hell no your thoughts are on winning the game for your team, at any point.
Hat tip though to Conor Jackson whos last triple DID happen after he had a triple, single, and home run, AND his team was winning pretty heavily (7-0 in the 6th) at the time of his last triple.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
"Are there any player, you think, who in that situation would stop at second, even if they likely could get to third?"
I couldn't give you any names, but I'm sure there are. There have been players in the NBA that intentionally missed shots so that they could get a their 10th rebound (in order to get a triple-double).
July 26th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
• the youngest player to hit one is Arky Vaughan.
Since 1920, of course; the very youngest player ever to hit for the cycle was also the last player from the pre-PI Era to cycle, Cliff Heathcote, who was 20 years and 140 days old (and ten days into his major-league career) when he hit for the cycle for the Cardinals in a 19-inning, 8-8 tie against the Phillies on June 13, 1918.
July 26th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Here's one for you guys: Let's say a player comes up to the plate needing only a triple to complete the cycle. He hits the ball out of the park for an apparent home run, and yet he settles for a triple. Technically, this is possible. If a player circles the bases after hitting a would-be home run, and fails to touch home plate, it is officially scored a triple, and the player is out at home for not touching the plate. If this were to ever happen -- where a player intentionally did not touch home plate, just so he could get his cycle -- I think it would cause an uproar for violation of the integrity of the game. But technically, it is possible. Just thought I would throw it out there.
July 26th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
The stopping short type of comment is what really jives me about cycles. Seriously, "the cycle" is
one ofthe most worthless stat/accomplishment there is. You go down on the record books for hitting a cycle, but if you get two doubles, a triple, and a homer, something which is CLEARLY better, you won't be remembered for more than having a pretty good game, probably not for more than a few weeks. It's ridiculous that such cycles are compared so often to no-hitters, as I hear being done on television and the radio. It drives me nuts!July 26th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Jeffery The Jellyfish, I once thought of something similiar to what you said. A power hiter could break Chief Wilson's single-season record of 36 triples or Sam Crawford's career record of 309 triples if he ran out of the baseline after 37 homeruns in a season or 310 career homeruns before touching home plate.
July 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Here is a basic trivia question, who has hit for the cycle the most times? There are 2 players who have done it 3 times, 1 in the AL and 1 in the NL and both in the 1920-1930s era.
July 26th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@3 - Regarding family members - Buddy Bell never hit for the cycle, but both his father Gus and his son David did.
Cycle hit on the same day as a new family member was added (or about to be added) to his family - Gregg Jefferies hit for the cycle on August 25, 1995, even though he left the game around the sixth inning to take his wife to the hospital to give birth. (She had a girl, so unless things change pretty quickly, there won't be a cycle forthcoming from this child.) I thought I'd see this one listed with those that came in only four plate appearances because of his early departure from the game. Then again, the Phillies scored 17 runs that night (four coming on a grand slam by pitcher Jeff Juden - but not all was good - the runner on third at the time was Lenny Webster, pinch running for Darren Daulton, who suffered such a bad knee injury on the base paths that he was never able to catch again), so he could have been up there at least five times.
July 26th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Andy, here is something you left out that I would be curious about. Of the 230 cycles hit since 1920, how many were accomplished in the player's first 4 AB of the game? How many were accomplished in sequential order (i.e. single in AB #1, double in AB #2, triple in AB #3, home run in AB #4 or vice versa)? I'm guessing that the only way to get this info is to manually look through box scores, so if you don't have time, it's not a big deal. Just more food for thought.
July 26th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
So, unrelated to this post, I've gotta know when the first hit of a game was a grand slam. And when's the last time it happened as late as it did tonight?
July 26th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
good question. i'd also like to know if any teams have been involved, on either side, of as many no-hitters in a season as the Rays have this year.
July 26th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
@10: Babe Herman & Bob Meusel...
I literally just read about this about a half hour before checking the site tonight... wow..
July 27th, 2010 at 9:09 am
Tony Lazzeri's cycle came in Lou Gehrig's four homer game.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Of the 230 cycles hit since 1920, how many . . . were accomplished in sequential order (i.e. single in AB #1, double in AB #2, triple in AB #3, home run in AB #4 or vice versa)?
List of "natural" cycles.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:01 am
@#3 Dave
Daryle Ward and Gary Ward both hit for the cycle, making them, to my knowledge, the only family members to hit for the cycle.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Also, with Molina hitting for the cycle this year, I will be pulling for Yadier to do the same.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:02 am
haha no faith in Jose hitting for the cycle?
July 27th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
You read me right Hooplah 🙂
July 27th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Off topic a bit, but has anyone ever thrown for the cycle? By this, I mean someone who threw out a runner at each base in the same game. Is there a tool to check this? I'm guessing that among middle infielders it happens several times a season. Has an outfielder ever thrown out runners at even three different bases in the same game?
July 27th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
[...] I mentioned that over this same period, there have been 230 cycles. So it's about 5 times harder to do what Mauer did than to hit for the cycle. Since 1920 there have [...]
July 27th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Gus (1951) and grandson David (2004) Bell both hit for the cycle.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
[...] I mentioned that over this same period, there have been 230 cycles. So it’s about 5 times rarer for Mauer to do what he did than to hit for the cycle. Since [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Here is a basic trivia question, who has hit for the cycle the most times? There are 2 players who have done it 3 times, 1 in the AL and 1 in the NL and both in the 1920-1930s era.
Depending on how you feel about the American Association, you could add Long John Reilly, who hit for the cycle on September 12 and 19, 1883, for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, then did it a third time on August 6, 1890, while playing for the NL Reds. Reilly is the only player besides Meusel and Herman with three cycles.
July 28th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
@ #8....AMEN!
July 28th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Resurrecting the "stopping short" notion...Garrett Jones just hit his second home run of the game in his 4th at-bat in the 8th inning in Colorado, while needing a triple for the cycle. Of course, the homer extended the Pirates' lead to "only" 6-2, and they'll take all the runs they can get!
July 29th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Who has hit for the cycle with the least career triples? Does anyone only have the 1? I ask because Bengie Molina's cycle clinching triple was only his 6th in 5000+ PAs!
August 7th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
what was the earliest in a game someone has reached the cycle? like has anyone had it by the 6th or 7th inning? i would assume that is uncommon, if it even happened at all.