Golden Sombrero

The Golden Sombrero comes from hockey's hat trick, three goals in a game. Thus a batter who strikes out three times in a game is said to wear the "sombrero". The word in Spanish refers to any type of hat, but in popular culture it is associated with the unwieldy huge hats worn by stereotypical cartoon Mexicans. More grand than a hat would be a sombrero that is gold. It is awarded to any player who strikes out four times in a game. A platinum sombrero for five strikeouts or a titanium sombrero for six strikeouts may be awarded but they are much rarer than a golden sombrero.

A player may also take the collar when he has a golden sombrero.

The king of the Golden Sombrero is Ryan Howard, who at the end of 2015 had 27 games with 4 or more strikeouts in his career. In the much rarer case of the Platinum Sombrero, the all-time leader is Sammy Sosa with 4; only one other player, Ray Lankford has performed the dubious feat three times.

Collecting a Golden Sombrero does not preclude a player from contributing to the offense in another at-bat. As researcher Herm Krabbenhoft has detailed in the study mentioned below, a number of players have combined the dubious feat with hitting one or more home run in the same game (often in a game that goes into extra innings), and that home run has sometimes been a game-winner or a walk-off home run.

Further Reading

• Herm Krabbenhoft: "Going Downtown with a Golden Sombrero: Combining Baseball's Best and Worst True Outcomes", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 52, Nr. 2 (Fall 2023), pp. 55-66.