Friday, April 16, 2010

BOBBY ABREU RUNNING INTO AN OUTFIELD WALL TO MAKE A CATCH: Intriguing baseball question posed by a WSJ article today -- given that there have been 173,383 major league games played since 1903, have we run out of things that have never happened before in a game which realistically could happen?

Among those black swans listed in the article: five home runs or three grand slams by a single player in one game; having a pitcher twice in one game throwing nine-pitch, three-strikes-per-batter "immaculate innings;" having all nine starters for a team hit home runs in one game; and two players hitting for the cycle in the same game.

6 comments:

  1. isaac_spaceman7:49 PM

    Stephen Strasburg striking out 27 batters? 

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  2. While Matt Wieters hits 5 HRs?

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  3. Mr. Cosmo11:25 PM

    One could have said the same thing 10 years ago . . . and then Fernando Tatis (!?) hit two grand slams in the same *inning*.  Against the same pitcher.

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling11:29 PM

    I don't think there have been two in-the-park grand slams in the same game.  Has there ever been a decision on no-hitters from both pitchers?  I know someone (White Sox?) lost on a no-hitter a few years back because of a walk and a couple of errors.

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  5. Mr. Cosmo11:34 PM

    On May 2, 1917, a game between the <span>Chicago Cubs</span> and the <span>Cincinnati Reds</span> reached the end of nine innings in a hitless scoreless tie, the only time in baseball history that neither team has had a hit in regulation. Both <span>Hippo Vaughn</span> of the Cubs and <span>Fred Toney</span> of the Reds continued pitching into the tenth inning. Vaughn lost his no-hitter in the top of the tenth, as the Reds got two hits and scored the winning run. Toney retired the side in the bottom of the tenth and recorded a ten-inning no-hitter. This game was long considered a "double no-hitter," but Vaughn is no longer credited with a no-hitter under the current rules.

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