11 Major League Baseball Feats That Have Only Happened Once
TMC
I was on Yahoo yesterday and there was a headline about a rare feat by
Albert Pujols -- hitting a sac fly that scored two runners. (The guy
on second just ran like hell.)
I thought that was cool until I read the article and it mentioned the
last time a two-run sac fly occurred, all the way back in... 2008.
Twice.
I'm not down for "feats" like that. That's like saying it's a feat
that I bought a new thing of face wash today because I haven't done
that since December.
So I put on my best Elias Sports Bureau costume and dug through the
Major League Baseball archives to find 11 real feats -- things that
have only happened one time, EVER, in MLB history.
And, because some weird, weird shit used to go down in 19th century
baseball guys (like players with four arms turning unassisted triple
plays while simultaneously fighting off the Kaiser and operating a
cotton gin), I'm only counting modern era baseball, 1900 to present.
Johnny Vander Meer. Better at baseball than at being handsome in
photographs.
Back-to-back no hitters. Accomplished by Johnny Vander Meer,
Cincinnati Reds, June 11-15, 1938. There have been 223 no hitters in
MLB history (averaging out to about two per season), so it's insane
that Vander Meer was able to throw no-hitters in back-to-back starts.
Especially considering that he went on to have a lifetime W-L record
of 119-121. Which was still good enough to get him into the Cincinnati
Reds Hall of Fame. (No, Pete Rose can't get into that one either. But
Jose Rijo did.)
Grand slam on first Major League pitch. Accomplished by Kevin
Kouzmanoff, Cleveland Indians, September 2, 2006. On the first pitch
he ever saw, Kouzmanoff hit a grand slam of the Texas Rangers' Edinson
Volquez, en route to the Indians winning the game 6-5.
As my Cleveland Indians often do, they quickly traded Kouzmanoff to
the San Diego Padres for a sack of magic beans. (Given name of said
sack of magic beans: Josh Barfield.)
Caught stealing four times in one game. Accomplished by Robby
Thompson, San Francisco Giants, June 27, 1986. It was a 12-inning game
and the Giants kept sending their "fast" rookie, Thompson. And he kept
getting caught. Four times.
What makes that even crazier is that, in the 149 games he played that
season, he only successfully stole 12 bases (and was caught 15 times).
So by late June, the Giants should've figured out that maybe he wasn't
the track star they thought he was.
Germany Schaefer. Stole first base.
Steal the same base twice in one inning. (And three bases total...
including FIRST?) Accomplished by Germany Schaefer, Detroit Tigers,
September 4, 1908. This one's going to take some 'splainin. Until
1920, Major League Baseball had a rule that made it legal to steal
bases in reverse order. If you were on second and wanted to go back to
first, you could steal it. Which can, in some convoluted ways, make
strategic sense.
During the September 4th, 1908, game between the Tigers and Cleveland
Indians, Schaefer was on first and a teammate was on third. The Tigers
wanted to do a double steal -- Schaefer would break for second, and,
when the Indians tried to throw him out, his teammate would steal
home. But when Schaefer broke for second, the Indians' catcher didn't
make the throw, so Schaefer stole the base without the run scoring.
That wasn't the plan so, on the next pitch, he broke back for first...
and successfully stole it without a throw. Then, on the next pitch, he
broke for second AGAIN, to try to make the double steal work... but
again, the Indians didn't throw.
That makes him the only player in MLB history to steal the same base
twice in one inning. (And one of only two players to ever steal first
base from second.)
Two triple plays in one game. Accomplished by the Minnesota Twins,
July 17th, 1990. This could also be expanded to the only team ever to
turn two triple plays in one game... AND LOSE.
The Red Sox hit into two triple plays (one in the fourth, one in the
eighth) but still beat the Twins, 1-0.
Back-to-back homers by the same two teammates in one inning.
Accomplished by Mike Cameron and Bret Boone, Seattle Mariners, May 2,
2002. In the first inning of the Mariners versus White Sox, Cameron
and Boone hit back-to-back home runs. Seattle batted around... and, in
the same inning, Cameron and Boone went back-to-back again.
Cameron went on to hit four homers in the game (that's one of those
lame "feats" that tons of people have done) and the Mariners won
15-4.
Really stumped the Indians that day.
Pitcher with fewest hands (1) throwing a no-hitter. Accomplished by
Jim Abbott, September 4, 1993. Jim Abbott didn't have a right hand. He
no-hit the Cleveland Indians in 1993.
As an Indians fan, I remember watching that game... and kinda hoping
Abbott would get it. After all, who isn't a sucker for stories like
this?
I also remember, late in the game, Kenny Lofton trying to bunt his way
on and the fans booing. I think it took me until about 2008 to realize
that even though Albert Belle was one of the biggest dicks in sports
history, Kenny Lofton was kinda a dick too.
Triple play without the bat touching a ball. Accomplished by the
Seattle Mariners, September 2, 2008. This one's very convoluted, which
makes it wonderful. In a Mariners-Rays game, Raul Ibanez of the
Mariners got called out on strikes. Meanwhile Adrian Beltre was trying
to steal second, and was thrown out. While he was getting thrown out,
Jose Lopez tried to score from third and got thrown out at home plate.
Crazily enough, there's also, theoretically, a way for a team to hit
into a triple play without the fielder touching a ball. If there are
runners on first and second with no outs, the batter needs to hit a
catchable infield pop fly. He'd be out number one for the infield fly
rule. The runner on first would have to pass the runner on second,
making him out number two. And finally, the runner on second would
have to get hit by the ball as it lands for the third out. That's
never happened in baseball history, though.
Toby Harrah -- records for fielding, inside-the-park home runs AND
being the most stereotypical '70s-looking baseball player ever.
One player sets two crazy one-time-only feats. Accomplished by Toby
Harrah, Texas Rangers, 1976-77. These were both great one-time-only
feats... then I saw they were both accomplished by the same player...
and made the executive decision that his accomplishing of two one-time-
only feats was, in and of itself, an 11 Points-worthy one-time-only
feat.
On June 25, 1976, Harrah became the only shortstop ever to play every
inning of a doubleheader and not get a single ball hit to him. Then,
one year later, on August 27, 1977, Harrah and his Rangers teammate
Bump Wills became the only players ever to hit back-to-back inside-the-
park home runs.
2 grand slams in an inning. Accomplished by Fernando Tatis, St. Louis
Cardinals, April 23, 1999. In the Cardinals-Dodgers game, Tatis hit
two grand slams in the third inning -- both off of the same pitcher,
Chan Ho Park. No player has ever hit two in one inning before or
since; and no player has ever matched Tatis's eight RBIs in one inning
either.
Tatis was batting behind Mark McGwire that game (and that was during
the McGwire SMASH! era). Those were Tatis's only two hits for the
game, which the Cardinals won 12-5.
Player goes from a hat size of 7.5 to 16 over the course of a career.
Accomplished by Barry Bonds, 1986 - 2007. Barry started his career as
a talented, thin, second-generation stud prospect. He ended it with a
bigger head than the kid in "So I Married an Axe Murderer". And that
kid's head looked like an orange on a toothpick.