Will anyone ever hit 5 HRs in a game?

[DrJay]

We've talked about all kinds of records that may be untouchable, but I don't know if anyone ever touched on this one. Twelve players have hit four home runs in a nine inning game:

NL - Bobby Lowe - 4 (5/30/1894)
NL - Ed Delahanty - 4 (7/13/1896)
AL - Lou Gehrig - 4 (6/3/32)
NL - Gil Hodges - 4 (8/31/50)
NL - Joe Adcock - 4 (7/31/54)
AL - Rocky Colovito - 4 (6/10/59)
NL - Willie Mays - 4 (4/30/61)
NL - Bob Horner - 4 (7/6/86)
NL - Mark Whiten - 4 (9/7/93)
AL - Mike Cameron - 4 (5/2/02)
NL - Shawn Green - 4 (5/23/02)
AL - Carlos Delgado - 4 (9/25/03)

(I'm baffled that I missed hearing about all five that have occurred in the last twenty years, but I guess that shows how little attention I pay to the game day-to-day.)

There've been a gazillion major league games played....for grins, assume a mean of 10 teams per league, a mean of 158 games/season, 110 years, yielding 173,800 games, not counting post-season (don't know if the 10/league mean is a high or low guess and I think for record purposes MLB goes back more than 110 years). So in that many games, hitting five HRs is something nobody has done. I doubt it will ever happen. A guy has to hit four and then get a fifth at bat. I don't know how many of these twelve got a fifth AB. Then he has to be facing a pitcher willing to challenge him rather than walk him.

[bad hammy]

Re: Will anyone ever hit 5 HRs in a game?

Then he has to be facing a pitcher willing to challenge him rather than walk him.

Or hit him. Bet you no one every got 4 HRs in one game off of Bob Gibson or Don Drysdale . . .

[gh]

The sheer magnitude of the achievement is perhaps reflected in how rare it is just to see somebody get 5 hits in a game, let alone dingers.

[skyin' brian]

after a guy unloads twice in one game, i'm going to probably pitch around him, but i'm not a pitcher(or a hitter for that matter)

with juiced pitchers(faster pitch travels far off of bat), juiced batters, and a juiced ball, it will happen. maybe soon, probably in my favorite ballpark.

[cullman]

Joe Adcock almost hit 5 in one game. One of his hits was a double that went off the top of the wall.

The record that might be unbreakable is Fernando Tatis' two grand slam homers in one inning. Nobody had hit a grand slam on the first major league pitch they faced until last week so I guess anything is possible. Did ya know that Ted Williams once hit 4 home runs in 4 consecutive at bats over four games? He was walked a bunch of times which statistically don't count as official at bats. Jeez, I gotta get a life.

[gh]

after a guy unloads twice in one game, i'm going to probably pitch around him, but i'm not a pitcher(or a hitter for that matter)

with juiced pitchers(faster pitch travels far off of bat), juiced batters, and a juiced ball, it will happen. maybe soon, probably in my favorite ballpark.

That must be Tropicana Field :-)

[mike renfro]

I suspect that the "code of the west" would kick in way before a 5th HR. After 3, the chances of getting plunked are pretty high. After 4, twould be a mortal lock.

[JRM]

Have a read:

http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0608228

I'm not sure if this exactly answers your question, but I'm certain that this was calculated.