Trey-Rod: 3 HR Games in Yankee History

Three is a magic number in baseball. Three strikes and you’re out. Three outs in an inning.  Babe Ruth wore #3.

When Alex Rodriguez, above, hit three home runs iagainst Kansas City on August 14, it marked the 30th time a Yankee player hit three homers in a single game.

Lou Gehrig achieved the feat four times, and hit four in one game, the only Yankee to perform that feat. Joe DiMaggio did it three times.

So did the Babe, although only one of his three occurred during the regular season.  Ruth hit the final three home runs of his storied career in 1935 for the Boston Braves in a game at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, and retired soon afterwards.

A-Rod joins Tony Lazzeri, and Bobby Murcer as the only other Yankees to hit three in a game two times. Rodriguez had three HRs and 10 RBIs against Bartolo Colon and the Angels in 2005.

In all 20 Yankees have accomplished the feat, including eight Hall of Famers — Ruth, Lazzeri, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Johnny Mize, Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson.

Ruth’s World Series Heroics
Ruth was the first Yankee to hit three in a game, against the Cardinals at old Sportsman Park in St. Louis in 1926 in the World Series, right. The Babe must have loved St. Louis, repeating the feat in 1928 to power the Yankees to a four-game sweep.

Ruth had his only regular season “hat trick” with the Yankees on May 22, 1930, in Philadelphia’s Shibe Park in the first game of a doubleheader which the Yankees lost, 15-7. Gehrig repeated the feat the following day in the first game of a another doubleheader in Philadelphia, a 20-13 victory over the A’s. Oh yes, Ruth and Lazerri also homered in that game.

Reggie Jackson is the only other major leaguer ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game. In just three swings in Game Six of the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers, Jax lifted the Yanks to to their first  championship. in 15 years.

Gehrig is the only Yankee to hit four home runs in a single game, on June 4, 1932, against the Athletics in Philadelphia. He was the first player in the modern era to hit four in a single game. He belted the circuit clouts in his first four at bats in a 20-13 win against the A’s. Gehrig missed a fifth home runs by inches, when his drive was caught in the furthest reaches of deep centerfield.

In that same game,  Lazzeri became the only player in major league baseball to finish a natural cycle with a grand slam.

Other Interesting Yankee Trey Factoids

On May 21 and 22, 1930, Ruth and Gehrig hit three home runs in successive games.

Mantle, Tommy Tresh and Tony Clark hit homers from both sides of the plate in their 3 HR games

Bobby Murcer hit four consecutive home runs — three in the second game — in a 1970 doubleheader against the Indians at Yankee Stadium.

Reggie Jackson, left, hit a home run in his final at bat in Game Five and three in a row during Game Six of the 1977 World Series. (My friend Matty was at the game at Yankee Stadium, and missed all three Reggie homers. But that’s a story for another blog.)

Johnny Blanchard in 1961 and Mickey Mantle in 1962 are the only other Yankees to hit four home runs in a row.

Lazzeri hit two grand slams and a third home run and drove in an American League record 11 runs in 1936 in a 25-2 rout of the Athletics at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Poosh em up Tony was also the first Yankee to hit three home runs in a single game in the regular season, in 1927.

On three separate occasions, the Yankees have lost a game in which a player hit three home runs — Ruth in 1930, Mize in 1950 and Mike Stanley in 1995.

DiMaggio’s first three home run game in 1937 resulted in an 11-inning,  8-8 tie with the St. Louis Browns in Sportsman’s Park.

Mize holds the MLB record for most times hitting three home runs in a game — six. Five came with the Cardinals and Giants in the National League. He was the first player to hit three home runs in a game twice in one season in 1938 and did it again in 1940.

Mize had his final three home run game with the Yankees in 1950, just five days after DiMaggio performed the feat for the third time.

The Yankees as a team have hit three home runs in a game twice in different seven seasons — 1927, 1930, 1932, 1950, 1977, 1995, and this year.

Earlier this year, Mark Teixeira became the first Yankee to hit three home runs in a game at Fenway Park since Gehrig in 1927.

Yankees Who Have Hit Three Home Runs in One Game

1926 — Babe Ruth (World Series)

1927 — Tony Lazzeri

1927 — Lou Gehrig

1928 — Babe Ruth (World Series)

1929 — Lou Gehrig

1030 — Babe Ruth

1930 — Lou Gehrig

1932 — Lou Gehrig (4 HRs)

1932 — Ben Chapman

1936 — Tony Lazzeri

1937 — Joe DiMaggio

1939 — Bill Dickey

1940 — Charlie Keller

1948 — Joe DiMaggio

1950 — Joe DiMaggio

1950 — Johnny Mize

1955 — Mickey Mantle

1965 — Tom Tresh

1970 — Bobby Murcer

1973 — Bobby Murcer

1977 — Cliff Johnson

1977 — Reggie Jackson (World Series)

1995 — Mike Stanley

1996 — Darryl Strawberry

1995 — Paul O’Neill

1997 — Tino Martinez

2004 — Tony Clark

2005 — Alex Rodriguez

2010 — Mark Teixeira

2010 — Alex Rodriguez