There aren't too many events in other sports like baseball's cycle.
It's not like making a two-pointer, a three-pointer, a free throw and a dunk is some sort of mystical accomplishment in an NBA game. Sure, there are double-doubles and triple-doubles, as well as the extremely rare quadruple-double, but none of those quite compare to baseball's cycle. The same goes for the NFL. 10 players in league history have accomplished the incredible single-game feat of throwing a touchdown, rushing for a touchdown and receiving a touchdown, including LaDainian Tomlinson. But even that isn't as poetic as baseball's cycle.
The poetry is the key here. It's a perfect way to complete the ultimate offensive goal. It requires pretty much every tool, save for fielding, in a player's toolkit. You need to be able to hit for contact. You need power. You need speed. Heck, you even need a little bit of luck. But once it all comes together, I can't imagine there's more of a complete feeling available from an offensive perspective of the game.
According to Baseball Reference, 256 players since 1901 have hit for the cycle, a handful of which — including Adrian Beltre, George Brett and Lou Gehrig — have done it multiple times. 256 players out of the 19,902 MLB players on Baseball Reference's deep database. There are more former MLB players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (263) than there are players who have hit for the cycle over the past 120 years. If that's not a stat that blows you away, I don't know what is.
But not all of the people who were able to accomplish this feat were, like Hall of Famers, generally productive or consistently dominant players. Let's take a look at ten who, in recent years, came out of nowhere to achieve one of baseball's coolest milestones.
All stats retrieved from Baseball Reference. Cycles listed in chronological order.
Daryle Ward, Pittsburgh Pirates
Daryle Ward joined his father, Gary, when he hit for the cycle.(G. N. Lowrance/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-5, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R (5/26/04)
Season stats: 73-293, 17 2B, 2 3B, 15 HR, 57 RBI, 39 R, .249/.305/.474
The top of the Pittsburgh Pirates' batting order absolutely raked in this one, with Jason Kendall (3-5), Jack Wilson (4-6) and Ward providing an impenetrable 1-2-3 punch that gave Jason Marquis, Kiko Calero and the rest of the Cardinals' pitching staff loads of trouble. This gave the Pirates their 20th win of the season as they approached .500, though they ultimately finished in fifth in the division with a 72-89 record.
Stranger still is that Ward's father, Gary, hit for the cycle as well, making them the only father-son duo to achieve the feat... until Cavan Biggio's cycle put him in that same group with his dad, Craig.
David Bell, Philadelphia Phillies
David Bell wasn't a renowned hitter, but it all came together for him in this game.(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-4, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 R (6/28/2004)
Season stats: 155-533, 33 2B, 1 3B, 18 HR, 77 RBI, 67 R, .291/.363/.458
The 2004 season happened to be the best of Bell's career, seeing as his batting average was more than 40 points above his career average and his OPS was more than 100 points higher. Still, he certainly wasn't the motor that drove the Phils' offensive engine that season, seeing as he batted behind names like Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Jim Thome and Pat Burrell.
Now the Reds' skipper, Bell was never as good a player as his father, Buddy, or his grandfather, Gus (who also hit for the cycle), but he managed to hit for the cycle, and no Phillie has accomplished the feat since.
Eric Valent, New York Mets
For a player with a career bWAR of -0.9, it's surprising Valent was able to complete the cycle.(Brian Bahr/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-4, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R (7/29/04)
Season stats: 72-270, 15 2B, 2 3B, 13 HR, 34 RBI, 39 R, .267/.337/.481
Valent was used less often as a starter (55 games) as he was as a pinch-hitter (64), but he sure took advantage of one specific start toward the end of July. Filling in for usual left fielder Cliff Floyd, Valent batted seventh in the lineup — one spot ahead of some rookie named David Wright — and completely torched Rocky Biddle, Sun-Woo Kim and Roy Corcoran of the Montreal Expos.
2004 was the only season of Valent's five-year career in which he hit a home run or a triple — he put up goose eggs in 2001-2003 and 2005 — and one of each, coincidentally, came in this bizarre day to remember.
7/29/04: #MetsLegend Eric Valent hits for the cycle and leads the charge against the Montréal Expos en route to a 10-1 Mets victory. pic.twitter.com/uAF2kENo1Y
— Real Mets Legends (@MetsLegends) March 6, 2021
Mark Grudzielanek, St. Louis Cardinals
Mark Grudzielanek was well into his career when he finally hit for the cycle as a Cardinal.(Elsa/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-5, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R (4/27/05)
Season stats: 155-528, 30 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 59 RBI, 64 R, .294/.334/.407
Leading off for a lineup that consisted of two Hall of Famers (Larry Walker, Albert Pujols) and three very good players (Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Yadier Molina), it was Mark Grudzielanek who paced the offense for a red-hot 2005 Cardinals team that wound up 14-5 after this game and won 100 games on the season.
Grudzielanek wasn't a nobody — he piled up 201 hits in 1996 and led the league in doubles the next season — but he sure wasn't someone with a lot of pop and was in his age-35 season, the only one he'd spend with the Cards.
Fred Lewis, San Francisco Giants
Fred Lewis led off for the Giants on a number of occasions, but hitting for the cycle was a surprise.(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)Cycle: 5-6, 2 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R (5/13/2007)
Season stats: 45-157, 6 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 19 RBI, 34 R, .287/.374/.408
Though 2007 was the season in which Lewis hit for his improbable cycle, his 2008 campaign was the best of his career — his 11 triples trailed only Jose Reyes. Not a typical power hitter, the Coors Field effect may have helped Lewis out on this mid-May day, seeing as he took Taylor Buccholz deep in the fourth as part of a 15-2 demolition of the Rockies.
The Giants hit .458 as a team that day — on Mother's Day — and Lewis's 11 total bases was a huge factor in that equation. Interestingly enough, it was the first time in his young career that he had ever recorded multiple hits.
Scott Hairston, New York Mets
Scott Hairston spent time with many teams, but the Mets were the lucky ones for his cycle.(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-5, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R (4/27/12)
Season stats: 99-377, 25 2B, 3 3B, 20 HR, 57 RBI, 52 R, .263/.299/.504
Hairston only had four games of four hits, and 11 of those other 12 hits were singles. So it was a nice change of pace to see Hairston go yard and gain extra bases against the Rockies — there's that Coors Field effect again — in 2012 with the Mets.
The Mets actually lost this game despite Hairston's cycle and nine runs as a team. But when you let the Rockies go off for 18 runs, it's going to be hard to win no matter what individual accomplishments your players can achieve.
Brandon Barnes, Houston Astros
Brandon Barnes' ascension to stardom never took form, as his second-year cycle may have indicated.(Scott Halleran/Getty Images)Cycle: 5-5, 2 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR (7/19/13)
Season stats: 98-408, 17 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 41 RBI, 46 R, .240/.289/.346
Not much went right for the 2013 Astros, seeing as they went 56-106 in 2011, somehow got worse in 2012 with a 55-107 record, and then somehow got even worse with a 51-111 campaign.
Even in one of the rare bright spots — Barnes' cycle — the Astros were beaten by the Mariners, 10-7, despite a team .390 batting average in that game compared to Seattle's .289 showing.
Brock Holt, Boston Red Sox
Brock Holt hit for one regular season cycle, then hit for one in the postseason three years later.(Jim Rogash/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-5, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R (6/16/15)
Season stats: 127-454, 27 2B, 6 3B, 2 HR, 45 RBI, 56 R, .280/.349/.379
Despite pedestrian numbers, Holt's analytic stats actually painted him in a pretty nice way for the 2015 season and helped him become the Red Sox' All-Star representative that season. So I guess as an All-Star he's not too obscure, but with a whopping two home runs on the season, he definitely wasn't the most likely candidate for the milestone.
Holt was released by the Brewers last summer after he had moved on from Boston, and his career's trajectory isn't too promising.
BUT WAIT! There's more. Holt hit for the cycle three seasons later... in the postseason. No other player in league history has accomplished this achievement.
John Jaso, Pittsburgh Pirates
John Jaso and his memorable hair exploded for the cycle out of nowhere.(Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-4, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R (9/28/16)
Season stats: 102-380, 25 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 42 RBI, 45 R, .268/.353/.413
Jaso was near the end of his MLB road when he arrived in Pittsburgh for the 2016 season. He had been a middling catcher in all his previous stints, be it with the Rays, Mariners or Athletics, and that trend continued into his final landing spot with the Pirates. But for one, game, Jaso put on a memorable show, rocking Jake Arrieta at the end of an All-Star campaign for the pitcher.
Jaso joined Ray Schalk as the only players to catch a perfect game and hit for the cycle.
Jake Bauers, Cleveland Indians
There's still time for Jake Bauers to develop in the bigs so that he can produce more stat lines like his cycle.(Duane Burleson/Getty Images)Cycle: 4-5, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R (6/14/19)
Season stats: 84-372, 16 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR, 43 RBI, 46 R, .226/.312/.371
We're not sure if this game was a sign of potential things to come for Bauers, but his follow-up 2020 season — in which he didn't see any MLB action — certainly didn't indicate that this was the case.
However, for one game, Bauers looked like an extremely exciting player, picking up the back end of the Indians' lineup — which was responsible for nine runs batted in against the Tigers in this contest — and was unstoppable at the dish.
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