TODAYINBASEBALL.com TAKES US BACK TO MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN ON APRIL 30, 1961. Willie Mays joined an exclusive group on this date – the 4 home run group. At the time, Mays was just the 7th player in major league baseball history to hit 4 home runs in a nine-inning game. His blasts helped his San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves (today’s Atlanta Braves) 14-4.
Baseballs flew out of Milwaukee County Stadium on that Sunday afternoon in Wisconsin. Besides Mays’ 4 round-trippers, teammate Jose Pagan hit 2 home runs, as did Henry Aaron of the Braves. Solo shots were hit by the Giants’ Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou.
As of this writing [April 23, 2018], 11 players have hit four home runs in 9-inning games in the modern era:
Bobby Lowe, Boston Beaneaters, May 30, 1894
Ed Delahanty, Philadelphia Phillies, July 13, 1896
Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees June 3, 1932
Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers August 31, 1950
Joe Adcock, Milwaukee Braves July 31, 1954
Rocky Colavito, Cleveland Indians June 10, 1959
Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants – April 30, 1961
Bob Horner, Atlanta Braves – July 6, 1986
Mark Whiten, St. Louis Cardinals – Sept 7, 1993
Mike Cameron, Seattle Mariners – May 2, 2002
Shawn Green, Los Angeles Dodgers – May 23, 2002
Carlos Delgado, Toronto Blue Jays – Sept 25, 2003
Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers – May 8, 2012
Scooter Gennett, Cincinnati Reds, June 6, 2017
J.D. Martinez, Arizona Diamondbacks – Sept 4, 2017
Several years usually pass between 4-home run games, but only 21 days separated Mike Cameron’s and Shawn Green’s displays of power in 2002.
Chuck Klein (1936), Pat Seerey (1948) and Mike Schmidt (1976) have also each hit 4 home runs in one game, but they needed extra innings to do it.
No one has ever hit 5 home runs in one game. But on this date in 1961, Willie Mays joined an exclusive group by hitting 4.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
MLB hitting leaders
Baseball-Almanac
