This morning I suggested that hitters finishing “a triple short of the cycle” isn’t nearly as noteworthy as baseball writers like me seem to think, as it’s happened 172 times already this season.
I figured that alone was stretching the limits of reader interest, but apparently not. A few of you actually asked about the all-time leaders in “a triple short of the cycle” games. As always I turned to the amazing “Play Index” on Baseball-Reference.com for the answer:
Lou Gehrig 42 Babe Ruth 38 Alex Rodriguez 38 Ted Williams 35 Barry Bonds 35 Stan Musial 32 Billy Williams 32 Juan Gonzalez 32 Jimmie Foxx 31 Willie Mays 30 Rogers Hornsby 30 Al Simmons 30
Not a whole lot of surprises on that list, although Billy Williams and Juan Gonzalez are in the midst of a little better company than usual. Lou Gehrig finished “a triple short of the cycle” 42 times, which is an average of once every 51.5 games for the Hall of Famer. Alex Rodriguez is the active leader with 38, followed by Magglio Ordonez with 26 and Albert Pujols with 25.
And now, let’s never speak of this again.
UPDATE: OK, maybe not never again. For a whole lot more on this subject, check out the research done by Wrigleyville23.com. Good stuff.
