What's the Flukiest Accomplishment in Baseball History?

[revo]

The RJ calendar reminded me of this one.

Could be for a game, a week, a month or a season. A player or a team.

I'll go with two:

- Phillip Humber throws the 21st perfect game in MLB history. Humber had 16 career wins with a 5.31 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. Even the season he threw it (2012), he had a 6.44 ERA with a 1.54 WHIP.

- Scooter Gennett hits 4 HRs in a game. Gennett was a decent hitter, and for two seasons he became a good power hitter, but only 17 other players have accomplished this feat, and Gennett's name looks really out of place on this list.

[Pauly]

Edwin Jackson no hitter vs. Tampa Bay Rays – June 25, 2010 – 8 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K, 149 pitches
Edwin Jackson’s 149 pitches are the most ever recorded in a no-hitter. He threw 70 in the first three innings.

[mgwiz22]

How about Taffy Rhodes hitting three homers runs off if Dwight Gooden on opening day.

[revo]

Edwin Jackson no hitter vs. Tampa Bay Rays – June 25, 2010 – 8 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K, 149 pitches
Edwin Jackson’s 149 pitches are the most ever recorded in a no-hitter. He threw 70 in the first three innings.

That really defines "fluky." He was terrible yet still achieved one of the pinnacles of pitching success in the same game.

[rhd]

The MLB record for most K's in a game is held by none other than....Tom Cheney!?!? He struck out 21 Baltimore Orioles on September 12, 1962 in 16 innings (!!), throwing 228 pitches (!!!). He had a lifetime record of 19-29, a career K total of 345 and a career K/9 of 6.7.

[rhd]

How about Taffy Rhodes hitting three homers runs off if Dwight Gooden on opening day.

You mean TUffy Rhodes. He also tied the Japanese single-season HR record of 56 co-held by Sadaharu Oh, since broken by another former MLBer, Wladimir Balentien.

[Judge Jude]

not exactly an "accomplishment," but so bizarre that it's worth mentioning.

the Mets have won two World Series - in 1969 and in 1986.

the player who made the last out in the 1969 Series - Davey Johnson - wound up managing the Mets to the 1986 title.

the pitcher who got the last out in the 1969 Series - Jerry Koosman - wound up being traded for the pitcher who got the last out in the 1986 Series - Jesse Orosco.

[revo]

The MLB record for most K's in a game is held by none other than....Tom Cheney!?!? He struck out 21 Baltimore Orioles on September 12, 1962 in 16 innings (!!), throwing 228 pitches (!!!). He had a lifetime record of 19-29, a career K total of 345 and a career K/9 of 6.7.

228 pitches??? My god, they just didn't give a lick back then.

[Gregg]

How about Taffy Rhodes hitting three homers runs off if Dwight Gooden on opening day.

My business partner and I were at that game. It caused a bidding war between us the following Saturday. I ran out of bullets at $24 or I would have kept going.

[Judge Jude]

228 pitches??? My god, they just didn't give a lick back then.

I once saw a hurler toss 214 pitches.

In a 14-inning high school baseball game.

In the 1980s.

Seems like a lot, but it was a county tournament quarterfinal, so it's all good. back then you couldn't pitch on consecutive days - but no limit on how many pitches in one day, clearly.

[rhd]

These 2 dont exactly fit the spirit of this post but flukey means something so unique that it is very unlikely to happen and these 2 I'll wager will never ever happen again in MLB:

1) Johnny VanderMeer's 2 consecutive no-hitters - These happened on 6/11/38 and 6/15/38. Just 1 no-hitter is very unlikely, as only 307 have been thrown since 1876, or about 2 per year. The chances of them being thrown in consecutive starts by the same pitcher, especially w the way pitchers are used today, have to be cosmological.

2) Fernando Tatis Sr.'s 2 grand slams off the same pitcher in the same inning (Chan Ho Park) - There's more than 1 reason why this will never happen again. It's hard to believe that it happened even once. First, 2 GS by the same player in the same inning has only been done once against any combination of pitchers. Heck, 2 GS in the same game by the same player has only been done 13 times in MLB history. But to hit them off of the same pitcher in the same inning has to be the flukiest thing ever in baseball. In order for the potential 2nd GS to present itself, the pitcher would have to have given up a minimum of 7 runs in the inning already and then load the bases again (which is what happened in this case). What manager would leave the pitcher in after all of that, not to mention have him face the same hitter that already hit a GS off of him earlier in the inning (besides Davey Johnson, the Dodgers' manager)? Even if they're still playing baseball in the next geological epoch, it will never happen again.

[chancellor]

228 pitches??? My god, they just didn't give a lick back then.

Warren Spahn versus Juan Marichal, July 2, 1963. Spahn went 15.1 innings, 201 pitches, Marichal 16 innings, 227 pitches. Marichal won the 1-0 decision.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=196307020SFN#:~:text=A%E2%80%9315%2C921.&text=Al%20Dark%2C%20a%20former%20Major,ever%20seen%20by%20two%20pitchers.%22

[Judge Jude]

"Even if they're still playing baseball in the next geological epoch, it will never happen again."

Reggie Jackson, 1977 World Series-deciding Game 6. not a fluke, but let me know if someone ever beats it:

three pitches
three pitchers
three homers

[Sour Masher]

You did not specify the majors, so I will throw in this one to an already impressive list (some I did not know of, or maybe forgot, like Reggie's feat):

Ron Necciai made it to The Show for one year, in 1952, debuting in August and ending his stint in the majors in September after a very poor showing. But it was what he did in May of that year, for the Bristol Twins, the Pirates Appalachian affiliate, that makes him worthy of this list. On May 13th, battling severe stomach ulcer pain, Necciai threw a no hitter, striking out 27 batters. In his next start, he struck out just 24. That little run got him a cup of coffee late in the season, but sadly, he did not find success in the majors, and fizzled out after that year, after a brief stint in the military and unable to overcome those ulcers enough to pitch at a high level. Still, I think he is the only guy to K 27 in a game in pro ball.

[joncarlos]

Khris Davis hitting exactly .247 in 4 straight years.