What Does Hitting For The Cycle Mean?

Big time hitters at any age dream about driving in the game-winning run, hitting a walk-off home run in the postseason, and even striking fear in an opponent by being intentionally walked. But the benchmark that all hitters try to achieve in their careers is hitting for the cycle.

The cycle? Like a bicycle? What does a bicycle have anything to do with baseball? No need to worry, we have you covered on all of the hitting for the cycle information here at JustBats.com. Are you ready? Let's dive in. 

What is a cycle in baseball? 

In baseball and softball, hitting for the cycle is when a batter hits a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game. When a batter collects the hits in that order, it is known as a natural cycle, which has only been achieved 14 times in MLB history.

Hitting for the Cycle History

Hitting for the cycle is an extremely rare feat for any baseball player. The regular cycle has only been achieved less than 350 times in MLB history. Just to put this extremely rare feat into perspective, there has been more than 200,000 professional baseball games played and in approximately 300 of them a player has hit for a single, double, triple and home run. Even more, the cycle for a hitter is equivalent to the no-hitter for a pitcher and the natural cycle for a hitter is equivalent to the perfect game for a pitcher. Basically, achieving any of these feats in your career will enshrine you in baseball royalty forever.

Hitting for the Cycle Fun Facts

Now that you know what hitting for the cycle means and how rare it is for players to achieve, here are some fun facts about who, where and when cycles have been hit for.

• First player to hit for the cycle - Curry Foley for the Buffalo Bison in 1882.
• Which player has hit for the most cycles - John Reilly, Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, and Adrian Beltre have all hit for the cycle three (3) times.
• Latest player to hit for the cycle - Jose Abreu in September of 2017 vs. the San Francisco Giants.
• Most cycles hit in a season - Eight in both the 1993 and 2009 seasons
• Teams that have never hit for the cycle - The Miami Marlins
• Youngest player to hit for the cycle - Mel Ott at age 20
• Oldest player to hit for the cycle - Dave Winfield at age 39
• Fielding position with least amount of cycles hit for - Catchers
• Hitting for the cycle with a grand slam - 9
• Hardest hit go achieve while going for the cycle - Triple
• Shortest time elapsed in between hitting for cycles - John Reilly, one week apart.

Now since you are all informed on what hitting for the cycle means, we want to hear from you. Are you one of the best hitters on your team? Do you think you have what it takes to hit for the cycle? Have you or anyone of your teammates been close to one? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Meanwhile, if you ever have any baseball bat or softball bat related questions, don’t hesitate to give our Bat Experts a call at 866-321-2287 , send us an email at experts@justbats.com or click here to live chat with our bat experts. And remember, we are always here for you from Click to Hit!