Fernandez Hits For The Cycle

On September 3, 1995, New York Yankees Tony Fernandez hits for the cycle against the Oakland Athletics.

Fernandez became just the tenth Yankee to hit for the cycle joining greats like Bert Daniels, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Joe Gordon, Tony Lazzeri, Mickey Mantle, Bob Meusel, Bobby Murcer and Buddy Rosar.

Only DiMaggio, Gehrig and Meusel hit for more than one cycle during their careers with the Yankees, and Meusel was the only player who hit for the cycle in pin stripes more than twice, completing the feat three times in 1921, 1922 and 1928.

Fernandez would finish his 17-year career that saw him play 2,158 games with the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers with a .288 batting average, 2,276 hits consisting of 414 doubles, 92 triples and 94 home runs. He also had 1,057 runs scores, 844 RBIs, 690 walks, 246 stolen bases and struck out 784 times.

Fernandez was a five-time All-Star, including back-to-back appearances in 1986 and 1987. He was a four-time Gold Glove winner, including four-consecutive awards from 1986-1989. He was a World Series Champion in 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays and has been honored by the Blue Jays in their “Level of Excellence.”

The 1989 season also saw Fernandez set a nine-year record for shortstops with a .992 fielding percentage.

Since Fernandez hit for the cycle in 1995 only one Yankee has accomplished the feat. In 2009 Melky Cabrera hit for the cycle.

A total of 234 cycles were hit before Hernandez hit for his in 1995, with two others coming that season by Gregg Jefferies of the Philadelphia Phillies and Rondell White of the Montreal Expos.
Since Fernandez hit for the cycle in 1995 the feat has been achieved 68 times, with the most recent cycle coming by Houston Astros Brandon Barnes on July 19, 2013.

The most cycles hit by a single player is three, achieved by three players; Babe Herman twice in 1931, and once in 1933; Meusel in 1921, 1922 and 1928; and John Reilly, twice in 1883, and once in 1890.

Babe Herman is the only three-cycle player to accomplish the feat for two different teams—the Brooklyn Robins (May 18 and July 24, 1931) and the Chicago Cubs (September 30, 1933).

The only players to hit for more than one cycle in the same season include chronologically; Reilly, 1883; Tip O’Neill, 1887; Herman, 1931; Aaron Hill, 2012.

The shortest span between the two cycles in one season came off the bat of O’Neill, who hit his cycles just seven days apart on April 30, 1187 and May 7, 1887.

Most recently Hill hit his cycles just 11 days apart on June 18, 2012 and June 29, 2012.

Two players, John Olerud and Bob Watson, have hit for the cycle in both the National and American Leagues.

Family pairs to hit for the cycle include father and son Gary and Daryle Ward, who accomplished the feat in 1980 and 2004, respectively; and grandfather and grandson Gus and David Bell, the elder of whom hit for the cycle in 1951, and the younger in 2004.

The most cycles hit in a single major league season is eight, which has occurred twice: first in the 1933 season, and then again in the 2009 season; all eight cycles in each of those seasons were hit by different players.

Cycles have occurred on the same day twice in Major League Baseball history: on September 17, 1920, hit by Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants; and again on September 1, 2008, when the Arizona Diamondbacks' Stephen Drew and the Seattle Mariners' Adrián Beltré each completed the four-hit group.

Conversely, the longest period of time between two players hitting for the cycle was five years, one month, and 10 days, a drought lasting from Bill Joyce's cycle in 1896 to Harry Davis' in 1901.

Two current teams in Major League Baseball have never had a player hit for the cycle: the Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres. The Padres are also the only active major league franchise to have never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter.