Josh Hamilton’s Historic Four Home Run Performance

 

What Texas Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton did on Tuesday night at Camden Yards was nothing short of extraordinary, going 5-5 with 4 HRs and 8 RBI.

The Rangers’ slugger became just the 16th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a game.

No American League player has ever gone 5-5 with 4 home runs before Hamilton. Along with the four homers, Hamilton also added a double giving him 18 total bases — just one shy of the Major League record set by Shawn Green.

The list of others to accomplish the feat features Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, and Mike Schmidt among others.

The last player to smash four long-balls in a single game was Carlos Delgado back in 2003 with the Toronto Blue Jays. You could argue that hitting 4 home runs in one game is tougher than pitching a perfect game, which has only been done 21 times. Either way, the 11,000 plus fans in Baltimore were treated to something extremely rare.

Hamilton is on tear to start the 2012 season. He currently ranks first in the American League in BA, HR, RBI, SLG %, and .OPS.

For a little perspective on what Hamilton accomplished in a single game compared to another power-hitting big leaguer: Hamilton quadrupled the home run total of ALbert Pujols and his eight RBI is only one shy of Pujols’ 9 RBI.