As we await the third perfect game of the season, it's comforting to know that some other baseball feats still don't happen all that regularly, so when they happen, they're still special.
On Friday, second baseman Aaron Hill of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit for the cycle for the second time this month.
"You can't think about it," he said after Friday's game. "You look for a ball up and hope things work out."
He's the first to hit for the cycle twice in the same season since Babe Herman of the Brooklyn Robins in 1931, during the Herbert Hoover administration. Herman did it 67 days apart; Hill did it 11 days apart. Herman was the only player in the 20th century to achieve the feat, and he holds the record with three cycles in his career (Bob Meusel also did it three times).
The cycle (hitting a single, double, triple and home run in a game, for those who are new to the game) is almost as rare as a no-hitter. It's occurred 293 times (according to a Wikipedia listing), and there have been 272 no-hitters. This year, there have been three of each.
The list of people with two or more cycles since 1918 is an interesting mix of legends (Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, George Brett, George Sisler, Mickey Cochrane) and the relatively anonymous (Brad Wilkerson, Chris Speier, Cesar Cedeno, Wally Westlake).
And Aaron Hill.
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