The American Spectator

For the second time in eleven days, Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill has hit for the cycle. On June 18th, he hit for the cycle in an interleague game against the Seattle Mariners. Tonight, he did so against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hill becomes the first big leaguer to hit two cycles in a season since Babe Herman did it with the Brooklyn Robins in 1931. In fact, Herman is the only big leaguer to hit three cycles in his career. Herman added a third cycle while he was a member of the Chicago Cubs in 1933.

The only other two players to have hit for multiple cycles in a season were John Reilly with the Cincinnati Reds in 1883 and Tip O’Neill with the St. Louis Brown Stockings (not of North Cambridge) in 1887.

A cycle occurs when a player hits a single, a double, a triple and a homerun in the same game. In the thirty plus years I’ve been watching baseball I have only seen it happen once on TV. That was back in 1999 when Chris Singleton of the Chicago White Sox did it against the Kansas City Royals.

As for Hill, he certainly has a chance to match Herman and possibly pass him. If he does, Hill will be to the cycle what Nolan Ryan was to the no-hitter.