September 5, 1950 & July 27, 2021
A player hitting a home run in three or more consecutive games isn’t a rare baseball feat. It has happened hundreds of times in the Integration Era alone. Mere days ago, Freddie Freeman had six consecutive postseason games with a home run. Dale Long, Don Mattingly, and Ken Griffey Jr. have eight-game home run streaks to set the record.
Hitting a home run on three consecutive days against three different opponents is much more rare. It has happened 21 times. This is generally not a situation that is built into a team’s schedule, especially in recent times. It takes a special conditional or transactional circumstance to pull off playing the games, let alone hitting the home runs.
Hitting three ledger home runs on three consecutive days is, of course, even rarer still. It is only something that has happened three times in the Modern Era. We’ve already profiled one of the players who did it:
The other two players are Bill Howerton and Abraham Toro and their paths to get to their three-in-three are quite different.
Bill Howerton
On any given day in 1950, there was a strong possibility a St. Louis Cardinals outfield would have two future Hall of Famers manning the corners. Enos Slaughter held down right field while, if he wasn’t playing first base, Stan Musial patrolled left field. In the middle, you had a platoon consisting of the veteran Harry “The Hat” Walker and rookie Bill “Hopalong” Howerton.
Howerton joined the Cardinals in late 1949, logging thirteen plate appearances with no home runs. Through the first five months of 1950 he tallied six home runs collecting ledgers against the Giants, Braves, Phillies, and Dodgers. September 1st found the Cardinals kicking off a three-game weekend series in Pittsburgh1.
The Cardinals lost the Friday game, then the Saturday game. The Sunday game featured the outfield of Musial-Howerton-Slaughter. Collectively, the tandem went 8-for-15, hitting for the cycle amongst themselves, and driving in eight runs. Howerton hit his seventh home run of the season, a solo blast that tied the game in the top of the ninth. Musial and Slaughter put the Cardinals up by two in the top of the tenth with a single and a triple, but the Pirates fought back in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs and downing the Cardinals by a final of 12-11.
The Cardinals departed Pittsburgh mired in a five game losing streak. Their next stop would be Cincinnati for a double-header on September 4th. In the first game, The Reds’ Willie Ramsdell twirled a complete game en route to a Reds’ victory. Howerton did not homer.
The Cardinals sent the same outfield trio out again in the second game. This time Howerton connected early, sending a round tripper to right field which scored Tommy Glaviano. But the Cardinals could not hold their early lead and lost the game, giving them seven straight losses.
As quickly as they arrived in the Queen City, the Cardinals departed for home that night with no travel day to buffer their schedule. Teams and schedules were built different back then. The Cardinals would host the Cubs for four games starting on Tuesday, September 5th.
For the first game of the series manager Eddie Dyer shook up the lineup. Slaughter remained in right field and Musial slotted in at first base. Howerton moved from center to left but also dropped down to eighth in the lineup. Seemingly unbothered, Howerton cut the Cubs’ lead in half with a solo home run in the bottom of the third. The Cardinals would go on to halt their losing streak, winning the game by a final of four to two.
Howerton had hit a home run against three different opponents, all of them ledgers, over the course of three days. But he did not hit ledgers in three consecutive games2. That would be a feat that would come again3 more than seventy years later.
Abraham Toro
Toro was a fifth round pick for the Astros in 2016 and by 2019 found himself with the big league club. He played sporadically in 2019 and 2020 totaling 186 plate appearances and five home runs (all ledgers and against the Rays, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Angels), but a woeful .182 average.
Playing time remained at a premium for Toro in 2021. He was recalled from AAA Sugar Land in mid-June and started collecting home runs immediately with a ledger against the White Sox. Over the next few weeks he collected two more ledgers from the Orioles and soon-to-be-Guardians.
On July 23, the Astros kicked off a 3-game weekend series against divisional rival Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Toro didn’t play in the Friday game and went 0-for-3 in the Saturday game. Toro started Sunday’s game as the first baseman and hitting seventh in the order.
Both teams were stymied until the fifth until the Rangers’ Eli White connected for a solo blast off Zack Grienke. The Astros answered in the bottom of the inning when Toro sent a Dennis Santana offering over the wall in right field, scoring Chas McCormick. The Astros would score one more run in the sixth and took the game by a 3-1 final score.
The Astros departed Houston that evening ready to kick off an eight-game jaunt down the West Coast, starting in Seattle the following day. The Astros’ lineup for the first game had Toro starting at third base and batting seventh. The Mariners sent rookie Darren McCaughan to the mound. It was his first career start and only second career game.
And things did not go well for McCaughan after batter number one. The top of the first played out with a strikeout by Jose Altuve, single by Michael Brantley, a walk to Yuli Gurriel, a run scoring single by Yordan Alvarez, a run scoring double from Carolos Correa, and a bases clearing home run by Kyle Tucker. Abraham Toro piled on with a home run of his own to put the Astros up 6-0 in the first.
But the Mariners battled back, and eventually won the game 11-8. Kendall Graveman picked up the win.
The next day Kendall Graveman was traded along with Rafael Montero.
To the Astros.
For Abraham Toro (and Joe Smith).
All four players, figuratively, walked across the field to the opposite dugout, ready to play the second game of the series for a different team. Toro didn’t start for the Mariners that night (July 27), but was called upon to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth with the Mariners down four runs. He proceeded to connect for his third home run in three games, bringing his new team to within two. The Mariners couldn’t muster more runs and lost the game.
Toro, like Howerton, would hit another home run of the non-ledger variety in his next game to make four dingers in four days.
Epilogue
Bill Howerton only played two more seasons after his notable run collecting 22 home runs overall. He played for Pittsburgh in the back-half of the 1961 season and hit his ledger against the Cardinals, maxing the National League completely.
Abraham Toro played on-and-off in 2022 through 2024 for the Mariners, Brewers, and Athletics. He has collected 34 home runs with exactly half being ledgers.
Appendix
The 21 instances of players hitting home runs against three different opponents over three consecutive days are listed below in chronological order. An * indicates a ledger.
Cy Williams, Phillies – CURIOSITY ONLY4
– Saturday, Jun 24, 1922 (Game 2), Boston Braves
– Sunday, Jun 25, 1922, Brooklyn Dodgers
– Monday, Jun 26, 1922, Boston Braves
Babe Ruth, Yankees
– Saturday, May 28, 1927 (Game 1), Washington Senators (rescheduled from April 27 due to rain)
– Sunday, May 29, 1927, Boston Red Sox
– Monday, May 30, 1927 (Game 2), Philadelphia Athletics
Chuck Klein, Phillies
– Saturday, Aug 31, 1929, Boston Braves
– Sunday, Sep 1, 1929 (Game 1), Brooklyn Dodgers (not originally not a double-header’; the October 6 game was moved up)
– Monday, Sep 2, 1929 (Game 1), New York Giants
Babe Ruth, Yankees
– Friday, Aug 1, 1930, Boston Red Sox
– Saturday, Aug 2, 1930 (Game 2), Washington Senators (was not originally a double-header; rescheduled from May 28 due to rain)
– Sunday, Aug 3, 1930, Philadelphia Athletics
Lou Gehrig, Yankees
– Saturday, Aug 29, 1931, Philadelphia Athletics
– Sunday, Aug 30, 1931, Boston Red Sox
– Monday, Aug 31, 1931, Washington Senators
Danny Taylor, Dodgers
– Saturday, Jun 17, 1933 (Game 1), New York Giants (rescheduled from May 31 due to wet grounds)
– Sunday, Jun 18, 1933, Philadelphia Phillies*
– Monday, Jun 19, 1933, St. Louis Cardinals
Earl Torgeson, Braves
Sunday, May 11, 1947 (Game 2), New York Giants*
Monday, May 12, 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers* (rescheduled from April 16 due to rain)
Tuesday, May 13, 1947, Chicago Cubs*
Bill Rigney, Giants
– Friday, May 30, 1947 (Game 1), Philadelphia Phillies*
– Saturday, May 31, 1947, Pittsburgh Pirates (rescheduled from May 2 due to wet grounds)
– Sunday, Jun 1, 1947 (Game 2), Cincinnati Reds*
Bill Howerton, Cardinals
– Sunday, Sep 3, 1950, Pittsburgh Pirates*
– Monday, Sep 4, 1950 (Game 2) Cincinnati Reds*
– Tuesday, Sep 5, 1950, Chicago Cubs*
Stan Musial, Cardinals5
– Sunday, Sep 3, 1950, Pittsburgh Pirates
– Monday, Sep 4, 1950 (Game 1), Cincinnati Reds
– Tuesday, Sep 5, 1950, Chicago Cubs
Luke Easter, Indians
– Thursday, Sep 4, 1952, Detroit Tigers
– Friday, Sep 5, 1952, Chicago White Sox
– Saturday, Sep 6, 1952, St. Louis Browns
Ted Kluszewski, Reds
– Sunday, Jul 3, 1955, Milwaukee Braves
– Monday, Jul 4, 1955 (Game 1), Chicago Cubs
– Tuesday, Jul 5, 1955, St. Louis Cardinals
Frank Howard, Senators6
– Wednesday, May 15, 1968, Boston Red Sox
– Thursday, May 16, 1968, Cleveland Indians
– Friday, May 17, 1968, Detroit Tigers
Jose Hernandez, Brewers
– Sunday, May 21, 2000, San Francisco Giants
– Monday, May 22, 2000 (Game 1), Houston Astros (rescheduled from May 17 due to rain)
– Tuesday, May 23, 2000, Atlanta Braves
Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
– Sunday, Jun 3, 2001, Toronto Blue Jays
– Monday, Jun 4, 2001, New York Yankees (rescheduled from May 22 due to rain)
– Tuesday, Jun 5, 2001, Detroit Tigers
Paul Konerko, White Sox
– Sunday, Sep 4, 2005, Detroit Tigers
– Monday, Sep 5, 2005, Boston Red Sox (rescheduled from August 14, due to rain)
– Tuesday, Sep 6, 2005, Kansas City Royals
Vladimir Guerrero, Angels
– Sunday, Aug 6, 2006, Texas Rangers
– Monday, Aug 7, 2006, Chicago White Sox (rescheduled from May 11 due to rain)
– Tuesday, Aug 8, 2006, Cleveland Indians
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
– Sunday, Aug 31, 2008, Kansas City Royals
– Monday, Sep 1, 2008, New York Yankees (rescheduled from May 11 due to rain)
– Tuesday, Sep 2, 2008, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Chris Davis, Orioles
– Wednesday, May 27, 2015, Houston Astros
– Thursday, May 28, 2015 (Game 1), Chicago White Sox (rescheduled from April 27 due to safety concerns around the Baltimore riots)
– Friday, May 29, 2015, Tampa Bay Rays
Aaron Hicks, Yankees
– Sunday, Jun 17, 2018, Tampa Bay Rays
– Monday, Jun 18, 2018, Washington Nationals* (rescheduled from May 16 due to rain)
– Tuesday, Jun 19, 2018, Seattle Mariners
Abraham Toro, Astros/Mariners
– Sunday, Jul 25, 2021, Texas Rangers*
– Monday, Jul 26, 2021, Seattle Mariners*
– Tuesday, Jul 27, 2021, Houston Astros* (traded from Houston to Seattle before game)
Robinson Cano, New York Mets
– Saturday, Aug 30, 2020 (Game 1), New York Yankees (rescheduled from August 22 due to COVID)
– Sunday, Aug 31, 2020, Miami Marlins (rescheduled from August 27 due to the boycott for racial justice)
– Monday, Sep 1, 2020, Baltimore Orioles
Which was originally a two-game weekend series, but the Friday game was a makeup from August 9 when wet grounds plagued Forbes Field.
But he did end up hitting home runs in three consecutive games. He would homer in the first game of the double-header the next day.
Earl Torgeson’s ledgers came in three consecutive games.
The first instance of 3 teams-3 days wasn’t really 3 teams-3 days, but still snuck through my Excel formulas. The Phillies hosted the Braves on June 22, June 23, and June 24 as a double-header. The Phillies then traveled to Brooklyn for a single game, then came back to Philadelphia to play the Braves again on June 26. This was all part of the normal schedule! After that game, the Phillies would not play a home game until July 25 (and in that stretch they played a single game in Boston between trips to New York and Cincinnati).
Your eyes do not deceive you! Stan Musial hit home runs on the exact same days as Bill Howerton’s ledgers – except Musial hit his in Game 1 of the double-header. They ALSO matched on hitting a home run in Game 1 against the Cubs post-ledgers. Incredible!
These home runs were three of ten Howard hit over the course of seven days.
