Curtis Granderson hit a homer in the 1st inning which got the Yankees on the board Thursday night against the Twins, he hit another in the 2nd that tied the game, and another in the 4th that gave them a 7-4 lead. Then he let the crowd down by going 2-for-2 in his final at bats, unable to go for the truly historic 4-homer night.
“When I got to the dugout, I think CC told me to go out there and acknowledge the crowd,” Granderson told Vincent Mercogliano of the Journal News. “I’ve never done that before. I’ve seen a lot of guys do it, but to actually get an opportunity to do puts in perspective what you just accomplished.”
He missed out on being the sixth American Leaguer and the second Yankee (Lou Gehrig is the other) to hit four homers in a day, but still obviously a huge accomplishment in its own right.
In one night Granderson managed to go from a mediocre month to a great one, raising his OPS from .780 before the game to 1.040 afterward.
A few notes on Gehrig's accomplishment. He almost had five HR that day. After the four HRs, he hit another one to straightaway CF in old Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium). It was 468 feet to CF at that time, and Al Simmons caught in at the flagpole. Not only that, but Gehrig's feat was not the #1 sports story in the paper the next day. For on the very day Gehrig hit four HR, June 3, 1932, John McGraw resigned as manager of the NY Giants.
Correction. Fifteen men have done it.
American League
Lou Gehrig
Pat Seerey
Rocky Colavito
Mike Cameron
Carlos Delgado
National League
Bobby Lowe
Ed Delahanty
Chuck Klein
Gil Hodges
Joe Adcock
Willie Mays
Mike Schmidt
Bob Horner
Mark Whiten
Shawn Green
Good call. Meant AL'er and mistakenly wrote MLBer.