Multi-Homer Game Feats by a Pitcher
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Three years ago, on August 12, 2004, Randy Wolf, then pitching for the Phillies, pounded 2 homers in a game while the Phils bludgeoned the Colorado Rockies by a 15-4 score.
The game marked the first time in 2 plus years that a Phillies pitcher had accomplished the feat. Previously, on June 2, 2002, another former Phillies pitcher, Robert Person accomplished the feat as the Phils decimated the Montreal Expos by an 18-3 score. By the way, in each of these two games, the Phillies opened by scoring 10 runs in the first inning.
However, the feats of Wolf and Person are overshadowed by the multi-homer feats of another former Phillies pitcher Rick Wise, who had 2 multi-homer games in an otherwise disastrous Phils’ 1971 season; in a 7-3 win against the San Francisco Giants on August 28 — one of the homers being a grand slam, and other multi-homer game being while pitching his 4-0 no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Jun 23.
Also to be remembered are the multi-homer feats of former Brooklyn Dodgers great Don Newcombe, perhaps the only pitcher in MLB with 3 multi-homer games to his credit; 2 games in 1955 — April 14 in a 10-8 win over the then New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, in Pittsburgh while beating the Pirates by 8-3 on May 30 and a third in a 17-2 laugher on September 19, 1956 against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
Note as well that on May 26, 1955, four days before his multi-homer game against the Pirates, Newcombe became only NL pitcher in the decade of the 1950s to steal home when he victimized the Pirates hitting a triple, driving in 2 runs and then swiping home in the 9th inning of a 6-2 win over the Bucs.
There were other pitchers in both leagues who had multi-homer games, but the feats of Rick Wise and Don Newcombe seem the most memorable.
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