June 5, 1997: Alex Rodriguez hits for million-dollar cycle

When Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners stretched a blooper down the right-field line into a double in the ninth inning of the Mariners’ 14-6 rout of the Detroit Tigers on June 5, 1997, a Cashmere, Washington, woman “hit the jackpot!”1

Pamela Altazan was announced as the winner of a “Million-Dollar Magic” promotion, in which participants filled out entry forms at Seattle supermarkets. Before each Mariners game, a contestant was selected at random, and if a Seattle player hit for the cycle that day, the selected contestant won a million dollars.2 The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington) began its recap by stating that “Alex Rodriguez interrupted a perfectly ordinary blowout at Tiger Stadium to provide a moment worthy of recognition.”3

The Mariners had traveled to Detroit for a four-game series with the Tigers. Riding a three-game win streak, Seattle was closing in on first place in the American League’s West Division. Entering the series, the Mariners were tied with the Anaheim Angels, and both clubs were only a game behind the division-leading Texas Rangers. Meanwhile, the Tigers were in fourth place in the AL East.

The opening game of the series took place on a Thursday night, in front of what the Columbian described as “12,572 fans who couldn’t get tickets to the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup hockey game.”4 (The National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings were hosting the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, just over a mile from Tiger Stadium.5) The baseball game featured two starting pitchers who would both be playing for the Mariners after the All-Star break.6

Detroit handed the ball to Felipe Lira, a righty who was in his third big-league season, all with the Tigers. He had won his previous four decisions. Opposing him was lefty Jeff Fassero, who had been traded in the offseason to Seattle after six seasons with the Montreal Expos.7 Despite four strong outings of at least seven innings pitched in his last five starts, Fassero had not earned a victory since April. Lira and Fassero had faced each other just a week before in Seattle (May 30), and Lira came out on top, limiting the Mariners to two runs.

One of Seattle’s six hits in the earlier matchup with Lira was a double by Rodriguez, who was just 21 years old and emerging as one of the game’s top stars. In 1996, his first full big-league season, the Mariners shortstop had led the majors in batting (.358) and doubles (54), and his 379 total bases and 141 runs scored were tops in the AL. He finished second behind Texas’s Juan Gonzalez in the AL MVP voting.

Rodriguez came into this game batting .311 in 1997 and slugging an even .500. In the top of the first, with one out, he swung at Lira’s first pitch and hit a “towering homer into the upper-deck bleachers in right-center.”8 It was his ninth homer of the season.

Lira then walked both Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez. Jay Buhner stroked a double into left field and Griffey scored. Martinez then scored from third on Paul Sorrento’s unassisted groundout to first. The Mariners had quickly established a three-run lead.

After Sorrento was retired to begin the top of the fourth, Dan Wilson launched his fifth home run of the season into the upper deck beyond the left-field wall. Russ Davis grounded a double into left field and Jose Cruz Jr. was issued a four-pitch base on balls.

That brought Detroit manager Buddy Bell out of the dugout. He called José Bautista in from the Tigers bullpen to relieve Lira. Joey Cora flied out, bringing Rodriguez up for the third time in the game. A-Rod had forced out Cruz to end the second inning, but this time he lined a single into short right, loading the bases. Back-to-back singles by Griffey and Martinez accounted for three more Seattle runs, and suddenly it was 7-0.

Fassero retired the first nine batters he faced, until Brian Hunter singled on his first pitch in the bottom of the fourth for Detroit’s first hit. Tony Clark walked two outs later, but the Tigers were held scoreless.

The Mariners added another run in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Russ Davis crushed a Bautista offering into the upper deck in left for a solo home run, his seventh of the season.

Two innings later, Seattle made it a 9-0 game. Martinez led off with a four-pitch walk. Buhner singled into the hole at short. Sorrento popped out, and Bell brought in left-hander John Cummings to face the right-handed-hitting Wilson. Wilson fouled off a few pitches, and on a 1-and-2 count, he delivered an RBI single to center.

Detroit finally broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh. Fassero had been cruising, allowing only two singles and two walks through six frames. He struck out Phil Nevin to start the seventh, but Melvin Nieves and Raul Casanova each singled. Bobby Higginson lined a triple into center, and both runners scored. Higginson scored on Deivi Cruz’s groundout to the right side, making it 9-3. Hunter walked, but Fassero retired Damion Easley to end the inning.

The Mariners responded with an outburst of their own in the top of the eighth. Cora led off with a single, and then Rodriguez ripped the ball into deep center, where the fence was 440 feet from home plate. The ball sailed just over Hunter’s glove and Rodriguez had an RBI triple.

Griffey hit a short grounder to first for a single, but Rodriguez stayed at third base. He scored on Martinez’s line-drive single to right. Buhner capped the barrage with a three-run home run (his 15th) into the right-field upper deck. It was now 14-3.

Fassero had thrown 122 pitches (27 in the seventh inning), and his day on the mound was finished. Southpaw Norm Charlton was now on the mound for Seattle, and he walked the bases loaded to start the bottom of the eighth. Nieves hit a comebacker to the mound, but Charlton’s throwing error allowed Travis Fryman to score while keeping the bases loaded. Casanova singled to left, plating two more Tigers runners for a 14-6 score. As wild as Charlton was to start the inning, he regained his composure and struck out the next three batters to end the rally.

With two outs in the ninth, Rodriguez hit a flare just past first base. First-base coach Sam Mejias knew what was at stake and yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” as Rodriguez raced into second base with the double. One lucky fan had become a millionaire, and Rodriguez became just the second Mariners player ever to hit for the cycle, nearly four years to the day after Seattle selected him first overall from a Florida high school in the June 1993 draft.9 Mike Maddux pitched the ninth for Seattle, shutting out the Tigers.

In scoring 14 runs, the Mariners banged out 17 hits, while Seattle pitchers limited the Tigers to seven hits (six singles and a triple). Every Mariners starting batter except Sorrento had collected at least one hit, but he had contributed an RBI. All four Seattle home runs landed in Tiger Stadium’s upper decks. That brought the Mariners’ home-run total to a league-leading 89.10 Rodriguez was 4-for-5 (his average jumped to .320), and Buhner was 3-for-5, falling a triple shy of completing the cycle himself.

Seattle won three of the four games against Detroit, capturing first place in the AL West. Their 20-7 performance in June built a 5½-game lead, and although they played .500 baseball in July and August, a strong September gave the Mariners just their second division championship in their 21-season history. Posting their fourth straight losing season, the Tigers finished the season in third place in the AL East.11

Rodriguez was the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle in 1997. Three months later, future Mariners star John Olerud became the second when he hit for the cycle as a member of the New York Mets on September 11.12

After the game, Rodriguez told reporters, “I’m excited, but I guess it hasn’t hit me yet.”13 He was aware that he needed a double to complete the cycle as he settled into the batter’s box in the ninth inning, but he said, “Usually when you try to do something, it doesn’t happen. I was fortunate to hit a jam shot down the line.”14 Earlier in the season, on May 18, Rodriguez fell a double short of hitting for the cycle against the Baltimore Orioles. This time, however, his accomplishment was work a million bucks.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET199706050.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B06050DET1997.htm

A video recap of Rodriguez’s four hits can be seen on mlb.com:

https://www.mlb.com/video/a-rod-hits-for-cycle-c37021421

Notes

1 “Mariner Fan Hits Jackpot with ‘A-Rod,’” The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), June 6, 1997: 21.

2 “Mariner Fan Hits Jackpot with ‘A-Rod.’” Pamela Altazan, a 33-year-old nurse and mother of a 2-year-old, was the promotion’s winner. The rules specified that the Altazan family would be paid $50,000 per year for 20 years. Pamela’s husband, Joe, told reporters that the couple wanted to use the money “to try to make things better for our family.” See “$1 Million Winners at Top of A-Rod’s Fan Club,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review, June 7, 1997, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jun/07/1-million-winners-at-top-of-a-rods-fan-club/.

3 “Mariner Fan Hits Jackpot with ‘A-Rod.’”

4 “Rodriguez Leads Mariner Assault,” The Columbian, June 6, 1997: 21.

5 The Red Wings won that night’s game, then closed out a four-game sweep by beating the Flyers on June 7.

6 On July 18, 1997, Lira was traded by the Tigers with Omar Olivares to the Mariners for Dean Crow, Scott Sanders, and Carlos Villalobos.

7 On October 29, 1996, Fassero was traded with Alex Pacheco to Seattle for Trey Moore, Matt Wagner, and Chris Widger.

8 Bill L. Roose, “Cycle Drives Mariners over Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, June 6, 1997: 10.

9 Rodriguez followed Buhner, who accomplished the rare feat on June 23, 1993, against the Oakland Athletics. Buhner’s cycle took place in a 14-inning contest, making Rodriguez the first Mariner to hit for the cycle in a nine-inning game.

10 Seattle led the AL (and the majors) with 264 homers in 1997, 44 more than second-place Cleveland (and 25 more than the NL-leading Colorado Rockies). The Tigers hit 176 homers.

11 The Tigers had 12 consecutive losing seasons (1994-2005) before winning 95 games in 2006, when they won the AL pennant and played in the World Series.

12 This was Olerud’s first career cycle. He accomplished the rare feat again on June 16, 2001, while playing for Seattle.

13 “A-Rod’s Cycle Powers M’s to Road Victory at Detroit,” Bellingham (Washington) Record, June 6, 1997: 16.

14 “A-Rod’s Cycle Powers M’s to Road Victory at Detroit.”