May 18, 1931: Babe Herman becomes first Brooklyn player to hit for the cycle at Ebbets Field

The 1931 Cincinnati Reds started the season with a dismal 2-17 record and after only 10 games found themselves in last place in the National League, a position they would hold for the rest of the season. On May 18 the Reds (6-18) played the final game of a three-game series against the seventh-place Brooklyn Robins (10-16). The Robins weren’t much better, having won two of their first 12 contests. They were having trouble scoring; in their last six games, which included two victories, Brooklyn had managed only 17 total runs and had been “winging along weakly since the season’s opening.”1

So, on a Monday afternoon game at Ebbets Field, approximately 5,000 fans turned up,2 probably expecting to see a low-scoring game. However, according to the Brooklyn Times Union, “The Brooklyn Robins did most of the hitting in the National League when they bombarded four Cincinnati pitchers for 16 hits and a 14 to 4 victory.”3

Surprisingly, the Reds also banged out 12 hits.

Sloppy Thurston, a journeyman who had pitched for four teams, made his third start of the year for the Robins. In his previous start (April 25), against the Boston Braves, he faced only four batters and “the Hub team cashed in twice.”4 Through 4⅔ innings pitched in his three appearances (one in relief), Thurston had allowed 14 hits and 12 runs, bad enough for a 19.29 earned-run average. Opposing Thurston was Cincinnati’s Al Eckert. Virtually a rookie (he had appeared in only two games in 1930), Eckert was making his first and only start of the year. He had also pitched only 4⅔ innings so far in the season, allowing two earned runs, for a 3.86 ERA. Reds manager Dan Howley was giving his regular rotation a break.

Cincinnati’s Edd Roush began the game with a single, but the next two batters flied out. Harvey Hendrick then smacked a long drive to left. Brooklyn’s Lefty O’Doul ran back, “jumped to the sphere as it was about to sail over his head[,]”5 and made a one-handed catch against the wall, saving at least one run and securing the third out.

In the bottom of the first, the Robins “wasted no time in indicating that they were on the warpath.”6 Fresco Thompson doubled to left and took third on a wild pitch. One out later, Babe Herman greeted Eckert “with a prodigious home run into the stands in left center.”7 The New York Daily News said the ball left the field “over the razor blade sign”8 and landed in the 10th or 12th row of seats. After Eckert retired Del Bissonette, he walked Glenn Wright, and Johnny Frederick followed with his own blast over the wall, making it 4-0.

In the second, Ownie Carroll was now twirling for the Reds. He had spent parts of the previous season with three teams (the Tigers, Yankees, and Reds). Thurston led off with a single to left. With Thompson batting, Carroll had Thurston picked off but threw the ball away and Thurston ended up at third base. With two down, Herman blasted a triple over Roush’s head in deep center. The ball bounced off the exit gate and Thurston scored easily. Bissonette poked a single up the middle, driving in Herman. Carroll then walked Wright and Frederick, loading the bases. Wally Gilbert laced a single to left, and two more Robins crossed the plate. By the time Carroll retired Ernie Lombardi for the final out of the inning, nine Brooklyn batters had come to the plate. The Robins gave Thurston an eight-run lead after two innings, so the big right-hander had to just “go through the motions for nine innings.”9

Cincinnati finally answered in the third. Clyde Sukeforth led off with a single and moved to second on Carroll’s base knock to left. Roush then singled to right field, but Carroll was thrown out. Sukeforth had stopped at third and Herman’s throw to shortstop Wright caught Carroll running too far off second. Cliff Heathcote rolled a grounder to first, which was misplayed by Bissonette, and Sukeforth scored. Joe Stripp bounced into a double play, but the Reds had ended the shutout.

The game settled down until the bottom of the fifth. Back-to-back doubles by Frederick and Gilbert gave Brooklyn its ninth run of the game and Howley made another pitching change, bringing on Biff Wysong, who became the next victim of the Brooklyn bats. Wysong was a rookie making just his fifth major-league appearance. In the sixth, O’Doul reached on an error by second baseman Tony Cuccinello. Herman then “completely fooled the Cincinnati infield.”10 The Reds were playing Herman deep, completely on the outfield grass, probably anticipating a double-play groundball. Herman laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out for his third hit of the game. But on the play, O’Doul raced toward third base and was thrown out. Herman promptly stole second base and scored when Wright singled off Wysong. His run made it 10-1 in favor of the home team.

Cincinnati added a solo tally in the top of the seventh on doubles by Cuccinello and Sukeforth. However, in the bottom half, Brooklyn kept up the attack. Gilbert walked and Lombardi singled to right. Thurston struck out, and both runners advanced on a successful double steal with Thompson batting. This caused Wysong to walk Thompson, loading the bases for O’Doul, who was the only Brooklyn batter not to get a hit in the game. He lifted a sacrifice fly to right, and Gilbert scored. Herman then slammed a double to center field, driving in two more runs. Herman himself scored on Bissonette’s second single of the afternoon. Eight men batted and four of them scored, leading the Cincinnati Enquirer to tell its readers, “Having biffed everybody else, the brutal Robins biffed Biff with consistent vigor.”11 Herman’s double gave him a single, double, triple, and home run; he had hit for the cycle.

Thurston was touched for single runs in each of the last two innings. Wally Roettger‘s RBI double drove Hendrick home in the eighth. In the ninth, Sukeforth singled with one out. Red Lucas pinch-hit in the pitcher’s spot and Sukeforth advanced to second and then to third on defensive indifference with Lucas at the plate. Lucas then flied out to center, deep enough for a sacrifice, scoring Sukeforth. When Thurston retired Estel Crabtree on a weak grounder to first for the final out of the game, the fans cheered the Robins’ 14-4 victory.

This was “the first time this season that the Dodgers really demonstrated their real hitting prowess.”12 To soften the blow, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the Robins faced “second-string pitchers on the Red side.”13 Nonetheless, Brooklyn had knocked out 16 hits, including six for extra bases. With his 4-for-5 performance, Herman had also scored four runs and driven in five. Gilbert had a 3-for-3 day with two walks and three runs batted in. Thurston helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a run scored. With the complete-game win, Thurston’s ERA dropped 10 full runs, to 9.22. Including the last three innings of their May 17 game against the Reds, the Robins had made 23 hits and scored 19 runs in just 11 innings.

National League President John Heydler watched the first two innings of the game and “then departed for his home in Garden City, having seen at least one or two good reasons why the Reds are in last place.”14

The Brooklyn Citizen described Herman as the “elongated outfielder [who] whaled the tar out of the horsehide.”15 The 27-year-old outfielder had batted .381 in 1929 and .393 in 1930. Like his teammates, he had struggled until this game, batting only .301 in Brooklyn’s first 26 games. By hitting for the cycle, Herman upped his average to .324 and raised his slugging percentage to .611.16 He became just the second Brooklyn player (since 1901) to hit for the cycle, after Jimmy Johnston (May 25, 1922, against the Philadelphia Phillies), and the first to do so at his home ballpark of Ebbets Field.

Herman’s feat was the first cycle of 1931. Phillies slugger Chuck Klein accomplished the rare event on July 1, against the Chicago Cubs. Then, three weeks after Klein and only 67 games after his first, Babe Herman cycled again, becoming the ninth major leaguer to hit for the cycle twice in his career.17 This second time (July 24), he did it at Forbes Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Two seasons later, on September 30, 1933, Herman hit for the cycle for a record-tying third time, as a member of the Cubs. As of the beginning of the 2021 season, he remained one of only four players in history to hit for the cycle three times in his career, joining John Reilly, Bob Meusel, and Adrian Beltre.

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/BRO/BRO193105180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1931/B05180BRO1931.htm

NOTES

1 Roscoe McGowen, “Robins on 16 Hits Subdue Reds, 14 to 4,” New York Times, May 19, 1931: 39.

2 Box score, New York Daily News, May 19, 1931: 42.

3 Dixon Stewart, “Babe Herman on Rampage as Flock Collects 16 Hits,” Brooklyn Times Union, May 19, 1931: 17.

4 Lee Scott, “Robins Lose, 5-4,” Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn, New York), April 26, 1931: 11.

5 Lee Scott, “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place,” Brooklyn Citizen, May 19, 1931: 6.

6 Jack Ryder, “Robins Slam Red Reserves From Here to Kingdom Come,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 19, 1931: 9.

7 Scott, “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place.”

8 Pat Robinson, “It’s Great Trick, Even for Robins,” New York Daily News, May 19, 1931: 42.

9 Scott, “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place.”

10 “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place.”

11 Ryder.

12 “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place.”

13 Ryder.

14 Ryder.

15 “Dodgers Hope to Knock Cardinals Out of First Place.”

16 Herman finished the 1931 season batting .313.

17 The previous eight were John Reilly (who cycled three times in his career), Tip O’Neill, Pete Browning, Mike Tiernan, Jimmy Ryan, Fred Clarke, George Sisler, and Bob Meusel (who also cycled three times in his career).