Inside-the-park home run

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In 2007, Ichiro Suzuki became the first, and only player, to record an inside-the-park home run during an MLB All-Star Game. Suzuki Ichiro runs to homeplate.jpg
In 2007, Ichiro Suzuki became the first, and only player, to record an inside-the-park home run during an MLB All-Star Game.

In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", [1] "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer".

Contents

Discussion

The vast majority of home runs occur when a batter hits the ball beyond the outfield fence on the fly, which requires striking the ball with enough power at the correct flight angle to clear the outfield, allowing the batter to trot around the bases at leisure albeit at a decent pace to avoid infuriating the opposition. Though an inside-the-park home run is scored in the same manner, achieving the feat requires the batter to touch all four bases (in the order of first, second, and third, ending at home plate) before being tagged out by an opposing player, all while the ball remains in play.

Inside-the-park home runs typically occur when a fast baserunner either hits the ball to the portion of the field farthest from where the opposing team's fielders are positioned or when a sharply hit ball takes an unexpected bounce away from defenders. They can also be the result of weather conditions like wind gusts or fog that reduces defenders' ability to track a moving ball. Sometimes (such as Alcides Escobar's inside-the-park homer in the 2015 World Series), an outfielder could lose sight of the ball in the stadium floodlights or against a light-colored roof of a domed stadium. Since a play is usually not ruled an error unless a fielder touches the ball, these scenarios can result in a home run if the batter is able to circle the bases before the defenders can track down the ball and get it to home plate. [2] [3]

If the defensive team is charged with an error on the play, the batter is not credited with a home run, but rather as having advanced on an error. [4] At advanced levels of play, the batter scoring due to one or more errors by the defense is colloquially referred to as a Little League home run. [5]

Though never an everyday occurrence, inside-the-park homers were more common in the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB). MLB has never set the standard shape or size of the outfield, and many early ballparks featured outfields that were large, irregular, or contained odd angles in the outfield wall to accommodate the size of the property on which they were situated. This could result in a batted ball getting past outfielders to the far reaches of the playing field or bouncing off a wall in an unexpected direction, forcing defensive players to chase after it while the batter sprints around the bases. The smaller and more circumferential outfields of the modern baseball era reduce opportunities for the ball to take odd bounces, helping to reduce the number of inside-the-park homers while increasing the number of "regular" homers. Today, inside-the-park homers are rare, generally totaling ten to twenty per season.

Major League Baseball statistics

Jesse Burkett Jesse Burkett Baseball.jpg
Jesse Burkett

Of the 154,483 home runs hit between 1951 and 2000, only 975 (0.63%; about one per 158) were inside-the-park. The percentage has dwindled since the increase in emphasis on power hitting, which began in the 1920s. Jesse Burkett, who played in the major leagues from 1890 to 1905, had 55 career inside-the-park home runs (of 75 career home runs). The leader in the live-ball era is Willie Wilson, who played in the major leagues from 1976 to 1994, and hit 13 inside-the-park home runs (of 41 career home runs). [6]

Records

LeagueSingle gameSingle seasonCareer
PlayerNo.DatePlayerNo.YearPlayerNo.
American League 17 players tied
most recent:
Greg Gagne
2October 4, 1986 Ty Cobb 91909 Ty Cobb 46
National League Tom McCreery 3July 12, 1897 Sam Crawford 121901 Tommy Leach 49
Major League Baseball Jesse Burkett 55

Source: [6]

In the World Series

DateGamePlayerTeamOpponent
October 1, 1903 1 Jimmy Sebring Pittsburgh Pirates Boston Americans
October 2, 19032 Patsy Dougherty Boston AmericansPittsburgh Pirates
October 13, 1915 5 Duffy Lewis Boston Red Sox Philadelphia Phillies
October 9, 1916 2 Hy Myers Brooklyn Robins Boston Red Sox
October 11, 19164 Larry Gardner Boston Red Sox Brooklyn Robins
October 10, 1923 1 Casey Stengel New York Giants New York Yankees
October 3, 1926 2 Tommy Thevenow St. Louis Cardinals New York Yankees
October 7, 1928 3 Lou Gehrig New York YankeesSt. Louis Cardinals
October 12, 1929 4 Mule Haas Philadelphia Athletics Chicago Cubs
October 27, 2015 1 Alcides Escobar Kansas City Royals New York Mets

Rare occurrences

Roberto Clemente Roberto Clemente 1965.jpg
Roberto Clemente
Kyle Blanks Kyle Blanks 2013.jpg
Kyle Blanks

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