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More Fun With Baseball Rarities!

Bob Gibson Records Four Strikeouts in One Inning!!

What Gives??

I always enjoy writing about baseball rarities, you know, like unassisted triple plays, four home runs in one inning, natural cycles, and perfect games. I can now add another one to the list: Four strikeouts in one inning.

Today is the sixtieth anniversary of a memorable game played on June 7, 1966, at the Pirates’ home,  Forbes Field, between the Cardinals and the Pirates. In the fourth inning of the Pirates’ 9-1 win in front of 12,418 fans, the Cardinals’ great Hall of Famer Bob Gibson struck out four batters in one inning.

This baseball rarity occurs when a batter in the inning strikes out but reaches first base on a passed ball. A strikeout is recorded, but the out is not, allowing a fourth batter to come to the plate.  The four victims of Bob Gibson that day were Jerry Lynch, Jim Pagliaroni, Bill Mazeroski, and Don Cardwell. It took 59 years before another Cardinal pitcher recorded the feat: Steve Matz on June 19, 2025.

Actually, four strikeouts in one inning is not as rare as you might think. It has actually occurred 108 times, 50 times in the American League and 58 in the National League. Looking through the list of pitchers, Chuck Finley is the only pitcher in major league history to have three of these unusual innings to his credit.  The first two came as a California Angel, while the third came as a member of the Tribe.  Only five pitchers in major league history have done it twice, Zack Greinke being the only National Leaguer on this exclusive list.

With Chuck Finley being the only pitcher in major league history to have struck out four batters in one inning three times in his career, this now moves up to first place on my all-time favorite list of baseball rarities, making it possibly the rarest feat of all. 

There have also been four combined occurrences, where two pitchers combined to record four strikeouts in an inning, twice in the National League and twice in the American League. This season, it’s happened twice: Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays on March 27, and Mason Miller of the Padres on May 9. The very first in the American League was thrown by the great Walter Johnson on April 15, 1911. Besides Johnson and Gibson, the only other Hall of Famers on the list are Don Drysdale and Phil Niekro. 

The Dodgers franchise leads the majors with nine of these rarities in their history, followed by the Cubs with seven. Three other teams, Twins, Astros, and Angels, have six. 

Box score from June 7, 1966

It’s always fun to check out the box score of games played long ago. In Bob Gibson’s game on June 7, 1966, six future Hall of Famers were on the field: Lou Brock and Orlando Cepeda, plus manager Red Schoendienst of the Cardinals; and Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates. The Cardinals’ lineup also included the familiar names of Curt Flood, Tim McCarver, Del Maxville, and Tito Francona, father of current Reds’ manager, Terry Francona. Our “senior” readers will remember the umpires for the game: Bob Engel, Frank Secory, Ken Burkhart, and Chris Pelekoudas.

The Pirates, managed by Harry Walker, went on to finish third in the National League with a 92-70 record, three games behind the pennant-winning Dodgers; while Red Schoendienst’s Cardinals finished at 83-79, only good for sixth place, 12 games behind the Dodgers.

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All found on Google search

Information: Stats from baseball-reference.com

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