There have been 320 one-pitcher no-hitters and 25 combined no-hitters in baseball history. Even more celebrated are the 24 perfect games that have been pitched. Four home runs in a single game by a player is viewed as more of an amusement than a significant accomplishment by the batter. It’s a fluke. According to Baseball-Reference.com, since 1901, there have been 19 MLB players who have hit four home runs in one game. It’s one of the rarest occurrences in MLB.

To give 19th century ballplayers their due:

There were two pre-20^th century four home run games.

In 1894, Bobby Lowe of the Boston Beaneaters, became the first player to hit four homers in a game on May 30^th, including two in the third inning. Lowe finished his career with 71 home runs in an 18-year career that began better than it finished.

In 1896, on July 13^th, HOFer Ed Delahanty hit two of his four home runs inside the park, according to Baseball Almanac. He is the only member of the four-homer club to even have one inside-the-park homer as part of his feat. Shockingly, the Phillies lost this game despite Delahanty going 5-5. Delahanty hit just 101 career homers in 16 seasons, maxing out at 19 during the 1893 season.

The list of the 19 four-homer players since 1901:

Kyle Schwarber is the most recent to accomplish the feat in 2025 on August 28^th, punctuating a season in which three players hit the four-homers in a game mark. Eugenio Suarez also crashed four homers in a game on April 26^th, and Nick Kurtz did the same in a game on July 25^th. No other MLB season featured more than one player hitting four homers in one game.

Nearly half – nine of the 19 players – have done it since 2002. ‘Hard-hittin’ Mark Whiten’ did it in 1993, and over the past 33 years more than half of the four-homer games have occurred. This is compared to the first 117 years of baseball since the founding of the National League in 1876.

Since it is a freak occurrence, it shouldn’t be surprising, but somehow is, that only six of the 19 men to hit four homers in a game are in the Hall of Fame. No member of the 700 Club ever hit four home runs in a game (Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Albert Pujols all missed).

Four homer game memories

· “It was just one of those days.” said Mike Cameron after his four-homer game for Seattle on May 2, 2002. At least Cameron finished with 278 career dingers!

· J.D. Martinez is the only player to hit four home runs in a game and also have two three-homer games.

· First basemen HOFer Gil Hodges (Dodgers) and Joe Adcock (Braves) both had four-homer games in 1950 and 1954, respectively, with both efforts at Ebbets Field while teams played each other.

· Whiten had the most RBIs during a four-homer game, while Mike Cameron (4) had the fewest because he had four solo home runs.

· Lou Gehrig was the first American Leaguer and only Yankee to have a four-homer game (June 3, 1932).

· On July 31, 1954, Joe Adcock used a borrowed bat to slam his four homers on his way to 18 total bases – a then record.

· Shawn Green’s four-homer performance in 2002 was accompanied by a single and double, giving him a record 19 total bases in a game.

· The unlikeliest happened fifteen years later when Scooter Gennett became player to hit four in a game (he hit a total of 87 career home runs in his seven seasons the fewest career homers of any of the four-homers-in-a-game club).

Only two of the 19 efforts came in losing causes. The late Bob Horner with the Atlanta Braves in 1986 and Suarez last year matched him when crashing four in the D’backs loss to the Braves 8-7.

How likely is a five-homer game?

Likely is probably the wrong word but it’s at least very possible. Factors against it ever happening are the limitations of at-bats within the game (seven or more at-bats is at the top end), as well as the general parade of relief pitchers in any given game. As mentioned, Kyle Schwarber hit four homers in a game in 2025 and had a fifth opportunity but popped out to end his bid. Three other players (Lowe, Gehrig, and Cameron) also failed in a fifth opportunity to hit five in a game.

In today’s homer-happy world of MLB, it just feels like to me that a player will accomplish five homers in one game, one day!

Mark Kolier

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.