The Brewers’ Christian Yelich achieves a baseball rarity
He’s only the fourth player in history to hit for the cycle with two additional hits, and only the second in the history of the National League, which dates to 1876. He had three singles, a double, a triple and a homer.
The others:
Bobby Veach for the Tigers in 1920: three singles, a double, a triple, a homer. Veach was the only man to achieve this feat in pro baseball’s first 124 seasons, but it has now been done three times in the past quarter century.
Rondell White for the Expos in 1995: two singles, two doubles, a triple, a homer. White is the only other National Leaguer to do it.
Ian Kinsler for the Rangers in 2009: two singles, two doubles, a triple, a homer. Kinsler is the only infielder to do it.
All three of the previous players to accomplish the feat had major league careers spanning at least thirteen years, so this is not an achievement accomplished as a fluke by a mediocre player. Yelich is not really a household name, but he probably would be if he played in NY or LA. He is already a star, possibly going nova. He is batting .319 (first in the league) with a .943 OPS (third in the league), and plays a solid CF.