All Nine (And Only Nine) Batters In A Game Each Get One Hit

Last Friday, the Guardians beat the Royals 6-3. They totaled nine hits, one by each of the nine players in the lineup. All nine batters played the entire game.

In AL/NL history, this has now happened 24 times since 1901.

The Red Sox have done it once: July 14, 1940, in a 7-3 win at home over the Browns. The game was limited to seven innings; as the second game of a doubleheader, it was likely called for darkness or because one or both teams needed to catch a scheuled train.

For whatever reason, this phenomom was far more common in the first two decades of the 1900s.

Dividing them up:

1901-1917: 10 times in  17 years
1918-1989:  7 times in  72 years
1990-2022:  7 times in  33 years

1901-1917: 10 times in  17 years
1918-2022: 14 times in 105 years

1901-1924: 12 times in  24 years
1925-2022: 12 times in  98 years

It has happened in the American League 17 times, only seven times in the National League. The last instance in the NL was on May 30, 1924 – nearly a century ago.

Cleveland has now done it four times: 1906, 1916, 1948, 2022.

The Athletics (in Philadelphia or Oakland) have done it three times: 1902, 1928, 1977.

The Pirates (1901 and 1921), Reds (1907 and 1924), and Texas (1976 and 2008) have each done it twice.

It has happened in the same season only once – 1990 – when the Blue Jays did it on July 1 and the Orioles matched it on July 11.