Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton made history in one night. He might do it for an entire season, too. What he did Tuesday, hitting four homers, we hope will be trumped by his other feats the rest of the summer, making him a must-watch. First comes the caveat: There’s a long way to go in the season. Players start hot and fade all the time. But this is a former MVP, so it’s not out of the question he could be at the beginning of a special season. If he is, there’s a chance he could do something more rare than his big game Tuesday: win a Triple Crown, which hasn’t been done since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
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By the way, how cool is this season? In a span of three weeks, baseball has seen two of the rarest feats: a perfect game (the White Sox Phil Humber became the 21st in history to throw one) and the four-homer game (Hamilton was the 16th in history). They’ve never occurred in the same season.
Hamilton’s 18 total bases — he also doubled — rank second all-time.
When Hamilton won the MVP two years ago, he led the majors with a .359 batting average and was fifth in the AL in homers (32) and trailed the RBI leader by 26 (with 100). But Hamilton also missed 29 games that season because of an injury.
There’s no reason he can’t threaten to win a Triple Crown this summer. It helps that players such as Jose Bautista and Albert Pujols are off to slow starts. Miguel Cabrera is another threat to top Hamilton in one of the three categories.
Still, Hamilton, batting .406, already has 36 RBI — 12 more than Pujols and Bautista combined, entering Wednesday night. And his 14 homers lead the American League by four.
Yes, it’s a little early for this talk. Can Hamilton, a free agent after the season, stay healthy? He hasn’t played more than 133 games in any of the past three seasons. But we’ve already seen a position player win a game for Baltimore and a 49-year-old win a game. And maybe Hamilton’s finish will be more exciting than his start.
– John Keim
