The Quebec French term ‘carrousel’ is so beautiful that it compels us to use it over the homonym ‘cycle’. What is it about? When a batter in a single game hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run, they achieve this ‘carrousel’, and if they do it in order, it’s called a natural one. It’s a rare feat, with just over a hundred achieved in MLB over more than 140 years, less than one per year. Have we seen it in France? (Maybe in Saumur, lol), since statistics have only been kept for about a decade, we can only rely on the collective memory of current members of the baseball community.
Achieving multiple in a career is even rarer, with only a few players managing three. It’s interesting to note that it’s not the power hitters who have broken home run records. No Bonds, Bruce, McGwire, or Ortiz. An exception with Trout. Instead, you find hitters like Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and more recently Mookie Betts.
This week saw a near-carrousel attempt by Shohei Ohtani. Unfortunately, his long ball was caught by the defense in the form of Ruiz, preventing Ohtani from completing his second carrousel. In addition to attempting the quadruple hit, he was the starting pitcher. Which, if he had succeeded, would have been a feat only achieved once, and hold on to your hats, in 1888.
The Angels’ manager, Nevin, stated: « I’ll be honest, after the third inning – after he had the single and the double – it started to enter my mind. And almost a perfect game and a cycle. You think about those things every time he’s out there. It’s not out of reach »
