An official cycle occurs when a player hits a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game. Completing the cycle, or hitting for the cycle, is a rare occurrence and every Major League Baseball player who has officially hit for the cycle appears on the chart below. Research by Baseball Almanac.
"Alex Rodriguez became the first Mariners player to hit for the cycle in a nine-inning game in Detroit on June 5, 1997. He secured it with a shallow fly to right that landed just inside the foul lines. No one cheered louder when the ball landed fair than Mariners fan Pamela Altazan. She won a contest sponsored by the M's that awarded $1 million to a lucky fan in the event any Mariner hit for the cycle." - Emmerich, Michael. Author. 100 Things Mariners Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Triumph Books. 1 April 2015. Page 99.
If you are interested in every official cycle, split up by leagues, in alphabetical order, look no further than American League Players Who Hit for the Cycle and National League Players Who Hit for the Cycle.
Did you know that four franchises have had more than twenty instances where a player hit for the cycle? They are the Pirates (24 / National League record), the Giants (23), the Red Sox (22 / American League record), and the Cardinals (21). At the bottom of the list are the Miami Marlins, who have only one player with a cycle.
Did you know that when Daryle Ward hit for the cycle on May 26, 2004, him and his father, Gary Ward (who hit for the cycle on September 18, 1980), became the first father-son duo to each hit for the cycle? Did you know this incredible baseball family-feat was duplicated in 2019, when Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle on September 17th, joining his dad Craig Biggio, who hit for the cycle on April 8, 2002?
* Did you know that when Brock Holt hit for the cycle on October 8, 2018, it was during the American League Division Series (Game 3), and it was the first cycle ever hit during any type of postseason game?
Want to see players who hit for the cycle where the home run was a grand slam? How about players who completed a cycle in natural order? We have those and MANY more other variations in our Hitting for the Cycle Record Book.