Monster Year For Monster Statistics

The 1993 season has been filled with extraordinary displays of batsmanship. But as impressive as these feats may be individually, it is even more notable that they all occurred in the same year, thereby making this one of the best seasons ever for hitters.

•Through Sunday, Tony Gwynn of the Padres, Kevin Reimer of the Brewers and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs had each had a six-hit game—the first time since 1931 that three players had done that in the same season. Gwynn also had become the third player ever to have five or more hits in a game four times in one season.

•Shortstops Jay Bell of the Pirates and Jeff Blauser of the Braves were hitting .320 and .309, respectively. Since divisional play began, in 1969, no two National League shortstops have hit .300 (with at least 502 plate appearances) in the same year.

•Carlos Baerga of the Indians had become the first player ever to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in one inning. In another game he had become the sixth second baseman in American League history to hit three homers in one game.

•The Braves' Blauser and second baseman Mark Lemke had each hit two homers in the same game in Colorado. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they had become only the third keystone combination in the last 50 years to do it.

•Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers had become the sixth American League player to hit three homers in a game twice in one season.

•Ken Griffey Jr. of the Mariners had tied a major league record by hitting a home run in eight consecutive games. By comparison, the longest such streak by Babe Ruth was five games.

•Six catchers had hit 20 or more homers in the same season for the first time in history. The Dodgers' Mike Piazza, who had clouted 28, appeared a lock to become the first rookie catcher ever to hit 30 homers.

•Mike Blowers of the Mariners and Dan Gladden of the Tigers had become the 13th and 14th players ever to hit grand slams in back-to-back games, but this was the first time two players had done it in one season.

•Lenny Dykstra of the Phillies had scored a run in 15 consecutive games, two short of Ted Kluszewski's National League record. Dykstra was on pace to score 149 for the season, nine short of the National League record.

•The Tigers had scored 20 runs in a game twice in a four-game span and had scored 15 or more runs in seven games overall.

•Big league teams had scored in double figures 292 times and had been shut out 179 times. Last year they scored in double figures 215 times and were shut out 298 times. The Giants, for example, had increased their double-figure output from three games in 1992 to 18 this season.

PHOTO

AL TIELEMANS

There's no place like home for run king Dykstra.