He batted only four times, but in each he sacrificed himself for his team. On April 22, 1979, Jose Morales hit for the Saint Cycle in a game for the Minnesota Twins against the Seattle Mariners. In his fourth at-bat he hit a fly ball to move the runner from second to third. His second, he drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. In five at-bats, Flannery sacrificed himself for the good of the team a different way each time. He was playing for the San Diego Padres in a game against Houston Astros. 1, 1988, Tim Flannery hit for the Saint Cycle. This guy did a lot and no one remembers." And that is exactly my point. "You wouldn't know these guys had a good game looking at their stat pages, but I guess that's your point. Though he warned me that it is impossible to have a fully comprehensive list of people who have hit for the Saint Cycle, he did find a few. I wanted to know: Had anyone successfully done it? How many saints did Major League Baseball have?įrank called me back a couple of hours later. If it's interesting to you, it's not silly." And unluckily for him, the Saint Cycle is very interesting to me. I called up Frank Labombarda, the head of research for Elias Sports Bureau, and asked him if anyone kept this stat. You must put the team on your back, prostrate yourself for the win. It is very hard to hit for the Saint Cycle because not only must you be strategic, able to bunt, and collaborative with your teammates, you must be willing to sacrifice honor and splendor. A productive out (in case you just learned this term like I did) is when a routine ground ball or other out moves a runner from (say) second to third. The ways they can do this according to me, inventor of this statistic, are: Hit By Pitch, Walk, Sacrifice Bunt, Sacrifice Fly, and Productive Out. They must martyr themselves for the win, and they must do this in a distinct way for each at-bat. To hit for the Saint Cycle, a player must use each of their at-bats for the benefit of their team and not themselves. ![]() These players, I think, still deserve their own kind of glory, and that's why I have invented a new statistic called The Saint Cycle. Last night, while I was watching Sunday Night Baseball, I was thinking about how, in this era of baseball where sabermetrics and the three true outcomes reign supreme, it is the former gritty heroes of the game-the guys who hit sacrifice flies and bunt runners over-who are perhaps a little under-appreciated for once. It doesn't have to be that good of a bunt because it's not for the batter. The ball rolls slowly down the line, or to the pitcher. There is no booming crack, just a terrible thunk. The batter stands in the box and at the last moment pivots, holds the bat at a slight angle and presses it into the ball. We need runs, and our batter is not a Home Run Derby contender. ![]() There is a runner on the bases already and the opposing team is stressed. Mainly, I love it because it's so annoying. There is nothing in baseball I love more than a perfect sacrifice bunt.
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