These guys liked to double their fun. Here are the players with the most doubles in a game, season and career in MLB history (note: Major League Baseball separates regular season and playoff stats).
There’s something about hitting a double that not only feels good, but looks great.
The end result, of course, is a batter standing on second base right in the middle of the diamond for all to admire.
Sure, a bloop can lead to a double, but often a bloop is the result of muscle flexing – a throwing shot into space or over an outfielder’s head. Some bounce or even swerve into the stands for a ground rule double.
Who has doubled the fun with the most two sacks in a Major League Baseball game? In a season? In a career?
We dove into the record books to answer these questions and more (note: MLB separates regular season and playoff stats).
Most doubles in a match
Perhaps surprisingly, the record for doubles and home runs in a regular season game in the modern era (since 1901) is the same – four. However, this happened more than three times as often with doubles.
The next time it happens will be something of a milestone after Kyle Farmer of the Cincinnati Reds became the 49th player to do so on April 27, 2022, hitting four doubles for five at bat against the San Diego Padres.
Only five players have earned a share of the record with just four at bats in a game, most recently Kevin Newman of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021.
Most doubles in a series
Six players have collected a record seven doubles in a regular-season series, but Joe Dugan collected his bounty in the fewest games – three.
A third baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics, Dugan had seven doubles in a road series against the Boston Red Sox from September 23–25, 1920. He had no other hits in the series, other than the A’s. lost two games to one. .
Batters who collect seven doubles in four games are jimmy collins of the Boston Americans against the Philadelphia A’s in 1901, Earl Sheely the Chicago White Sox against the Red Sox in 1926, Carl Reynolds of the White Sox against the now Cleveland Guardians in 1929 and Mike Sweeney Kansas City Royals in 2001.
Slugger Mel Ott had seven with the New York Giants in a six-game series (including a pair of doubles) against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1929.
Most doubles in a season
The American League increased its schedule from 154 games to 162 in 1961 and the National League did the same a year later, but the six players who scored 60 or more doubles in a single season did so between 1926 and 1936 In the middle of that run – naturally, as a player standing on second base in the middle of the diamond – Earl Webb of the Red Sox set the record with 67 doubles in 1931.
Beyond 1936, perennial All-Star first baseman Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies tied for the seventh-most single-season doubles with 59 in 2000. Previously, Cleveland’s Tris Speaker (1923) and his fellow Hall of Famer Chuck Klein of the Phillies (1930) garnered the same number.
Most doubles in a postseason game
You could say that four doubles in a game have already been hit 50 times in baseball history because they happened once in the playoffs.
Frank Isbell of the White Sox earned extra bragging rights by accomplishing it in an 8-6 World Series victory over the crosstown Chicago Cubs on October 13, 1906. The quick second baseman, who was the stolen baseman of the majors in 1901, had five at-bats that day.
Seventeen players had three doubles in a postseason game, most recently Kike Hernandez of the Red Sox in 2021. He also hit a single and homer on a memorable 5-on-6 night, tying the record for most hits in a playoff game.
Most doubles in a single postseason
The more playoffs, the more opportunities there are for a player to rack up doubles.
This is reflected in the fact that players with a record eight doubles in a single post-season and the 10 who have hit seven have done so since 2004.
The quartet with eight doubles were among the winning teams of the World Series: David Freese And Albert Pujol of the Cardinals of Saint-Louis in 2011, Ben Zobrist Kansas City Royals in 2015 and Mookie Bets of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. Freese, who was the NLCS and World Series MVP, hit his roller coaster in the fewest board appearances (71).
Most doubles in a career
Miguel Cabrera scored his 600th double in the 2022 season, making him the 18th player to reach the milestone in his career at the time. The list is full of all-time greats, with some starting their careers before the 1900s.
Hall of Fame center fielder Tris Speaker sputtered a record 793 doubles in 22 career seasons from 1907 to 1928, leading the AL eight times in two sacks and finishing third three more. His total is often reported as 792 doubles, but the Society for American Baseball Research considers him to have 793.
Pete Rose (746), Stan Musial (725) and Ty Cobb (724) are the only other players with more than 700 doubles in their careers.
Most career playoff doubles
The New York Yankees who made the playoffs 17 times in 18 years from 1995 to 2012 are reflected in the most career doubles.
Shortstop Derek Jeterwhose 158 playoff games are the most in history, leads the way with 32 doubles, followed by center fielder Bernie Williams (29) second place and receiver Jorge Posada (23) in third.
What was perhaps Jeter’s most iconic hit wasn’t a one-two, but surely it should have been one. The right field umpire missed interference from young fan Jeffrey Maier in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, allowing Jeter to circle the bases for a home run instead of the hit being ruled a double of basic rule.
david ortis of arch-rival Yankees, the Red Sox, ranks fourth with 22 playoff doubles.
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