How did "hit for the cycle" get started?

Answer 1

Obviously, someone had to have hit for a single, double, triple, and homerun for it to possibly have been thought of.

Answer 2

The first time that a player hit a single, double, triple and home run the prize was one of those bicycles with the huge front wheel and he road it around the bases and ever since it has been called hitting for the cycle.

Answer 3

The phrase was already in common use (interchangeably with "hitting the cycle") in the 1930s in newspaper accounts of baseball games and I'm sure it goes much further back. Interestingly, the feat was known in the early days of baseball as a "hat trick", long before the phrase was used in hockey.

Answer 4

i wouldn't say it's a useless stat, it's not even really a stat. and it is a big deal when somebody hits one, it is a rare accomplishment within the game. it in no way measures someone's talent level like the batting avg., ERA, OPS, or power-speed numbers, but rather shows that the stars aligned for that particular player on that particular day and he was able to do something which is highly unprobable. especially considering how difficult it is just to get a hit....he got one of every kind

Answer 5

Pro'ly some lazy sportscasters with nothin' to do and a lot of time on their hands started it. It was a s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w news day.

It is such a useless stat too, as though (the sportscasters would have us believe) it is a goal worth striving for.

Answer 6

The dodgers announcer started saying it in the 50s, Vin Scully.

Answer 7

I think it began from the beginning of baseball. Every hitter dreams of getting a homer, triple, double, and single in the same game.

Answer 8

it`s all most as old as baseball. the only person i can think of that might know is hank greenberg and he probably wont tell

Answer 9

they have stats for everything in baseball and thats just what they call that one