List of Major League Baseball single-game home run leaders

In baseball a home run occurs when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process. In modern baseball the feat is typically achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles (or making contact with either foul pole) without first touching the ground, resulting in an automatic home run. There is also the "inside-the-park" home run where the batter reaches home safely while the baseball is in play on the field.

Bobby Lowe was the first MLB player to hit four home runs in a single game, doing so in 1894.

Twenty players have hit four home runs in a single Major League Baseball (MLB) game, which writers of Sporting News described as "baseball's greatest single-game accomplishment".^[1] The most recent to accomplish the feat to date is Nick Kurtz with the Athletics against the Houston Astros on July 25, 2025, who became the first rookie to do so in Major League history. No player has done this more than once in his career. In the pre-professional era, Lipman Pike also hit five home runs in 1866.^[2] No player has ever hit four home runs in a postseason game; that record is three, first accomplished by Babe Ruth in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series.^[3]

Bobby Lowe was the first to hit four home runs in a single game, doing so on May 30, 1894, for the Boston Beaneaters.^[4] Fans were reportedly so excited that they threw $160 in silver coins ($5,800 today) onto the field after his fourth home run.^[1][5] Of all players to achieve the feat, Lowe hit the fewest career home runs, with a total of 71. Two years after Lowe's feat, Ed Delahanty of the Philadelphia Phillies became the second player to hit four home runs in a game. Two other Phillies players have achieved the feat, Chuck Klein in 1932 and Mike Schmidt in 1976.^[6] Three other current franchises, the Atlanta Braves (with three), the Los Angeles Dodgers (with two), and the Arizona Diamondbacks (with two) have had multiple four-homer games in their history; the former two share the distinction of having one four-homer game in each city they have called home (for the Braves, Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta; for the Dodgers, Brooklyn and Los Angeles). The Braves also hold the record for most four-homer games surrendered by a single franchise with three, while the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Athletics have each surrendered two such games over their histories. Thirteen of the 30 franchises (as of 2021) have achieved at least one four-homer game, and 12 franchises have surrendered at least one. Eleven have never been involved in a four-homer game at all, although only three of these (Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins) date back to before the 1960s expansion era.

Despite Delahanty's achievement on July 13, 1896, the Phillies lost to the Chicago Colts, one of only three occasions when a player hit four home runs but was on the losing team.^[6] One took place in 1986, when Bob Horner had four home runs for the Atlanta Braves, but the Montreal Expos emerged victorious,^[6] and the other occurred in 2025, when Eugenio Suárez hit four home runs for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but the Braves emerged victorious.^[7] Following Delahanty's four-home run game in 1896, no other player would accomplish the feat for nearly 36 years, the longest gap between such occurrences.^[6] The shortest interval took place in 2002,^[6] when Mike Cameron hit his four on May 2, 2002,^[8] and Shawn Green repeated the feat 21 days later, on May 23.^[9] This was the first time two players had achieved a four-homer game in the same season; this would occur again in 2017 when Scooter Gennett and J. D. Martinez achieved the feat in June and September respectively.^[10][6] Cameron was also the first and only player to hit four solo home runs in one game, accounting for the minimum of four RBIs when accomplishing the feat. When Martinez struck his four home runs for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he became the first player with a four-homer game to hit more homers than his opponents gained base hits.^[11]

These games have resulted in other MLB single-game records due to the extreme offensive performance. Mark Whiten tied Jim Bottomley for the most runs batted in in a single game with 12 in his four-homer game.^[12] Shawn Green hit a double and a single along with his four home runs for 19 total bases, an MLB record. Nick Kurtz matched this record in 2025, also with a double and a single. The previous record was Joe Adcock's mark of 18, which also came from a four-homer game.^[13][14] Carlos Delgado and Eugenio Suárez are the only players to make four plate appearances in a game and hit a home run each time.^[15] Warren Spahn pitched the ball which Gil Hodges hit for the first of his four, the only Hall of Fame pitcher faced during a four-home-run game.^[1] Of the 14 players eligible for the Hall of Fame who have hit four home runs in a game, six have been elected. Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have played in at least 10 major league seasons and have either been retired for five seasons or deceased for at least six months.^[16] These requirements leave three players ineligible who are living and have played in the past five seasons and one (Seerey) who did not play 10 seasons in MLB.

Players

Shawn Green was one of two players to hit four home runs in a game in May 2002. Green and Nick Kurtz (not pictured) also both hit a double and a single in their games for 19 total bases, an MLB record. Kurtz is the most recent MLB player to hit four home runs in a game.

Player	Name
Date	Date of the game
Team	The player's team at the time
Opposing team	The team against whom the player hit four home runs
Score	Final score of the game, with the player's team's score listed first
RBI	The number of runs batted in the player had in the game
TB	The number of total bases the player had in the game
Career HR	The number of home runs the player hit in his MLB career
º	The home runs were in consecutive plate appearances
†	Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
^	MLB record
*	The player is still active.
‡	The player's team lost the game.

Players who have hit four home runs in a single regular-season game

Player	Date	Team	Opposing team	Score	RBI	TB	Career HR	Ref(s)
Bobby Loweº	May 30, 1894	Boston Beaneaters	Cincinnati Reds	20–11	9	17	71	[17][18]
Ed Delahanty†	July 13, 1896	Philadelphia Phillies	Chicago Colts	8–9‡	7	17	101	[19][20]
Lou Gehrigº†	June 3, 1932	New York Yankees	Philadelphia Athletics	20–13	6	16	493	[21]
Chuck Klein†	July 10, 1936	Philadelphia Phillies	Pittsburgh Pirates	9–6	6	16	300	[22]
Pat Seerey	July 18, 1948	Chicago White Sox	Philadelphia Athletics	12–11	7	16	86	[23]
Gil Hodges†	August 31, 1950	Brooklyn Dodgers	Boston Braves	19–3	9	17	370	[24]
Joe Adcock	July 31, 1954	Milwaukee Braves	Brooklyn Dodgers	15–7	7	18	336	[25][26]
Rocky Colavitoº	June 10, 1959	Cleveland Indians	Baltimore Orioles	11–8	6	16	374	[27][28]
Willie Mays†	April 30, 1961	San Francisco Giants	Milwaukee Braves	14–4	8	16	660	[29][30]
Mike Schmidtº†	April 17, 1976	Philadelphia Phillies	Chicago Cubs	18–16	8	17	548	[31][32]
Bob Horner	July 6, 1986	Atlanta Braves	Montreal Expos	8–11‡	6	16	218	[33][34]
Mark Whiten	September 7, 1993	St. Louis Cardinals	Cincinnati Reds	15–2	12^	16	105	[35][36]
Mike Cameronº	May 2, 2002	Seattle Mariners	Chicago White Sox	15–4	4	16	278	[37][8]
Shawn Green	May 23, 2002	Los Angeles Dodgers	Milwaukee Brewers	16–3	7	19^	328	[9][38]
Carlos Delgadoº	September 25, 2003	Toronto Blue Jays	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	10–8	6	16	473	[39][40]
Josh Hamilton	May 8, 2012	Texas Rangers	Baltimore Orioles	10-3	8	18	200	[41][42]
Scooter Gennettº	June 6, 2017	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Cardinals	13–1	10	17	87	[10][43]
J. D. Martinezº*	September 4, 2017	Arizona Diamondbacks	Los Angeles Dodgers	13–0	6	16	331	[6][44]
Eugenio Suárezº*	April 26, 2025	Arizona Diamondbacks	Atlanta Braves	7–8‡	5	16	301	[7][45]
Nick Kurtz*	July 25, 2025	Athletics	Houston Astros	15–3	8	19^	23	[46]

Source:^[47][48][49]

Unofficial four-home run games

Only one player has ever hit four home runs in a spring training game: Henry Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Dodgers against the New York Mets on April 24, 1995.^[50]