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13 of the most extraordinary baseball games of all time

Over the past nearly 100 years, a baker's dozen worth of outrageous major league baseball games.

10. Sept. 16, 1975: Rennie Stennett collects a record seven hits in single game

ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP

  • By Ross Atkin Contributor

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Chicago Cubs, 22-0.

Of all the games played in the 100 years of Wrigley Field in Chicago, this was among the craziest. If nothing else, it was the most lopsided shutout ever in the majors until Cleveland equaled the feat in 2004. Pittsburgh second baseman Rennie Stennett set a record as the first player since the 1800s to collect seven hits in a nine-inning game – five singles, a double, and a triple in the eighth inning, before being pulled for a pinch-runner. The only other player to match the feat was Baltimore’s Wilbert Robinson in 1892.

Additional facts:

- Stennett, as you might imagine, was the Pirates’ leadoff hitter.

- The major-league record for hits in a single game is nine, set by Cleveland’s Johnny Burnett in 1932, when he batted 11 times in an 18-inning marathon. 

- Stennett was part of baseball’s first all-black starting lineup, if you include Latino players.

- Only 4,932 fans were in attendance to witness Stennett’s hitting feat.

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Mark Sappenfield
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