June 3, 1932. Shibe Park, Philadelphia. A Wednesday afternoon game between the New York Yankees and the Athletics -- the kind of midweek contest that rarely makes history. Lou Gehrig stepped to the plate four times and hit four home runs. No player in the modern era had done it before. Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle in the same game. The Yankees won in a rout, and the most extraordinary regular-season offensive performance in franchise history didn't even lead the sports pages the next morning.
The Four Swings
Gehrig was 29 years old and in the middle of the most productive stretch any hitter has ever sustained. His three-year RBI totals from 1930 to 1932 -- 174, 184, and 151 -- added up to 509 runs driven in across three seasons. Nobody has matched that number. On this particular afternoon, he compressed all of that sustained violence into four at-bats.
Each home run was legitimate. This wasn't a fluky day where a couple of pop flies caught the wind and tumbled over a short porch. Gehrig drove four balls with the kind of force that made fielders stop running and just watch. Some accounts suggest he narrowly missed a fifth, with a deep fly caught near the wall in the late innings (though the details on that at-bat vary depending on who's telling the story).
The pitchers who surrendered the home runs had no answer. Gehrig wasn't guessing. He was locked in -- seeing the ball with the clarity that separates a great hitter having a great day from a Hall of Famer operating at full capacity.
Lazzeri's Cycle
As if Gehrig's four home runs weren't enough, Lazzeri produced his own piece of history in the same game. He singled, doubled, tripled, and homered -- hitting for the cycle while his teammate was busy rewriting the record book. The two performances together turned a regular-season road game into something that belonged in a time capsule.
Lazzeri's cycle barely registered in the coverage. Four home runs from one player swallowed everything else. That was the nature of playing alongside Gehrig and Ruth -- even a historic achievement could disappear inside someone else's bigger one.
| Date | June 3, 1932 |
| Location | Shibe Park, Philadelphia |
| Gehrig's Line | 4-for-4, 4 HR |
| Lazzeri's Line | Hit for the cycle (1B, 2B, 3B, HR) |
| Historical Significance | First modern-era 4-HR game |
| Previous 4-HR Games | Bobby Lowe (1894), Ed Delahanty (1896) |
Gehrig's 1932 Season
The four-homer game wasn't an isolated eruption. It was the loudest note in a season full of them. Gehrig's full 1932 line reads like a typo: .349 batting average, 34 home runs, 151 RBI, 208 hits, 138 runs scored. He led the Yankees in virtually every offensive category that didn't involve Ruth hitting home runs.
When October arrived, Gehrig didn't slow down. He batted .529 in the World Series sweep of the Cubs with 3 home runs and 8 RBI across four games. Ruth's Called Shot in Game 3 consumed the headlines. Gehrig's sustained dominance consumed the box scores.
The remarkable thing about Gehrig's performance was not that he hit four home runs -- it was that nobody seemed particularly surprised.
The Shadow
The four-homer game captures the central tension of Gehrig's career. He accomplished something no modern player had ever done -- and the moment didn't define his season, let alone his legacy. By October, Ruth's Called Shot had buried everything else from 1932 under a layer of mythology. Gehrig didn't complain. He never did. He showed up the next day, played the next game, and kept producing at a level that made everyone around him look ordinary.
Bobby Lowe had hit four in a game in 1894. Ed Delahanty matched it in 1896. Both were pre-modern-era performances in a different statistical environment. Gehrig's four-homer game stood alone for 18 years until Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers matched it in 1950. Eighteen years as the only modern player to do it, and the achievement still gets listed as a footnote to a season remembered for someone else's gesture.
Four Home Runs
Gehrig becomes the first modern-era player to hit four home runs in a single game, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Lazzeri hits for the cycle in the same game.
Bobby Lowe's Four
Lowe of the Boston Beaneaters hits four home runs in a game -- the first player in major league history to do it -- but in the pre-modern era.
Delahanty's Four
Ed Delahanty matches Lowe with four home runs in a game for the Philadelphia Phillies, also pre-modern era.
Hodges Matches Gehrig
Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers hits four home runs in a game -- the first player to match Gehrig's modern-era feat, 18 years later.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Lou Gehrig hit four home runs in one game?
Gehrig hit four home runs on June 3, 1932, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia against the Athletics. He became the first player in the modern era (post-1900) to accomplish the feat. Bobby Lowe (1894) and Ed Delahanty (1896) had done it in the pre-modern era.
Did Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle in the same game as Gehrig's four home runs?
Yes. In the same June 3, 1932 game at Shibe Park, Lazzeri hit a single, double, triple, and home run -- completing the cycle while Gehrig was hitting four home runs. The combined performance made it one of the most remarkable offensive games in baseball history.
How long did Gehrig's four-homer record stand?
Gehrig's record as the only modern-era player to hit four home runs in a game stood for 18 years, until Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers matched it on August 31, 1950. Since then, the feat has been accomplished multiple times, but Gehrig was the first to do it in the modern era.