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In baseball, completing the cycle is the accomplishment of hitting a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle", which has occurred 14 times in Major League Baseball (MLB). The cycle itself is rare in MLB, occurring 307 times since Curry Foley's first cycle in 1882. In terms of frequency, the cycle is roughly as common as a no-hitter (289 occurrences in major league history); Baseball Digest calls it "one of the rarest feats in baseball". Only one current team in Major League Baseball has never had a player hit for the cycle: the Miami Marlins.
The most cycles hit by a single player in Major League Baseball is three, accomplished by four players; John Reilly was the first to hit a third when he completed the cycle on August 6, 1890, after hitting his first two in a week (September 12 and 19, 1883) for the Cincinnati Reds. Bob Meusel became the second man to complete three cycles, playing for the New York Yankees; his first occurred on May 7, 1921, the next on July 3, 1922, and his final cycle on July 26, 1928. Babe Herman accomplished the feat for two different teams—the Brooklyn Robins (May 18 and July 24, 1931) and the Chicago Cubs (September 30, 1933). Adrián Beltré is the most recent addition to this list, cycling first for the Seattle Mariners (September 1, 2008) before cycling twice as a member of the Texas Rangers (August 24, 2012 and August 3, 2015). Beltré is the only player to have completed all three cycles in the same ballpark, with the first occurring as an opponent of the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
The most cycles hit in a single major league season is eight, which has occurred twice: first in the 1933 season, and then again in the 2009 season; all eight cycles in each of those seasons were hit by different players. Cycles have occurred on the same day twice in Major League Baseball history: on September 17, 1920, hit by Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants; and again on September 1, 2008, when the Arizona Diamondbacks' Stephen Drew and the Seattle Mariners' Adrián Beltré each completed the four-hit group. Conversely, the longest period of time between two players hitting for the cycle was 5 years, 1 month, and 10 days, a drought lasting from Bill Joyce's cycle in 1896 to Harry Davis' in 1901. Three players – John Olerud, Bob Watson and Michael Cuddyer – have hit for the cycle in both the National and American Leagues. Family pairs to hit for the cycle include father and son Gary and Daryle Ward, who accomplished the feat in 1980 and 2004, respectively; and grandfather and grandson Gus and David Bell, the elder of whom hit for the cycle in 1951, and the younger in 2004. Dave Winfield and Mike Trout are the oldest and youngest players to hit for the cycle at ages 39 and 21, respectively. Of multiple-cycle hitters, John Reilly holds the record for the shortest amount of time between cycles (7 days), while Aaron Hill holds the record since the formation of the American League, with his two 2012 feats coming within an 11-day span.