On July 8th, 1982, just five days after hitting three home runs in a 5 – 4 loss to the Twins, California’s Doug DeCinces hit three more home runs in a 9 – 5 win at Seattle, joining Ted Williams as the only American League players ever to hit three home runs in a game twice in the same season.

As I do these baseball history posts, I find myself drawn to highlight players like Doug DeCinices. Very good players who are probably largely forgotten these days.

DeCinces had a 15-year career: for the Orioles (1973-1981) and the Angels (1982-1987). A third basemen with power, DeCinces ended his career with 237 homers and a .259 batting average. His best season was his 1982 season with California when he hit 30 homers and had a .301 batting average, a great season by any measure.

I remember hubbub around DeCinces that 1982 season, and his 1978 season which was almost as good. Those are the seasons that came to mind when I saw his name again. And that is the player he is forever in my mind. A damn good player that you would love to have on your team.

There are players, very rare ones, who have decades of excellence. Players like Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. Then there are players like Doug DeCinces who have seasons, or parts of seasons, where they catch the proverbial “lightening in a bottle” and burn bright. These end up often being my favorite players. Players with unexpected or un-anticipated moments of incandescence. Probably because it is an experience that we can all relate to.

As a poet and writer, I every-once-in-awhile feel like I touch the very hem of incandescene. I am no Yeats or Hemingway, of course, but there are moments when I flatter myself that I almost reach a Doug DeCinces level. Where I will be very, very good for a little while and get the right words in the right order. Just like DeCinces did hitting three homers in a game, twice!