Flashback Friday: Otto Velez Hits 4 Home Runs in One Day

Ask any Major League baseball player, and they’d be more than happy to hit one out of the yard in a single day. To hit two in a single day would be doubly impressive. Three home runs in one day? Some can only imagine what that’s like.

But four? Four home runs in one single day? There are only a select few who have accomplished that feat. And Otto Velez is one of them.

For this week’s Flashback Friday, we take a look back at the day Otto Velez swatted four home runs in one day.


ADVERTISEMENT

It was May 4th 1980 as the Blue Jays played a traditional doubleheader at Exhibition Stadium against the Cleveland Indians. During his tenure in Toronto, Velez was used predominately as DH; he had one job, and that was to hit.

As per usual, Bobby Mattick penciled in Otto Velez as the Blue Jays’ designated hitter for both games of the doubleheader. And Velez’ offensive contributions would prove to be valuable in both of Toronto’s games that day.

The first game of the doubleheader kicked off at 1:42pm. Velez wasted no time getting into the hit column as he hit a grand slam in his first at bat of the afternoon off Indians starter Dan Spillner.

Then as the Blue Jays clung to a one-run lead, Otto Velez collected his second home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth, this time off Wayne Garland. Those insurance runs barely kept the Jays in the game as the Indians promptly tied up the game at 9-9 the following inning.

However, Otto Velez would save his biggest home run of the day for extra innings; a walk-off solo shot in the bottom of the 10th inning off Sid Monge. And had that been all for Velez, it would’ve been a banner day for the Blue Jays’ DH.

But he wasn’t done there. As the Blue Jays and Indians wrapped play on the first game of their doubleheader around 4:26pm, after a short break, they turned around and began their second game of the day at 5:07pm.

Once again, Otto Velez cranked a home run in his first at bat of the second game of the day, a shot to left-centre field. So in a matter of only six at bats, Otto Velez hit four home runs.

Only twelve American League hitters have ever hit four home runs in a doubleheader, and Otto Velez has the distinction of being one of them. He was also the second last player to do it, as Al Oliver was the most recent on August 17th, 1980.

In total that day, Otto Velez collected four home runs, 10 RBI’s, and almost single-handedly won not one but two games for the Blue Jays with his incredible offensive output.


ADVERTISEMENT

Velez also hit for the “home run cycle”, meaning he hit a solo home run, two-run, three-run homer and grand slam all in the same day. Not a bad little day for the man known as “Otto the Swatto”.

Thanks to @Radar_DJF for this week’s Flashback Friday submission. If there’s something you’d like to see, tweet @BlueJayHunter or send me an email to bluejayhunter@gmail.com.

Image via BlueJaysCards.com

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

4 thoughts on “Flashback Friday: Otto Velez Hits 4 Home Runs in One Day

  • August 7, 2015 at 4:34 pm
    Permalink

    HOME RUN CYCLE!

    I had never heard that term before, and I'm sure it will never come up again…

  • May 27, 2017 at 2:06 pm
    Permalink

    first of all Velez wasn’t used strictly as a DH. He played right field most of the time. Also, will you little kids stop using the term “walk off” for everything when talking about old games, It’s a stupid term that didn’t even exist then. The term is “game winning”. Know your history , folks

  • February 16, 2020 at 3:43 pm
    Permalink

    Was at this doubleheader and it was even more dramatic than this great article makes it out to be. It was all so escalatingly dramatic. The walk-off in extra innings seemed like the best it could possibly get. But. When he came up for the first time in game 2, he got a standing ovation as he strode to the plate. When he hit that one out, we all thought we were in some kind of movie.

  • April 28, 2021 at 8:15 am
    Permalink

    I was at this game with some friends,and when Otto came to bat in the 10th inning of game one,I knew he was going to hit that home run.Out of the many Jays games that I was at in my life,this one stood out the most.Great memories.

Comments are closed.