By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
CHICAGO – Traded for a legend, Mike Cameron built one of his own for the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
Cameron hit four home runs in four consecutive at-bats, joining an elite group of 12 other major leaguers that didn’t include Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds – or Ken Griffey Jr.
On a night when the Mariners made history in the first inning, scoring 10 runs in what became a 15-4 victory over the White Sox, Cameron didn’t stop there.
Neither did the records.
“I thought the best moment of my career was starting the All-Star game last year,” Cameron said, “but this – the history! – oh, man, this is sweet. You see the names on that list?”
No one had joined that group of 12 since Sept. 7, 1993, and the last American League player to hit four homers in a game was Rocky Colavito in 1959.
Cameron, three months past his 29th birthday, became the 13th.
“It couldn’t happen to a nicer young man,” manager Lou Piniella said. “When he came into the clubhouse after the game, his teammates gave him a cape, a crown and a silver bat.
“We didn’t have champagne, so he got a beer shower. What a performance. I’ve seen a lot of baseball in my life, but four home runs in the first five innings of a game? No.”
Who had? Not many. Of the first 12 four-home run games, only a third of them – Bobby Lowe (1894), Lou Gehrig (1932), Colavito (1959) and Mike Schmidt (1976) had come in consecutive at-bats.
Cameron joined them, was hit by a pitch in his fifth plate appearance and then in the ninth inning, on a 3-2 pitch, lined a ball that was caught on the warning track in right field.
“We were all rooting so hard for him to get it,” hitting coach Gerald Perry said. “I couldn’t be happier if my own son had hit those four.”
Along with the history, seven Mariners home runs – two by Bret Boone – helped Seattle snap a three-game losing streak.
“The guys we needed to get going got going,” Piniella said. “Boone, Cameron and (Jeff) Cirillo … ”
It was Piniella who’d put together a new-look lineup Thursday, dropping Boone from third to second in the order, moving Cameron from fifth to third.
In the first inning, Boone and Cameron homered back-to-back – twice – something no two teammates had ever done before.
“I told Lou in the dugout after we’d hit four in the first inning, ‘You’re a damned genius,’ ” Boone said.
If a manager is only as good as his players, Piniella may have been a genius, indeed, Thursday.
The hits just kept on coming – and so did the records:
“Hitting two home runs in a game is special,” said Boone, who has now done that 14 times in his career. “Hitting three in a game, that’s a different level. Hitting four? That’s something not many people have seen and hardly anyone has ever done.”
All the sweeter for Cameron, the remarkable night came in Chicago, where he played his first major league game in 1995.
“I felt like King of the Hill tonight, and it couldn’t have happened in a better place,” he said. “It was very, very special. It was something I’ll never forget. I felt like MJ (Michael Jordan) when he hit those six threes against Portland …”
On the best night of his career – or most anyone else’s – this is how Cameron’s first four at-bats went:
Afterward, both Rauch and Parque were option to the minor leagues.
After he’d flied out to the track in the ninth inning, the Chicago crowd of 12,891 gave Cameron a standing ovation as he trotted back to the dugout, and Cameron tipped his cap before high-fiving waiting teammates.
Cameron also made one of his trademark defensive gems. He reached high above the center-field wall to rob Magglio Ordonez of what would have been a grand slam.
In the clubhouse afterward, it was happy mayhem.
“Mi-chael Cam-er-on,” chanted Ben Davis. “Four home-runs!”
“You’re only as good as your next game,” Cameron said, beaming. “But I’m going to enjoy this one all the way to New York tonight. Man, I’m going to soak this up.
“I’ve had an asterisk by my name as the guy traded for Ken Griffey Jr. Now maybe I’ll have another asterisk.”
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