May 23, 2002: Shawn Green Has 19 Total Bases

May 23, 2002: Shawn Green, right fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, ties major league records with 4 home runs and 5 extra-base hits, and adds a single for a new record of 19 total bases. The Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 16-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

Joe Adcock held the previous single-game total bases record of 18, with 4 homers and a double in a 1954 game for the Milwaukee Braves.

Green was born in 1972 in the Chicago suburbs. He debuted in 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays, and in 1999, made his 1st All-Star Game and won his 1st Gold Glove. Before the next season, he was traded to the Dodgers, probably as a cost-cutting measure.

On September 26, 2001, following the example of earlier Jewish baseball stars Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, he sat out a game that fell on Yom Kippur – and also donated his day's pay of $75,000 to a charity for 9/11 survivors. The Dodgers lost the game, 6-4 to their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Unlike the games that Greenberg and Koufax sat out, it didn't matter much: The Dodgers were about to be eliminated from Playoff consideration. Green reached career highs in home runs with 49, and RBIs with 125. Those 49 home runs remain a single-season Dodger franchise high, in either Brooklyn or Los Angeles.

In the May 23, 2002 game, with Glendon Rusch starting for the Brewers, Green doubled in the top of the 1st inning, driving in a run; hit a 3-run home run in the 2nd inning; led off the 4th with a home run off Brian Mallette; hit a 3rd homer in the 5th, also off Mallette; led off the 8th with a single off José Cabrera; and was in the middle of a run of 3 straight home runs in the 9th, along with Adrián Beltré and Dave Hansen, all off Cabrera.

Also hitting home runs for the Dodgers in this game were Brian Jordan in the 2nd, and Hiram Bocachica in the 8th. Kazuhisa Ishii was the starting and winning pitcher for the Dodgers. Alex Ochoa had the only homer for the Brewers.

Green hit another homer the next day, and 2 the next, making him the only player ever to hit 7 home runs over a 3-game span. He finished the season with 42. Green was named an All-Star again that season.

He helped the Dodgers win the National League Western Division title in 2004. He was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2005 season, and was traded to the New York Mets late in the 2006 season, helping them win the NL Eastern Division title.

His hitting had already been in decline in 2007 when he broke his foot by fouling a ball off it. The Mets did not sign him to a new contract after the season, and he chose to retire, despite being only 35 years old. He finished with a .283 lifetime batting average, and 2,003 hits including 328 home runs, right behind Greenberg with 331 to be 2nd-all-time among Jewish players.

Green came out of retirement to play for the Israel team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He then founded a software company named Greenfly, specializing in developing technology for sports and entertainment organizations. The Dodgers are his main client. He is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but is a member of the National and the International Jewish Sports Halls of Fame.

UPDATE: In 2024, Shohei Ohtani set a new Dodger single-season record with 54 home runs. On June 25, 2025, Nick Kurtz, a rookie designated hitter for the Sacramento Athletics, went 6-for-6 with 4 home runs and 8 RBIs, and tied Green's record with 19 total bases.

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May 23, 2002 was a Thursday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 3-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Pedro Martinez outpitched Ted Lilly -- not exactly an accomplishment. Rickey Henderson was with the Red Sox this season, and went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Derek Jeter went 2-for-4, but the rest of the Yankees only got 3 hits. Bernie Williams drove in their only run with a sacrifice fly.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was scoreless until the top of the 9th inning, when Joe McEwing singled, Jeromy Burnitz was hit by a pitch, and Mark Johnson doubled McEwing home, all of José Mesa.

A combined 5-hit shutout was pitched by Steve Traschel (3 hits over 6 innings), Scott Strickland (1 over 2, ended up as the winning pitcher), and Armando Benitez (1 in 1, got the save). Brandon Duckworth had pitched 8 innings of 5-hit shutout ball for the Phils, before the Mets got to Mesa.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Ken Griffey Jr. was injured, and did not play.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres, 16-3 at Coors Field in Denver. The Rox got homers from Larry Walker, Todd Helton and Todd Hollandsworth. Todd Zeile went 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 11-3 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum).

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-5 with a stolen base, and John Olerud hit a 3-run home run.

* And the Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins, the Montreal Expos, the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays were not scheduled.