Xavier Nady: Multiple Great Opening Day Performances
Posted by Raphy on April 5, 2009
Opening day stats are fun. The ability of a player to take a blank page and add some very impressive numbers with just a few at bats makes the top performances on opening day stand out. The players with the really big opening days, like George Bell, Tuffy Rhodes and Dmitri Young remain etched in our memories. Those with big opening days that are not as impressive, provide us with a moment of enjoyment, but are soon forgotten. Here are the players since 1954 who have hit 2 or more home runs on 2 different opening days.
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Joe Torre 2 Ind. Games Xavier Nady 2 Ind. Games Raul Mondesi 2 Ind. Games Eddie Mathews 2 Ind. Games Juan Gonzalez 2 Ind. Games Adam Dunn 2 Ind. Games
It is interesting to note that most of these players were not particularly successful on opening day during their careers. In fact, with the exception of these games, Torre was actually a terrible opening day hitter. In the other 11 opening days that he played, Torre managed to only get another 6 hits. For his career Torre was 10-51 with 1 double and 5 home runs on opening day. The exception so far has been Xavier Nady. Nady has now played on 5 opening days and has had at least one extra base hit in each one. Overall Nady is 12-23 with 4 doubles and 5 home runs.
In addition to having two multiple home run games Nady has also 4 hits in 2 different games. (In one of them he hit 2 homers.) Here are the players since 1954 who have 4 or more hits on 2 opening days.
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Xavier Nady 2 Ind. Games Aaron Miles 2 Ind. Games John Mayberry 2 Ind. Games Jeff Kent 2 Ind. Games Dante Bichette 2 Ind. Games Don Baylor 2 Ind. Games