The first Mets player to hit for the cycle

Hitting for the cycle in baseball is very rare and it can be hard to do. For the New York Mets, it is hard to believe that there have actually been 11 players in their team's history who have done so. The most recent one is of course third baseman Eduardo Escobar who did it for New York on June 6 against the San Diego Padres. So, it is a pretty difficult thing to accomplish but it certainly has been done before in the Mets' 61 years as a franchise

But, who was the very first Mets player to accomplish this feat?

One summer day in August, a player by the name of Jim Hickman did something for the Mets no one has seen hit in just their second season as an MLB team.

When Jim Hickman became the first Mets player to hit for the cycle

During their 1963 season, the Mets were enduring a dreadful sophomore season as a major league team as they were 34-77 on August 7 after concluding a 16-game road trip which saw them losing 14 out of their 16 games. But, when they returned home to the Polo Grounds, one player did something for the Mets that they have not seen yet as a team.

Going up against the St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Hickman did something that has only happened six times during that time period and that was hitting for the cycle. In his first at-bat, Hickman laced a single followed up by a double then a triple and had one more thing he had to do if he wanted to make history. In his fourth and final at-bat of the game, Hickman hit a home run which gave him that infamous cycle and the first one by a Met.

It is pretty remarkable that Hickman accomplished such a historic feat as he only hit 14 home runs all season in 1963 and only batted .229 as well for a team that lost 111 games that season.

Hickman was not the most famous Mets player, but he'll always have this achievement. He gave Mets fans something to be very excited about after not having anything that season to be happy about when the Mets only had 51 wins all season.