The
Most
tBG by a Player in a Game Report lists a fellow by the name of J.
R. Towles who is tied for 11th place with 31 tBG. In other words, he had
arguably the 11th best offensive performance in a single game going back
to 1910. He is tied with the likes of Jimmie Foxx, Fred Lynn, and Reggie
Jackson, and is one tBG ahead of single game performances of Alex Rodriquez,
Josh Hamilton, and Dave Parker. That’s baseball royalty. But who
is J. R. Towles?
The story of Towles’ short major league career is a strange one. After playing in three different levels as a catcher in the Astros minor league system in 2007, Towles was called up to the big club on September 5, 2007. And for one month (and especially for one night), Towles impersonated Babe Ruth.
On September 20th, in his sixth major league game, he drove in 8 runs while going 4 for 4 with 2 doubles, a home run, a walk, a hit by pitch, with 3 runs scored in a 18-1 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals. That set the Astros single-game RBI record which still stands. More impressively, he was batting 8th in the lineup, yet still managed 31 tBG. That is more tBG than Babe Ruth or Mike Schmidt ever managed in a game. Astros interim manager Cecil Cooper called it "The J.R. Towles Show."
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN200709200.shtml
Here’s how he generated 31 bases and 8 RBI:
- 2nd inning: Doubled home players on 1st and 2nd. 7 tBG, 2 RBI
- 4th inning: Singled with the bases loaded. Runners on 2nd & 3rd score. 5 tBG, 2 RBI
- 6th inning: Doubled home a runner on 2nd. 4 tBG, 1 RBI
- 7th inning: Hit by pitch with runners on 1st and 2nd: 3 tBG
- 8th inning: Walked with the bases loaded. 4 tBG, 1 RBI
- 8th inning: After moving up to 2nd on a single, Towles advanced to 3rd on a Wild Pitch. 1 tBG
- 9th inning: Home Run with a runner on 1st: 7 tBG, 2 RBI
“I can’t even describe it,” Towles said after the game. “This was the last thing I thought would happen to me, coming to the big leagues. This is beyond words.”
That was the start of a seven-game hitting streak for Towles. He finished the season hitting a remarkable .375/.432/.575 with an OPS of 1.007. Towles never again reached such lofty heights.
He began the 2008 season as the Astros starting catcher. But he didn’t hit, suffered several minor injuries, and by June he was sent down. For the next three seasons, he was an occasional callup to the big league club, but injuries and weak hitting always derailed him. His last game with the Astros was in 2011. Over parts of five seasons with the Astros, Towles batted .187 with 11 homers and 50 RBIs in 155 games.
Over the next three seasons, he signed minor league deals with several other clubs and played a stint in an independent league, but he never again made it back to the majors.
Towles is from Crosby, Texas, a Houston suburb, where he still lives, and where he is still something of a folk hero to Astros fans.