Shawn Green's Record Day — inside One of the Most Prolific Offensive Games in MLB History

Every now and then, a sportsman does something that places him in the record books of history for life. About 18 years ago, Shawn Green had his chance and took it.

On Saturday, a baseball-related Twitter account reminded everyone of Shawn's legendary performance of getting four home runs in a game. On May 23rd, 2002, Shawn Green was the right fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They were in Milwaukee to play the Brewers, and Green was pretty famous at the time. Despite being a two-time All-Star, however, he had struggled a bit that season.

Through the first 42 games of the season, Shawn had hit a rather disappointing .231 of his shots. The match seemed to be going away from Los Angeles as they lost the opener 8-6. Then, the 29-year-old right fielder came on and had himself a raging outing.

Shawn hit 6 for 6 of his shots, then went on to tie the record for the most home runs. He scored seven runs batted in, as well as six runs scored. Speaking on his miraculous performance, he said:

"There's no one in the game that needed it more than I did. I was getting pretty down."

The performance was truly a needed one. It helped to raise Shawn's batting average to .265 alone. The experience was even sweeter as the Dodgers beat the Brewers 16-3 at the end of the match. So, apart from capping off an incredible individual performance, it was a great team win too.

Many have argued that Shawn's game was the greatest in MLB history from a hitter.

The performance put Shawn in an exclusive company. In the history of the MLB, only eight players have scored six runs in a game, and Shawn is one of them.

He is also one of just seven players in the league's history to have seven runs batted in and four home runs in a game. He added two hits to the four home runs, so that's another impressive feat. Speaking on the dramatic turnaround, Dodgers coach Jim Tracy said:

"He had a day today that goes down as one of the greatest in the history of the game. A month-and-a-half of frustration began to come out today."

that Shawn's game was the greatest in MLB history from a hitter. The statistics definitely help that argument. Another impressive part is the fact that it was random. Shawn had struggled before the match, and he came on to make history.

Apart from the improvement in that game, it appeared that the performance helped Shawn subsequently. According to reports, he went on to mark more impressive feats.

For instance, he hit three more home runs in three subsequent games and added one more at a home game. This placed him as one of three players in MLB history to hit ten home runs in seven games.