Looking Back On The Anniversary Of Baseball's Six Grand Slams In One Day
Adrian Beltre Was A Dodger When He Started The Grand Slam Parade
Two Of The Grand Slams Were Hit By Teammates
It was not quite twenty years ago today, but it was nineteen. The big scare of the Y2K crisis had passed several months before, so things were getting back to normal.
Although high offense was the norm in Major League Baseball back in the year 2000, the phenomena that happened on May 21 was something very much out of the ordinary. In fact, the outrageous hitting that day set a record, one which still stands after almost two decades.
As as difficult as it may be to believe, in just a matter of hours six grand slams were hit in the Big Leagues. One of them accounted for just a fifth of the team's runs for the game, while another grand slam brought in the only four runs the club would score.
Adrian Beltre of the Dodgers hits the first of the sestet, going deep against Jesus Sanchez of the Marlins in Miami. Shawn Green then hits the second grand slam of the game in the ninth, victimizing Antonio Alfenseca in a 12-3 Los Angeles victory.
Brian Hunter of the Phillies crushes the second salami of the afternoon, going deep off of Mashato Yoshii of the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning. Those runs would be all the Phillies would get, as they hung on for a 4-3 victory.
A few minutes later in Kansas City, Anaheim's Garrett Anderson cleared the bases with a shot into the seats in third inning off of Chris Fusell. Alas, that four run dinger was not enough, as the Angels still suffered a 10-6 loss to the Royals.
A few hours to the northeast, J.T. Snow got bases loaded homer in the sixth inning off of Valerio de Los Santos of the Brewers in Miller Park. The Giants scored eleven runs that inning, and they ended up out bashing Milwaukee 16-10.
Oakland's Jason Giambi hit the final grand slam of the day in the bottom of the second inning, a blast off of Minnesota starter Sean Bergman. The Athletics would go on to add nine more runs in the 13-4 win over the Twins.
Those half dozen grand slams in one day broke a record that had been established just the season before, but it has stood for the for the nineteen years since. Ten same cannot be said, however, for the total of runs scored that day.
In spite of three shut outs that afternoon, the total number of runs still reached 153. The grand slams alone accounted for one sixth of them, which at the time was a one day record.
Just two years later, though, that Mark would be shattered. On July 2,2002 baseball fans around the country would see 197 men cross home plate safely, a record that still stands today.
