Fan Interference

Grand slams are a fun thing.  They require not just a home run of course, but also the batters in front of the home run hitter to get on base but not score so as to load the bases in front of the home run hitter.  As a kid, one of my favorite baseball cards commemorated Lou Gehrig and his then-record 23 career grand slams, since surpassed by Alex Rodriguez (25).  It was as familiar to me as Babe Ruth’s 60 homers in 1927, DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams’ .406 batting average in 1941, and Roger Maris’ 61 homers in 1961. (Another of my favorite cards is a 1961 card commemorating Ruth’s 60 homer season—love the coincidence.). Neither Gehrig nor Rodriguez holds the record for the most grand slams in a single season.  That record, 6, was set by Don Mattingly in 1987.  The fun part is how many grand slams Mattingly had in his career:  6.  Every grand slam he ever hit was in that one single season.  (His record was tied in 2006 by Travis Hafner.)