Yes, yes. We're quite impressed. It is a very cool play, ending the game
with an outfielder throwing the tying run out at home plate.
But seeing as how the Blue Jays seem to have decided to experiment with forsaking all manner of outstanding defensive plays by outfielders, at least for the foreseeable future, it's a good thing that there's an even better baseball play.
It's that one where you score four runs with one swing of the bat. The Great Big Fly. Is there anything else like it? Can a football team score three touchdowns at once? Is there a basketball shot that's so impressive that they give your team 65 points for it? Those would be the equivalents...
The same man has held the record for career grand slams for some 77 years now. Heading into the 1934 season, Babe Ruth had hit 682 home runs, and 15 of them had been grand slams. No one had more. But the man who hit behind him, Lou Gehrig, was closing fast. Gehrig had 299 career homers going into the 1934 season, and 13 of them had come with the bases loaded. In one memorable week in May, Gehrig hit 5 homers, two of them slams to catch up to Ruth, and three weeks later he hit his 16th career slam to move ahead. Two weeks later, Ruth would hit the 16th and final grand slam of his career, to catch Gehrig but the Iron Horse pulled ahead to stay on July 5 when he hit the 17th slam of his career. He's been all alone atop this leader board ever since, and by the time his illness cut short first his career, and then his life, Gehrig had increased his total to 23 grand slams.
No one's really come within shouting distance until recently. But this April, Alex Rodriguez connected for his 22nd career slam and every new day brings the chance that Gehrig's mark will finally be matched.
Even so, there are plenty of recent and contemporary pitchers who faced more than 20,000 batters - Spahn, Niekro, Carlton, Ryan, Perry, Sutton, Maddux, Clemens, Blyleven. In fact, no fewer than 54 pitchers have faced more hitters than Pete Rose faced pitchers (the 54th man is Jerry Koosman, who pitched to 15,996 hitters during his career. It's only in the past decade that it's even been possible for a pitcher to lead the league in batters faced without pitching to at least 1000 hitters, and needless to say no hitter has ever come close to getting that many plate appearances in a season.
But that doesn't matter, of course. Pitchers are a fairly neutral element in the particulars of any single at bat, pitchers are the force dragging all the hitters towards the centre. Hitters are the wild card, hitters are the source of variety. No pitcher allows home runs as frequently as Jose Bautista hits them - for one thing, such a pitcher simply wouldn't be allowed to pitch in the major leagues. But no pitcher allows home runs as infrequently as Ichiro Suzuki hits them. And so just two pitchers have allowed 500 home runs - barely - over the course of their careers. Meanwhile 25 hitters have hit that many, and some have hit well more than that.
So who would have allowed the most grand slams, and how many?
It's a tie!
Michael Jackson 10
Nolan Ryan 10
Didn't see that one coming.
You remember Michael Jackson, right? He spent some 17 years in the majors, bounced around a lot, was almost always used as a setup man - but he was generally really good. And he allowed just 127 home runs in his career - it's bizarre that 10 of them came with the bases loaded. Even Ryan is a bit of a surprise. The Express pitched forever and ever, of course. Only four men faced more hitters in the course of their careers, and three of that foursome started out before homers were being hit (Cy Young, Pud Galvin, Walter Johnson. Phil Niekro is the fourth.). Even so, Ryan allowed just 321 HRs, which is the exact same number as Danny Darwin, of all people. He allowed fewer home runs than Steve Trachsel, Jeff Suppan, and Josh Towers. (I'm joking about one of these guys, but only one.)
Six pitchers - Ned Garver, Milt Pappas, Jerry Reuss, Kenny Rogers, Lee Smith, and Frank Viola - allowed 9 slams in their careers, and a whole host of guys have allowed 8. One of those men, Cliff Lee of the Phillies, is still active and has a chance to move on up the list. Two other well known Phillies - Jamie Moyer and Robin Roberts - are the only pitchers who have given up 500 career home runs. Moyer, the all-time gopher ball king (511 HRs against) has allowed 7 slams. So far, anyway (hey, he says he wants to come back next season, when he finishes rehabbing from last winter's Tommy John surgery). Roberts allowed 505 home runs, but only 4 with the bases loaded,
And Jim Palmer, famously, didn't allow any. Palmer believed a pitcher had to accept that he was going to give up runs, but should always remember that the pitcher who allowed just one run at a time was the guy who was going to win. And so you adjust when there are runners on base. You don't challenge the hitter's power. You nibble, if necessary. It was Tommy John who used to say that there's always a base open, and it's better to walk in one than have them drive in three. Palmer and John each walked in 13 guys with the bases loaded over his career. Palmer and John gave up almost the same number of HRs in their long careers (303 against Palmer, 302 against John), but John did give up five slams over the years, and that was five more than Palmer.
Over the course of their 30 plus seasons, the Jays have hit 5539 home runs, and 118 of them came with the sacks juiced. That's 2.1 percent by the way. One out of every 47, and here are all 118 of them:
And you probably have your own favourites, don't you?
Yes, that's Mike Myers who the Jays have victimized more than any other pitcher. Well, the man is a LOOGY - what was he doing facing Charlie O'Brien, Benito Santiago, and Reed Johnson with the bases loaded. Three of these Toronto slams were delivered by pinch-hitters: Jesse Barfield in 1982, Tony Fernadez in 2001, and Sparky's slam off Myers in 2005. Two of them were game-ending walkoff homers, most recently Gregg Zaun's Toronto swan song against Troy Percival and the Rays in 2008 (Zaun would go to Tampa and hit a slam off Brandon League less than a year later.) The other Toronto walkoff slam was delivered by George Bell, against Texas in 1988. The pitcher victimized on that occasion was Mitch Williams, who would give up another notable walkoff homer in Toronto five years later. You may remember that one as well...
Sixty-two different players have hit slams for the Jays, and here they are (along with their career plate appearances and home runs while with the team). The Blue Jay hitter with the most grand slams? If you guessed that it's probably the guy who hit far more home runs than anyone else... you'd be on the right track. .
Any interesting names missing? Well, Shannon Stewart had 4052 plate appearances as a Jay without ever hitting a grand slam. He did hit 74 homers in Toronto, but he did spend most of his time here batting leadoff. He never did hit a grand slam as a major leaguer. Three other men hit more Toronto homers than Stewart, in fewer plate appearances, without hitting a slam here - John Mayberry, Alex Gonzalez (the first), and Alex Rios.
Blue Jays pitchers haven't allowed as many home runs as their teammates have hit, but they've given up more of them with the bases loaded, 124 of 5300.
Poor Mike Darr. That was his major league debut, in September 1977. In the first inning, he gave up a single, a walk, hit a batter, and then Carlton Fisk cleared the bases. It was the first grand slam ever hit against the Jays. Darr walked two more batters in the next inning, was yanked from the game, and never pitched in the majors again. That was it...
Bad times. It turns out that Alvin Davis, the slow-footed and (by now) somewhat ancient Mariner, leads all opponents in slams against the Jays. As you can see, there've been a number of pinch hit and walk off jobs. I do think it's rather delightful how utterly random these events are. Sometimes you can go entire seasons without allowing a grand slam. And sometimes you can go to the ball park and see two of them - I was at that game against the Yankees in 1987, when Mattingly (off Cerutti) and Winfield (off Henke) each cleared the bases. Liam was there, too, sort of (his mother would have been almost seven months pregnant for that one!)
And sometimes David Eckstein - L'il Scrappy! - hits slams in back-to-back games. Youneverknow.
Seeing as how Dave Stieb pitched more innings, faced more batters, and allowed more homers than any other pitcher in team history it would be slightly surprising if someone else allowed more grand slams as a Blue Jay, no? Prepare to be slightly surprised. Here are the 82 Blue Jays who have allowed those 123 slams:
You'll notice a very prominent name (normally prominent when you consider Jays pitchers through the years) who is missing from this list. Jimmy Key pitched 1695 innings in a Toronto uniform, and allowed 165 homers - but he never gave up a grand slam. He didn't give up a grand slam while he was a Yankee, either. The only two he allowed came as an Oriole, to Jeromy Burnitz in 1997 and Ken Griffey in 1998. Luis Leal pitched almost 1000 innings for Toronto without allowing a slam. Jesse Jefferson, A.J. Burnett, Paul Quantrill, and Ted Lilly also dodged that bullet.
But seeing as how the Blue Jays seem to have decided to experiment with forsaking all manner of outstanding defensive plays by outfielders, at least for the foreseeable future, it's a good thing that there's an even better baseball play.
It's that one where you score four runs with one swing of the bat. The Great Big Fly. Is there anything else like it? Can a football team score three touchdowns at once? Is there a basketball shot that's so impressive that they give your team 65 points for it? Those would be the equivalents...
The same man has held the record for career grand slams for some 77 years now. Heading into the 1934 season, Babe Ruth had hit 682 home runs, and 15 of them had been grand slams. No one had more. But the man who hit behind him, Lou Gehrig, was closing fast. Gehrig had 299 career homers going into the 1934 season, and 13 of them had come with the bases loaded. In one memorable week in May, Gehrig hit 5 homers, two of them slams to catch up to Ruth, and three weeks later he hit his 16th career slam to move ahead. Two weeks later, Ruth would hit the 16th and final grand slam of his career, to catch Gehrig but the Iron Horse pulled ahead to stay on July 5 when he hit the 17th slam of his career. He's been all alone atop this leader board ever since, and by the time his illness cut short first his career, and then his life, Gehrig had increased his total to 23 grand slams.
No one's really come within shouting distance until recently. But this April, Alex Rodriguez connected for his 22nd career slam and every new day brings the chance that Gehrig's mark will finally be matched.
1. Lou Gehrig 23I had no idea (until I looked it up!) which pitcher had surrendered the most grand slams. I assumed it would be nowhere close to Gehrig's 23 - it seemed unlikely that anyone would have given up even half as many. It's true that pitchers participate in far more at bats than hitters. Pete Rose batted far more often than anyone in major league history, with 15,861 plate appearances, almost 2,000 more than the next guy (Carl Yastrzemski.) This was largely because even when he reached the point when he was no longer good enough to play, his manager - a guy named Pete Rose - kept writing his name into the lineup. But Cy Young was involved in almost twice as many at bats as Rose, facing 29,565 hitters over the course of his career. Granted, Cy Young's entire career came before he had to worry about the home run, which made it much easier to work deep into the game. Young pitched 749 complete games, and only two other pitchers in history - Ryan and Sutton - have even made that many starts.
2. Alex Rodriguez 22
3. Manny Ramirez 21
4. Eddie Murray 19
5. Willie McCovey 18
Robin Ventura 18
7. Jimmie Foxx 17
Ted Williams 17
9. Hank Aaron 16
Dave Kingman 16
Babe Ruth 16
Even so, there are plenty of recent and contemporary pitchers who faced more than 20,000 batters - Spahn, Niekro, Carlton, Ryan, Perry, Sutton, Maddux, Clemens, Blyleven. In fact, no fewer than 54 pitchers have faced more hitters than Pete Rose faced pitchers (the 54th man is Jerry Koosman, who pitched to 15,996 hitters during his career. It's only in the past decade that it's even been possible for a pitcher to lead the league in batters faced without pitching to at least 1000 hitters, and needless to say no hitter has ever come close to getting that many plate appearances in a season.
But that doesn't matter, of course. Pitchers are a fairly neutral element in the particulars of any single at bat, pitchers are the force dragging all the hitters towards the centre. Hitters are the wild card, hitters are the source of variety. No pitcher allows home runs as frequently as Jose Bautista hits them - for one thing, such a pitcher simply wouldn't be allowed to pitch in the major leagues. But no pitcher allows home runs as infrequently as Ichiro Suzuki hits them. And so just two pitchers have allowed 500 home runs - barely - over the course of their careers. Meanwhile 25 hitters have hit that many, and some have hit well more than that.
So who would have allowed the most grand slams, and how many?
It's a tie!
Michael Jackson 10
Nolan Ryan 10
Didn't see that one coming.
You remember Michael Jackson, right? He spent some 17 years in the majors, bounced around a lot, was almost always used as a setup man - but he was generally really good. And he allowed just 127 home runs in his career - it's bizarre that 10 of them came with the bases loaded. Even Ryan is a bit of a surprise. The Express pitched forever and ever, of course. Only four men faced more hitters in the course of their careers, and three of that foursome started out before homers were being hit (Cy Young, Pud Galvin, Walter Johnson. Phil Niekro is the fourth.). Even so, Ryan allowed just 321 HRs, which is the exact same number as Danny Darwin, of all people. He allowed fewer home runs than Steve Trachsel, Jeff Suppan, and Josh Towers. (I'm joking about one of these guys, but only one.)
Six pitchers - Ned Garver, Milt Pappas, Jerry Reuss, Kenny Rogers, Lee Smith, and Frank Viola - allowed 9 slams in their careers, and a whole host of guys have allowed 8. One of those men, Cliff Lee of the Phillies, is still active and has a chance to move on up the list. Two other well known Phillies - Jamie Moyer and Robin Roberts - are the only pitchers who have given up 500 career home runs. Moyer, the all-time gopher ball king (511 HRs against) has allowed 7 slams. So far, anyway (hey, he says he wants to come back next season, when he finishes rehabbing from last winter's Tommy John surgery). Roberts allowed 505 home runs, but only 4 with the bases loaded,
And Jim Palmer, famously, didn't allow any. Palmer believed a pitcher had to accept that he was going to give up runs, but should always remember that the pitcher who allowed just one run at a time was the guy who was going to win. And so you adjust when there are runners on base. You don't challenge the hitter's power. You nibble, if necessary. It was Tommy John who used to say that there's always a base open, and it's better to walk in one than have them drive in three. Palmer and John each walked in 13 guys with the bases loaded over his career. Palmer and John gave up almost the same number of HRs in their long careers (303 against Palmer, 302 against John), but John did give up five slams over the years, and that was five more than Palmer.
Over the course of their 30 plus seasons, the Jays have hit 5539 home runs, and 118 of them came with the sacks juiced. That's 2.1 percent by the way. One out of every 47, and here are all 118 of them:
Date Year Hitter PitcherGood times! Some very memorable blasts in there. I would single out Ernie Whitt against Bruce Kison in 1985 - that's the famous karate kick game, when George Bell did not react well to being hit by the Boston pitcher, and trotted out to the mound to express his displeasure. Bell was dismissed from the proceedings but Kison hung around, and when Whitt took him deep in the sixth inning he jogged around the bases screaming at Kison every step of the way. I also have very fond recollections of Dave Winfield's 1992 slam. It was early in the season, the team was still kind of finding its way - they were in Seattle, trailing 7-3 going into the ninth inning. They scored a run, got a couple of people on base, and the Mariners summoned their closer, Mike Schooler. He retired Alomar for the second out, but Carter drew a walk, and then Big Dave just crunched one, into deep left-centre to put the Jays ahead 8-7.
1 27-Jun 1977 Torres Guidry
2 7-May 1978 Bosetti Romo
3 31-Jul 1978 Carty Billingham
4 3-Jul 1979 Howell Billingham (2)
5 27-Aug 1979 Howell Minetto
6 7-Sep 1979 Carty Waits
7 26-Apr 1980 Bonnell Caldwell
8 4-May 1980 Velez Spillner
9 24-Apr 1982 Barfield Burgmeier
10 1-May 1983 Bonnell Tidrow
11 5-Jun 1983 Martinez Stoddard
12 11-Sep 1983 Upshaw Codiroli
13 20-Aug 1984 Moseby Witt,M
14 23-Jun 1985 Whitt Kison
15 9-Jul 1985 Bell Vandeberg
16 31-Aug 1985 Bell Cook
17 22-May 1986 Whitt Dotson
18 20-Jun 1986 Bell Righetti
19 31-Aug 1986 Moseby Portugal
20 11-Jun 1987 Bell Habyan
21 23-Jun 1987 Upshaw Robinson
22 27-Aug 1987 Bell Cadaret
23 19-Apr 1988 Barfield Saberhagen
24 4-Sep 1988 Bell Williams,Mi
25 13-Sep 1988 Barfield Gibson
26 7-Apr 1989 Fernandez Witt,B
27 2-May 1989 Mulliniks Welch
28 2-Jun 1989 Felix Stanley
29 4-Jun 1989 Whitt Smith,L
30 7-Jul 1989 Borders Hernandez
31 21-Jul 1989 McGriff Harris
32 22-Jul 1989 Moseby Powell
33 1-Sep 1989 Hill,G Guthrie
34 11-Apr 1990 Bell Brown
35 14-Aug 1990 Hill,G Peterson
36 11-Sep 1990 Fernandez Stottlemyre,M
37 29-Sep 1990 Gruber Lamp
38 7-May 1992 Winfield Schooler
39 1-Sep 1992 Gruber Pall
40 8-Jun 1993 Carter Scott
41 29-Aug 1993 Alomar Hanson
42 28-May 1994 Schofield Langston
43 5-Jul 1994 Molitor Stevens
44 27-Apr 1995 Sprague Darling
45 16-Jul 1995 Olerud Carmona
46 21-Jul 1995 Sprague Torres
47 25-Aug 1995 White McCaskill
48 22-Apr 1996 Carter Davis,T
49 27-May 1996 Olerud Fernandez
50 3-Jul 1996 Sprague Krivda
51 25-Apr 1997 Delgado Martinez,D
52 14-May 1997 O'Brien Myers,M
53 6-Jun 1997 Delgado Oquist
54 10-Jul 1997 Carter Gordon
55 23-Jul 1997 Carter Adamson
56 24-Jul 1997 Delgado Mercedes
57 11-Aug 1997 Santiago Myers,M (2)
58 7-May 1998 Delgado Moyer
59 17-Jul 1998 Green Stanton
60 19-Jul 1998 Canseco Pettite
61 12-Aug 1998 Delgado McCarthy
62 19-Jul 1999 Green Chen
63 20-Jul 1999 Fletcher Remlinger
64 3-Oct 1999 Batista Jackson,M
65 17-Apr 2000 Fullmer Pole
66 20-Apr 2000 Fletcher Mercker
67 8-May 2000 Fletcher Johnson,J
68 26-May 2000 Fletcher Brocail
69 7-Jun 2000 Delgado Millwood
70 11-Jun 2000 Batista Lira
71 3-Jul 2000 Batista Johnson,J (2)
72 16-Jul 2000 Cordova Leiter
73 17-Sep 2000 Delgado Pena
74 20-Apr 2001 Mondesi Wilson,K
75 21-Apr 2001 Fullmer Stein
76 29-Jun 2001 Mondesi Florie
77 6-Jul 2001 Fullmer Thurman
78 9-Sep 2001 Fernandez Lilly
79 5-Oct 2001 Cruz Finley
80 9-Apr 2003 Wells Mendoza
81 3-May 2003 Wells Weber
82 6-Jun 2003 Delgado Riedling
83 4-Jul 2003 Hinske Driskill
84 28-Sep 2003 Delgado Lee
85 22-Apr 2004 Gomez Schilling
86 2-Jun 2004 Phelps Piniero
87 7-Jul 2004 Phelps Blackley
88 20-Aug 2004 Woodward Rodriguez
89 5-Sep 2004 Gross Duchsherer,M
90 9-Apr 2005 Zaun Neal
91 1-Jul 2005 Johnson,R Myers,M (3)
92 13-Apr 2006 Wells Clement
93 10-May 2006 Overbay Blanton
94 17-Jul 2006 Wells Koronoka
95 25-Jul 2006 McDonald Fruto
96 29-Jul 2006 Glaus Zito
97 27-Aug 2006 Molina,B Perez,O
98 13-Sep 2006 Zaun Jimenez
99 7-Apr 2007 Thomas Fossum
100 19-May 2007 Stairs Condrey
101 20-Jun 2007 Thomas Kuo
102 19-Sep 2007 Adams Papelbon
103 6-Apr 2008 Thomas Delcarmen
104 14-May 2008 Stairs Bonser
105 17-May 2008 Barajas Eaton
106 24-May 2008 Wilkerson Hochevar
107 19-Jun 2008 Inglett Riske
108 13-Aug 2008 Wells Rogers
109 6-Sep 2008 Zaun Percival
110 16-Apr 2009 Millar Dickey
111 24-Aug 2009 Barajas Niemann
112 31-Aug 2009 Lind Holland
113 18-Jul 2010 Escobar Matusz
114 30-Jul 2010 Bautista Masterson
115 30-Sep 2010 Bautista Neshek
116 29-May 2011 Hill,A Danks
117 3-Jun 2011 Arencibia Britton
118 8-Jun 2011 Lind Adcock
And you probably have your own favourites, don't you?
Yes, that's Mike Myers who the Jays have victimized more than any other pitcher. Well, the man is a LOOGY - what was he doing facing Charlie O'Brien, Benito Santiago, and Reed Johnson with the bases loaded. Three of these Toronto slams were delivered by pinch-hitters: Jesse Barfield in 1982, Tony Fernadez in 2001, and Sparky's slam off Myers in 2005. Two of them were game-ending walkoff homers, most recently Gregg Zaun's Toronto swan song against Troy Percival and the Rays in 2008 (Zaun would go to Tampa and hit a slam off Brandon League less than a year later.) The other Toronto walkoff slam was delivered by George Bell, against Texas in 1988. The pitcher victimized on that occasion was Mitch Williams, who would give up another notable walkoff homer in Toronto five years later. You may remember that one as well...
Sixty-two different players have hit slams for the Jays, and here they are (along with their career plate appearances and home runs while with the team). The Blue Jay hitter with the most grand slams? If you guessed that it's probably the guy who hit far more home runs than anyone else... you'd be on the right track. .
Hitter PlApp HR GS
1 Delgado 6018 336 9
2 Bell 4528 202 7
3 Wells 5963 223 5
4 Carter 4494 203 4
5 Fletcher 1927 61 4
6 Barfield 3869 179 3
7 Moseby 5799 149 3
8 Whitt 3977 131 3
9 Sprague 3527 113 3
10 Batista 1364 80 3
11 Fernandez 5900 60 3
12 Fullmer 1097 50 3
13 Zaun 1922 45 3
14 Thomas 696 29 3
15 Green 2766 119 2
16 Gruber 3372 114 2
17 Upshaw 4572 112 2
18 Olerud 3689 109 2
19 Bautista 1501 98 2
20 Lind 2257 96 2
21 Mondesi 1414 66 2
22 Phelps 1096 47 2
23 Howell 2168 43 2
24 Bonnell 1647 33 2
25 Carty 942 32 2
26 Stairs 773 32 2
27 Barajas 837 30 2
28 Hill,G 441 16 2
29 McGriff 2322 125 1
30 Cruz 2901 122 1
31 Hill,A 3501 94 1
32 Overbay 2850 83 1
33 Hinske 2559 78 1
34 Velez 1843 72 1
35 White 2979 72 1
36 Mulliniks 3470 68 1
37 Glaus 1090 58 1
38 Alomar 3105 55 1
39 Borders 2463 54 1
40 Molitor 1838 51 1
41 Canseco 658 46 1
42 Johnson,R 2302 42 1
43 Martinez 1261 35 1
44 Winfield 670 26 1
45 Woodward 1182 26 1
46 Felix 971 24 1
47 Molina,B 458 19 1
48 Bosetti 1522 17 1
49 O'Brien 642 17 1
50 McDonald 1414 17 1
51 Adams 993 17 1
52 Arencibia 292 14 1
53 Santiago 396 13 1
54 Escobar 609 13 1
55 Millar 283 7 1
56 Torres 292 5 1
57 Schofield 501 4 1
58 Cordova 221 4 1
59 Gross 250 4 1
60 Wilkerson 241 4 1
61 Gomez 377 3 1
62 Inglett 489 3 1
Any interesting names missing? Well, Shannon Stewart had 4052 plate appearances as a Jay without ever hitting a grand slam. He did hit 74 homers in Toronto, but he did spend most of his time here batting leadoff. He never did hit a grand slam as a major leaguer. Three other men hit more Toronto homers than Stewart, in fewer plate appearances, without hitting a slam here - John Mayberry, Alex Gonzalez (the first), and Alex Rios.
Blue Jays pitchers haven't allowed as many home runs as their teammates have hit, but they've given up more of them with the bases loaded, 124 of 5300.
Date Year Pitcher Hitter
1 6-Sep 1977 Darr Fisk
2 18-Apr 1978 Lemanczyk Otis
3 25-Apr 1978 Garvin Dade
4 26-May 1978 Murphy Spencer (pinch-hit)
5 24-Jun 1978 Willis Alexander,G
6 6-Aug 1978 Moore Cowens
7 22-May 1979 Lemongello Thornton
8 3-Jun 1979 Lemongello Meyer
9 10-Jun 1979 Willis Essian
10 13-Jun 1979 Miller,D Aikens
11 14-Jun 1979 Huffman Aikens (2)
12 15-Jul 1979 Clancy Edwards
13 25-Aug 1979 Moore Baylor
14 9-Sep 1979 Buskey Bonds (walk-off)
15 22-Apr 1981 McLaughlin Molitor
16 7-Jun 1981 Jackson Bell,B
17 29-May 1982 Garvin Ayala (pinch-hit)
18 2-Jun 1982 Bomback Murcer
19 11-Jul 1982 Garvin Baines
20 30-Jul 1982 Clancy Trammell
21 24-Aug 1982 McLaughlin Nolan
22 26-Aug 1982 Schrom Murray
23 15-Jun 1983 Geisel Lopes
24 8-Aug 1983 Williams,M Griffey
25 20-Aug 1983 Stieb Rice
26 20-Jul 1984 Jackson Davis,A
27 19-Apr 1985 Alexander Connally
28 15-May 1985 Caudill Narron (pinch-hit)
29 8-May 1986 Acker Joyner
30 9-May 1986 Gordon Davis,A (2)
31 9-Apr 1987 Johnson Snyder
32 29-Jun 1987 Cerutti Mattingly
33 29-Jun 1987 Henke Winfield
34 6-Aug 1987 Eichhorn Parsons (pinch-hit)
35 10-Aug 1987 Nunez Horn
36 26-Sep 1987 Cerutti Nokes
37 2-Jul 1988 Flanagan Steinbach
38 2-May 1989 Henke McGwire
39 16-Jul 1989 Ward Steinbach (2)
40 12-Sep 1989 Ward Hrbek
41 17-May 1990 Wills Giles
42 22-May 1990 Wills Canseco
43 17-Jul 1990 Wells Davis,A (3)
44 3-Aug 1990 Acker Buechele
45 14-Sep 1990 Ward Horn (2) (pinch-hit)
46 8-Apr 1991 Stieb Clark,J
47 1-Jun 1991 Fraser Winfield (2)
48 16-Jun 1991 Ward Orsulak (pinch-hit)
49 15-Sep 1991 Acker Canseco (2)
50 3-Jun 1992 Guzman Puckett
51 12-Jun 1992 Stieb Boggs
52 13-Apr 1993 Cox Vizquel
53 30-Apr 1993 Stottlemyre Thomas,F
54 6-Apr 1994 Spoljaric Ventura
55 5-May 1994 Guzman Mayne
56 7-Jun 1994 Hentgen Jackson,D
57 2-Aug 1994 Stewart Chamberlin
58 21-Jun 1995 Timlin Valentin
59 1-Aug 1995 Hurtado Baines (2)
60 18-Aug 1995 Carrara Joyner (2)
61 25-Aug 1995 Hentgen Durham
62 7-Jul 1996 Ware Fielder
63 31-Jul 1996 Risley Belle (walk-off)
64 21-Sep 1996 Brow Murray (2)
65 20-Apr 1997 Guzman Palmer
66 17-May 1997 Williams,W Thome
67 4-Aug 1997 Daal Colbrunn
68 18-Jul 1998 Person Raines
69 19-Jul 1998 Williams,W Hoiles
70 23-Jul 1998 Plesac Buford
71 29-Apr 1999 Halladay Sheets
72 30-Apr 1999 Lloyd Griffey,jr
73 22-May 1999 Carpenter Valentin (2)
74 28-Jul 1999 Hamilton Huskey
75 13-Aug 1999 Spoljaric Stairs
76 14-Aug 1999 Hamilton Hinch
77 14-Sep 1999 Koch Williams,B
78 14-Sep 1999 Spoljaric O'Neill
79 24-Sep 1999 Romano Ramirez,M
80 24-Sep 1999 Hudek Roberts,D
81 15-Apr 2000 Borbon Martinez,E
82 16-Apr 2000 Borbon Rodriguez,A
83 18-Apr 2000 Castillo Kennedy
84 27-Jun 2000 Escobar Cox
85 18-Jul 2000 Carpenter Piazza
86 8-Apr 2001 Parris Posada
87 18-Aug 2001 Koch Rodriguez,I
88 27-Apr 2002 Cassidy Eckstein
89 28-Apr 2002 Borbon Eckstein (2) (walk-off)
90 11-May 2002 Miller,T Chavez
91 16-May 2002 Walker Cameron
92 27-Aug 2002 Heredia Crede (walk-off)
93 31-Mar 2003 Halladay Soriano
94 15-Jun 2003 Lidle O'Leary
95 24-Aug 2003 Escobar Hernandez,R
96 24-Aug 2003 Towers Tejada
97 19-May 2004 Adams Lecroy
98 10-Jul 2004 Ligtenberg Molina,B
99 18-Jul 2004 Chulk Teixeira
100 26-Jul 2004 Douglass Posada (2)
101 6-Aug 2004 Batista Williams,B (2)
102 12-Aug 2004 Chulk Broussard
103 28-Aug 2004 Ligtenberg Sierra
104 2-Jun 2005 Towers Chavez (2)
105 19-Sep 2005 Batista Sexton
106 5-Apr 2006 Frasor Hunter
107 5-Sep 2006 Accardo Marte
108 4-Apr 2007 Marcum Granderson
109 11-Sep 2007 Marcum Giambi
110 8-May 2008 Camp Navarro
111 16-May 2008 Purcey Werth
112 19-Jul 2008 Halladay Longoria
113 24-Sep 2008 Carlson Abreu
114 25-Apr 2009 Camp Ramirez,A
115 12-Jun 2009 League Ross
116 16-Aug 2009 League Zaun
117 14-Apr 2010 Morrow Quentin
118 2-Jun 2010 Downs Crawford
119 8-Jun 2010 Lewis,R Pena
120 15-Jun 2010 Cecil Cunningham
121 3-Jul 2010 Romero Gardner
122 11-Sep 2010 Romero Hawpe
123 4-Jun 2011 Romero Reynolds
124 7-Jul 2011 Perez Hafner (walk-off)
Poor Mike Darr. That was his major league debut, in September 1977. In the first inning, he gave up a single, a walk, hit a batter, and then Carlton Fisk cleared the bases. It was the first grand slam ever hit against the Jays. Darr walked two more batters in the next inning, was yanked from the game, and never pitched in the majors again. That was it...
Bad times. It turns out that Alvin Davis, the slow-footed and (by now) somewhat ancient Mariner, leads all opponents in slams against the Jays. As you can see, there've been a number of pinch hit and walk off jobs. I do think it's rather delightful how utterly random these events are. Sometimes you can go entire seasons without allowing a grand slam. And sometimes you can go to the ball park and see two of them - I was at that game against the Yankees in 1987, when Mattingly (off Cerutti) and Winfield (off Henke) each cleared the bases. Liam was there, too, sort of (his mother would have been almost seven months pregnant for that one!)
And sometimes David Eckstein - L'il Scrappy! - hits slams in back-to-back games. Youneverknow.
Seeing as how Dave Stieb pitched more innings, faced more batters, and allowed more homers than any other pitcher in team history it would be slightly surprising if someone else allowed more grand slams as a Blue Jay, no? Prepare to be slightly surprised. Here are the 82 Blue Jays who have allowed those 123 slams:
Pitcher IP HR GS
1 Ward 650.2 30 4
2 Stieb 2873 224 3
3 Halladay 2046.2 172 3
4 Guzman 1215.2 115 3
5 Garvin 606 74 3
6 Acker 524.1 39 3
7 Romero 506 44 3
8 Spoljaric 150.1 21 3
9 Borbon 107.2 16 3
10 Clancy 2204.2 219 2
11 Hentgen 1636 207 2
12 Carpenter 870.2 111 2
13 Escobar 849 84 2
14 Cerutti 772.1 110 2
15 Williams,W 613.1 88 2
16 Marcum 592 86 2
17 Henke 563 48 2
18 Towers 558.1 90 2
19 Moore 348.1 39 2
20 McLaughlin 341 36 2
21 Jackson 337 30 2
22 Willis 296 36 2
23 Batista 273.1 31 2
24 Hamilton 253.1 33 2
25 Camp 227.1 20 2
26 Koch 211.2 18 2
27 League 202.1 22 2
28 Wills 195.1 21 2
29 Chulk 157.1 19 2
30 Lemongello 83 14 2
31 Ligtenberg 55 6 2
32 Wells 1148.2 126 1
33 Stottlemyre 1139 115 1
34 Alexander 750 81 1
35 Lemanczyk 575 52 1
36 Eichhorn 493 33 1
37 Frasor 453 39 1
38 Flanagan 452.1 39 1
39 Downs 407.2 34 1
40 Timlin 393.1 29 1
41 Walker 308.2 44 1
42 Cecil 301.1 41 1
43 Stewart 295.1 49 1
44 Morrow 226.1 15 1
45 Lidle 192.2 24 1
46 Plesac 181.2 21 1
47 Parris 181 31 1
48 Person 177.2 29 1
49 Huffman 173 25 1
50 Murphy 164.1 18 1
51 Buskey 158.2 22 1
52 Johnson 154.2 13 1
53 Bomback 150 16 1
54 Purcey 149.1 18 1
55 Cox 147.1 12 1
56 Carlson 141.1 16 1
57 Accardo 139.2 12 1
58 Castillo 138 18 1
59 Nunez 137 15 1
60 Caudill 105.2 15 1
61 Risley 100.2 16 1
62 Brow 85.2 11 1
63 Geisel 84 10 1
64 Hurtado 77.2 11 1
65 Lloyd 72 11 1
66 Cassidy 66 12 1
67 Carrara 63.2 15 1
68 Ware 59 8 1
69 Miller,T 52.2 7 1
70 Heredia 52.1 5 1
71 Schrom 46.1 5 1
72 Adams 43 4 1
73 Douglass 38.2 6 1
74 Gordon 32.2 2 1
75 Daal 27 3 1
76 Fraser 26.1 4 1
77 Lewis,R 18.2 4 1
78 Miller,D 15.1 3 1
79 Williams,M 8 5 1
80 Romano 5.1 1 1
81 Hudek 3.2 1 1
82 Darr 1.1 1 1
You'll notice a very prominent name (normally prominent when you consider Jays pitchers through the years) who is missing from this list. Jimmy Key pitched 1695 innings in a Toronto uniform, and allowed 165 homers - but he never gave up a grand slam. He didn't give up a grand slam while he was a Yankee, either. The only two he allowed came as an Oriole, to Jeromy Burnitz in 1997 and Ken Griffey in 1998. Luis Leal pitched almost 1000 innings for Toronto without allowing a slam. Jesse Jefferson, A.J. Burnett, Paul Quantrill, and Ted Lilly also dodged that bullet.
