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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.

 1. Lou Gehrig      23
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
I 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.

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	    Pitcher

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

Good 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.

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.
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Parker - Wednesday, July 06 2011 @ 11:26 PM EDT (#238114) #
Fletch hit three grannies in just over a month. I wonder if that's some kind of record.
bpoz - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 09:42 AM EDT (#238122) #
Thanks Magpie.
Mick Doherty - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 11:42 AM EDT (#238144) #

Mags, seriously a great, great piece. Now I will unfairly nitpick at a very minor point, where you write ...

Two other well known Phillies - Jamie Moyer

Really? Moyer (to date, 686 G, 4020.1 IP, 267 wins) racked up 123 G, ~720 IP and 56 wins as  Phil.

You HVE to think of this guy as a Mariner (146 wins), no?

Matthew E - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 11:44 AM EDT (#238145) #
I still sometimes think of Moyer as a Ranger.
Magpie - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#238178) #
Fletch hit three grannies in just over a month. I wonder if that's some kind of record.

Nope. Don Mattingly hit three in 18 days (between June 29 and July 16) in 1987, when he set the single season record. Mattingly hit all six of his career slams that year.
Magpie - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 03:26 PM EDT (#238179) #
I still sometimes think of Moyer as a Ranger.

I know I should think of him as a Mariner - the ancient Mariner, no less - it's just that my most vivid memory of Moyer is the last time I saw him pitch, at the Dome in a Phillies uniform. And my enormous delight as seeing the stadium scoreboard saying "FASTBALL 79mph."
James W - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 03:37 PM EDT (#238182) #
I'm sad that they stopped showing pitch speeds at the Dome. Or if they are, they hid them from my view.

My favourite Jays grand slam was Junior Felix's, which I believe was inside-the-park. I almost confused it with the game on June 4, when the good guys erased a 10-0 sixth inning deficit, then blew the lead in the 9th, only to win in 12 innings.
Magpie - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 07:09 PM EDT (#238194) #
Can a football team score three touchdowns at once?

Now that I think of it, I can remember some Argos teams that surely made their opponents think such a thing could actually be possible...

Ah, the Argos. Anyone as old as myself will remember fondly things like the 1-15 season, and the plaintive cries of "ARRRR-GOES" emanating from the darkness, like some ghostly wail rising up from the deep. The world's greatest sigh. Nothing like it.

I do know that one of my all-time favourite sports memories is of going to see the Argos play an Eastern final in the early 80s, getting absolutely pummelled (41-7, or something like that, and it wasn't nearly as close as the score suggests) - and then, on the bus coming out of the old Ex.... was there a riot? Was there chaos in the street? No, just a busload of fans, all chanting:

"WE'RE NUMBER TWO! WE'RE NUMBER TWO!"
smcs - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#238205) #
Man, this got out of date really quickly.
Magpie - Thursday, July 07 2011 @ 11:05 PM EDT (#238212) #
So I'll update it!
vw_fan17 - Friday, July 08 2011 @ 02:31 PM EDT (#238264) #
Can a football team score three touchdowns at once?

Well, if you look at the discrepancy between the lowest available point score (rouge = 1) and the highest (6 for the touchdown, or even 8 if you want to count converted touchdowns), then football CAN score at least 6x the lowest possible "scoring play" in one play... For a GS, it's only 4x the minimum.

Of course, if you want to look at the rarity of a GS vs. a touchdown, sure.. GS happen way less than touchdowns. Unless you're the Argos, sometimes :-)
(I have fond memories of the Argos - for a few years, I was part of the Argonotes, the bunch of guys who parade around seemingly without a clue, playing really loud, and sometimes correctly... )
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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.