| James M. Morisette. 28th May, 2006 - 6:45 pm
 While baseball fans throughout this nation praise or persecute Barry Bonds for tying Babe Ruth for second on the all time home run leader board today, another home run record deemed once untouchable is being seriously threatened ? the all time grand slam record.
The current owner of this record is long time New York Yankee first baseman and Cooperstown Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig.
Gehrig, whose record of 23 career grand slams has stood for nearly 70 years, is being severely threatened by Boston Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez.
Ramirez, who turns 34 years old on May 30th, passed Eddie Murray for second on the all time grand slam list on July 5th 2005 when he hit the 20th grand slam of his career off then Texas Rangers starting pitcher Chris Young. This leaves Ramirez, a 14-year MLB veteran, just three grand slams shy of breaking one of the most heralded baseball players of all time.
With 20 grand slams during 14 years of MLB action, one cannot discount the idea that Ramirez will eventually smash Gehrig?s record.
If Ramirez stays relatively healthy and continues to uphold his 1.4 grand slams per year average, he should break the Iron Man's record sometime during the 2008 MLB campaign.
And ironically, just as this piece is near completion, Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 15th grand slam of his career off Tiger relief pitcher Joel Zumaya during the 7th inning at Comerica Park in Detroit. Also ironic is that with this home run, Kenny G is just one grand slam shy of tying Babe Ruth?s career record.
James Morisette covers numerous topics for RealGM. He can be reached at jamesmorisette@yahoo.com |
