NEWSLETTER
After Christopher Morel’s monstrous grand slam last night, which ultimately gave the Cubs the win over the Padres, I saw this fun bit of trivia, via Marquee’s new stat-man, Christoper Kamka:
As I am sure everyone else did when they saw that factoid, I started to think about each of the grand slams. Like, the ones I could instantly remember, and the ones I had to really squint to try to recall. Then, naturally, I started watching some of them. Then more of them. Then I realized, wait. Why not just do this for other folks, too?
So, then, here are all 17 of those last 17 Cubs grand slams.
The first slam, chronologically, came just under three years ago, back on April 21, 2021. That doesn’t FEEL like that long ago for the Cubs to have hit 17 grand slams, does it? Over five per season? Seems good. Anyway, that slam was courtesy of Javy Báez, turning a blowout against the Mets into even more of a blowout:
If the crowd looked sparse there, you will recall that Wrigley Field, like most other ballparks in April 2021, was subject to significantly limited pandemic-related capacity.
The next slam came just five days later in Atlanta, with Kris Bryant hitting one into an only slightly-more-crowded crowd:
The Cubs ultimately lost that game, one of too many during that first half of 2021, which precipitated the big sell-off.
The next slam came shortly after that sell-off, with Rafael Ortega helping the Cubs beat the White Sox in a meaningless, but-you-kinda-still-care-because-it’s-the-White-Sox late-August game:
The next grand slams – yes two of them – came just a week later, with both of Matt Duffy … :
… and Frank Schwindel … :
… going deep. That Schwindel one, in particular, was a humorous memory. That ball should’ve had no earthly shot at leaving any ballpark. But it did, and the Legend of Frank Schwindel only grew.
The next slam was the last of the 2021 season, coming on the second-to-last day of the season. Trayce Thompson – remember him?! – did the damage:
Yes, that was Jon Lester in a Cardinals uniform. I didn’t want to remember it either. Sorry.
Speaking of well-loved Cubs who later wore Cardinals uniforms, the first slam of 2022 came in May, off the bat of Willson Contreras:
That one was also Willy’s 100th homer of his career. Cool moment.
Up next is Alfonso Rivas, adding to another blowout against the Pirates in June of 2022:
The Cubs sure have loved beating up on the Pirates.
Eight days later, on June 30, 2022, Patrick Wisdom joined the slam mix:
That looked a heckuva lot longer than 401 feet. Also, I’m kinda surprised Wisdom hasn’t hit two grand slams at this point.
There was just one more grand slam in 2022, which P.J. Higgins hit off of Julio Urias in Los Angeles just before the All-Star break:
Fast-forward to 2023, and we get a biggy. Everyone remembers this one. The Nelson Velazquez granny against the Mariners:
The one that made Wrigley absolutely explode:
Man that was so much fun. I was screaming. And then we never again discussed what happened to Velazquez.
Next up in 2023, it was Cody Bellinger’s turn to his his first grand slam with the Cubs:
Later that year, Bellinger missed a second grand slam by about a foot in left field – I remember because I was there – and at the time I was bummed. But now, hey, it preserved this 17-for-17 thing!
Up next, it’s Nico Hoerner muscling up four days later:
Vertical videos. Why did they become a thing?
Anyway, that Hoerner blast came the night after the Cubs pulled off that comeback against the Nationals – remember how it kinda saved their season for a minute? – and it was about as good as the 2023 season got.
Which isn’t to say the three remaining 2023 grand slams weren’t also really fun! There, of course, was Alexander Canario hitting his first career homer in grand fashion:
Ian Happ hitting a grand slam the very next night:
And then Yan Gomes hitting a grand slam 10 days later in Milwaukee as the Cubs tried, desperately, to stay alive in the Wild Card race:
That wound up being enough to win the game, but unfortunately the damage had already been done.
So there are the 16 unique grand slams that came before Christopher Morel added number 17 last night:
A final note: almost all of the grand slams came in a little cluster with another slam or two (within 10-ish days). There were only a few that took place entirely on an island. So, then, if history continues, the Cubs are probably going to get another grand slam within the next week or two, and it’ll be from someone who hasn’t hit one of the previous 17!
