by Tom Stewart

Created on: May 08, 2009   Last Updated: September 01, 2009

The crowd is going crazy, teammates are waiting at home plate, and the announcer is screaming, "It's a grand slam home run!" A player has just accomplished one of the most exciting things in baseball; hitting a ball out of the park with the bases loaded; a grand slam! It doesn't happen very often, that's for sure. But even rarer than that is when a player hits TWO grand slams in one game. According to the Baseball Almanac, only 12 players have ever done that in the history of baseball.

In 1936, New York Yankees second baseman Tony Lazzeri hit a grand slam in the 2nd inning and then again in the 5th inning against the Philadelphia Athletics. It was the first time a player had ever hit two grand slams in one game but he certainly wouldn't be the last.

Three years later, in 1939, Boston Red Sox third baseman Jim Tabor delivered a 4th of July bang with two grand slams in one game during the 3rd and 6th innings. Little did he know he would be the first of four Red Sox players in history to hit two grand slams in one game, the most by any team. It should also be known that it was Tabor's rookie season.

The second Boston Red Sox player to accomplish the feat was also the next to do it chronologically. In 1946, first baseman Rudy York hit two grand slams in the 2nd and 5th innings to become the third player ever to join this exclusive club.

It would be another fifteen years before it happened again, this time by a Baltimore Orioles player. It was 1961 when first baseman Jim Gentile got off to a hot start with a grand slam in the 1st inning and then another in the 2nd inning giving him seven more innings to possibly hit a third. He wasn't that fortunate but he did become the first of three Oriole players to hit 2 grand slams in one game in Major League Baseball history.

Five years later, the first National League player to finally accomplish the task was Atlanta Braves player Tony Cloninger. Cloninger hit grand slams in the 1st and 4th innings against the San Francisco Giants. The Braves won the game 17 to 3. But Cloninger's claim to fame is not just being the only Atlanta Brave to do it or being only one of two National League players to do it. He is also the only pitcher to have ever performed this near impossible feat. Cloninger's amazing hitting performance also overshadowed the fact that he pitched a complete game for the win.

Two years later in 1968, Detroit Tiger right fielder Jim Northrup became the sixth player to hit 2 grand slams in one game during a 14 to

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