[This article is compiled from Sportscasting: Fernando Tatis Stunned MLB Fans With a Grand Slam Record 21 Years Ago]

I believe everyone has heard of instances where a powerful hitter blasted two home runs in a single inning. For me, the most vivid memory is A-Rod’s performance in the final game of the 2009 season, where he contributed a three-run homer and a grand slam in the same half-inning. This not only marked his second career two-homer inning but also dramatically extended his streak of 12 consecutive seasons with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs!

While hitting two home runs in a single inning is already impressive, have you ever heard of someone not only hitting two homers in one inning, but both of them being grand slams? The legend who set this astonishing record is none other than Fernando Tatis, father of Padres’ shortstop phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. And the pitcher he victimized was none other than Chan Ho Park, a name very familiar to Asian baseball fans.

The event took place on April 23, 1999, with 46,687 spectators in attendance at Dodger Stadium. Chan Ho Park, who had been scoreless through the first two innings, was already a highly anticipated starting pitcher that year, having thrown 220.2 innings with a 3.71 ERA in the 1998 season. In the following half-inning, he ran into trouble, giving up two consecutive hits and a hit-by-pitch. With the bases loaded, he faced Cardinals’ Fernando Tatis, who, despite being in his second MLB season, was already a key part of the team’s lineup. Tatis picked out a fastball over the heart of the plate and mercilessly launched it into the left-field stands. However, Park did not settle down; he not only gave up another home run to Eli Marrero but also issued several walks. He faced Fernando Tatis again in the same half-inning, and this time, Tatis showed no mercy either, sending a slider that didn’t break out of the park on a full count. At that very moment, Major League Baseball’s first, and currently only, record of two grand slams in a single inning was born.

Two grand slams in one game might not be rare. If both grand slams were hit by the same player in the same game, that might be a bit rare. But what if they were hit by the same player in the same half-inning?

According to statistics from MLB’s official website, the probability of a cleanup hitter returning to the plate after hitting their first grand slam is 1.5%. Of that 1.5%, 21% are in a bases-loaded situation, and only 5% of those manage to hit a home run in that situation. After complex statistical analysis, a cleanup hitter has approximately a 1 in 12 million chance of hitting two grand slams in the same half-inning.

What makes this record even more interesting is that Fernando Tatis was facing the same pitcher at the time. How many managers would leave a pitcher in after being shelled like that? Why exactly did then-Dodgers manager Davey Johnson not pull Chan Ho Park, but instead let him continue to face Fernando Tatis, who had just hit a grand slam?

In fact, Davey Johnson’s coaching style typically involved leaving pitchers in the game for longer. To put it bluntly, he was adept at keeping pitchers on the mound, letting them get shelled by the opposition to learn their shortcomings. For Davey Johnson at the time, the fiery young Chan Ho Park sometimes resisted cooperating with the team’s strategy. So, even though Davey Johnson was well aware of Park’s poor performance, he chose to keep him on the mound to learn.

This coaching approach might sound harsh, but Davey Johnson is a renowned manager who led teams to 3 World Series championships, won Manager of the Year twice, and in 2012, guided the Washington Nationals to their first division title since 1981 (including their time as the Montreal Expos).

After that, Tatis’s career development wasn’t particularly good. In fact, 1999 was essentially his career year, when he hit 34 home runs and drove in 107 RBIs. After that, he never hit more than 20 home runs again, and his batting average continued to decline. He only stayed with the Cardinals for one more year before moving to the Montreal Expos, and he ended his professional career with the Mets in 2010. He finished his MLB career with a .265 batting average, 448 RBIs, and a 6.3 WAR.

Chan Ho Park, on the other hand, became a more stable pitcher after this incident (perhaps indicating that Davey Johnson’s ‘education’ was effective?). Even though his performance that year was not particularly good, with an FIP as high as 5.18, he consistently pitched over 220 innings in the 2000 and 2001 seasons, with stable FIPs of 4.23 and 3.89 respectively. While he didn’t quite live up to the scouts’ initial high praise of becoming an ace, his performance was still commendable, and he secured 124 wins before the end of his MLB career, becoming the Asian pitcher with the most wins.

Finally, a small anecdote: in 2007, both Chan Ho Park and Tatis found themselves in the Mets’ Triple-A system. At the time, Park was working hard to make a comeback from a previous arm injury, while Tatis had been fluctuating between the major and minor leagues. Reunited eight years later, the two were no longer rivals on the field but partners who needed to support each other. They became very close friends, sharing similar interests and enjoying the fun of baseball together!

References:

Sportscasting：Fernando Tatis Stunned MLB Fans With a Grand Slam Record 21 Years Ago

MLB Official Website Report：https://www.mlb.com/news/fernando-tatis-two-grand-slams-20-years-ago

Baseball Reference

FanGraphs

Video Resources:

MLB Official YouTube Channel：https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=rOo9tLjtjz0&feature=emb_logo

MLB Official Website

AP images