How Rare Are Steve Pearce’s Pair of Walk-Off Grand Slams? Very Rare
With two swings of the bat in the span of only four days, Steve Pearce entered Toronto Blue Jays history books with one of the rarest feats in club history.
Pearce did the unthinkable when he clubbed his second walk-off grand slam of the week. In four games, a pair of game-ending slams, all at home, nonetheless.
How unique was this feat by Pearce? He’s the third player in Blue Jays club history to hit a walk-off grand slam. Here’s the full list below:
Blue Jays Career Walk-Off Grand Slams
| Date | Batter | Opponent | Pitcher | Score | Inning | Out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 4, 1988 | George Bell | TEX | Mitch Williams | 5-7 | 9 | 1 |
| Sept 6, 2008 | Gregg Zaun | TBR | Troy Percival | 3-4 | 13 | 2 |
| July 27, 2017 | Steve Pearce | OAK | Liam Hendriks | 4-4 | 10 | 2 |
| July 30, 2017 | Steve Pearce | LAA | Bud Norris | 7-10 | 9 | 1 |
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Pearce is one of only three Blue Jays hitters to hit a walk-off grand slam, but even rarer: he now has two of them. Yes, Steve Pearce officially owns 50% of all walk-off grand slams ever hit by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The only two other members of the walk-off grand slam home run club? That would be George Bell for his blast in 1988 off Mitch Williams and Gregg Zaun for his extra innings walk-off grand slam in 2008.
In the 40 year franchise history of the Blue Jays, there are 143 grand slams. Carlos Delgado owns the club record with nine grand slams total, but over the course of four days, Pearce stamped his name on the Blue Jays grand slam leaderboard.
Get this: the Blue Jays went 7307 days in between Bell’s walk-off grand slam in 1998 and Zaun’s in 2008. And then Pearce hit two walk-off grand slams over the course of four days. Four days!
If you’d like a look back at Bell’s walk-off grand slam from 1988, hat tip to Hilda for finding this video:
Shout out to Lesley Taylor for pointing out that Pearce’s slam from yesterday was the only one in Blue Jays history where all four runs were required to win the game. In the case of the other walk-offs, the extra runs were merely window dressing.
Keegan Matheson of MLB.com also unearthed this very interesting fact about Pearce’s pair of grand slams.
On Steve Pearce's walkoff grand slam and the incredible history behind it: #BlueJayshttps://t.co/m0dSj8pxtG pic.twitter.com/U6w8kI2Q9C
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) July 31, 2017
Why even stop at two, Steve? Make it three walk-off grand slams in the span of one season and own an even rarer piece of baseball history!
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The exciting end to those two games reminds me of a country song from a few years ago “How Cool Is That?” Pretty damn cool! Talk about clutch hitting! I have no doubt that there will be more grand slams, and not just from Pearce. I’m optimistic about the Blue Jays season ending on a high note. I know it’s too late for them to make the playoffs, but they can spoil the party for their AL rivals. That would be fun to watch too! Bwah ha ha!