Most career grand slams as a pinch hitter - 3, Rich Reese, Ron Northey, and Willie McCovey, and Ben Broussard

Looking at this list, you may think that one person may not belong in the set. Or perhaps three people belong and one person does not. It's all a matter of perspective.

Nevertheless, a pinch-hit grand slam is an unusual event anyway you look at it.

Let's look first at Northey. Northey got his break in the majors courtesy of World War II and also coming up with the Phillies who would have used just about anybody. Northey made his debut in 1942 and stayed with the Phillies through the 1944 season before he called in for military service and missed the 1945 season. He was back with the Phillies in 1946. In 1947, the Phillies dealt him to the Cardinals for Harry Walker and Freddy Schmidt.

On September 3, 1947, Northey hit his first pinch hit grand slam in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field off of Doyle Lade of the Cubs to cap off a six-run ninth as the Cardinals won 11-1. Northey would finish the season with 15 homers overall.

On Memorial Day (May 30) 1948, the Cardinals were in Pittsburgh for a doubleheader. The Pirates, who had won the first game 9-3, had a 5-1 lead in the sixth when Northey was called up to pinch hit for Cardinals pitcher Ted Wilks with the bases full against Elmer Singleton. Northey homered to tie the game. However, the Pirates would eventually win the game, 7-6.

Northey was the Cardinals fourth outfielder behind Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, and Terry Moore for the 1948 and 1949 seasons. After the 1949 season, the Cardinals traded Northey and infielder Lou Klein to Cincinnati and reacquired Harry Walker. Northey played just 27 games for Cincinnati, before he was sent to Chicago for Bob Scheffing.

On September 18, 1950, the Cubs were playing the Dodgers at Ebbets Field and home runs were flying. Brooklyn's Tommy Brown hit three home runs, but the Cubs got home runs from Randy Jackson, Wayne Terwilliger, and a pinch hit grand slam from Northey (batting for Mickey Owen) off of Brooklyn's Dan Bankhead in the seventh and that was enough to give the Cubs a 9-7 win.

Northey would not play in the majors in 1951 and have just one at bat for the Cubs in 1952. He went back to the minors and resurfaced in 1955 with the White Sox and played sparingly and finished his big league career with the Phillies in 1957. Northey died in 1971 at the age of 50, which meant he wasn't alive to find out that someone had tied his record for pinch hit grand slams.

Rich Reese hit all three of his pinch hit grand slams for the Twins and, like Northey, he did it over a span of four years. Reese broke in with the Twins in 1964, but did not get any regular playing time until 1967. Reese mainly played first base and the Twins had to balance his playing time with the problem of finding a suitable place to play for Harmon Killebrew.

Reese hit his first pinch grand slam on August 3, 1969 when he was batting for Jim Kaat against Dave McNally of the Orioles. Baltimore was nursing a 1-0 lead and McNally was trying to hold on to his perfect record. He had started the season 15-0 and had won 17 straight games spanning two seasons. Reese came through with a grand slam and the Twins went on to a 5-2 win. McNally went to finish the year 20-7. The grand slam was Reese's only plate appearance against McNally that year.

On June 7, 1970, Reese and the Twins were at RFK to take on the Senators. The game was tied 3-3 when the Twins loaded the bases off of George Brunet with two outs. Twins manager Bill Rigney sent up Bob Allison to pinch hit for his pitcher Tom Hall. Washington manager Ted Williams countered with righthander Dick Bosman and Rigney switched to Reese. And after Reese hit a grand slam, Rigney either felt like the smartest or luckiest manager. The Senators would tie the game up and send it to extra innings and the Twins eventually won 10-9.

Reese's last pinch grand slam came on July 9, 1972 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The Twins were down 9-1 to the Yankees, but had loaded the bases against Steve Kline (no, not the guy on the Giants), and Ralph Houk brought in Lindy McDaniel and Rigney called on Reese to bat for Bob Gebhard. And Reese delivered again. But the grand slam was mostly cosmetic. The Yankees would win 9-6.

Willie McCovey's pinch grand slams came over a period of 16 years. McCovey would hit the most grand slams in NL history with 18, so perhaps having three of them come off the bench is not too hard to believe.

The first one was in McCovey's first full year in the majors, 1960. McCovey had won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1959 despite playing in just 52 games.

On June 12, 1960, McCovey was not in the starting lineup as Milwaukee was in town. Mike McCormick was starting against the aforementioned Brunet. The Giants were leading a see-saw affair 7-6 in the seventh. Braves reliever Ken Mackenzie and Carl Willey had loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. The Giants manager, the aforementioned Rigney, called on McCovey to pinch hit for reliever Johnny Antonelli. McCovey parked one to right field and the Giants would take on two more runs in the inning and eventually win 16-7. The grand slam was the first of McCovey's career.

McCovey was not starting for the Giants on September 10, 1965 (for reasons I can't figure out) against Chicago at Candlestick Park. Manager Herman Franks had Jack Hiatt starting at first base. Dick Ellsworth had been shutting out the Giants until the sixth. Then Ellsworth gave up a single, walk, wild pitch, and an intentional walk to load the bases for Jim Ray Hart. Ted Abernathy came in to relieve and Hart drove in the tying run with an infield hit. Franks then sent up McCovey to pinch hit for Hiatt and his grand slam put the Giants ahead 5-1 and San Francisco would win 5-2. The Giants had won their seventh straight as part of a 14-game winning streak.

However, as the Giants 14 game winning streak ended on September 14, the Dodgers started a 13-game winning the same day and that would propel the Dodgers into first place ahead of the Giants. The Giants went 23-10 in September and October, but that was not enough as the Dodgers went 22-8 in the same stretch.

McCovey would stay a Giant through the 1973 season. In the offseason, McCovey, although he could have vetoed the trade, agreed to go to San Diego along with Bernie Williams (no, not the guitarist) in exchange for Mike Caldwell. (You can read about McCovey as a Padre at Cardboard Gods.)

Injuries kept McCovey from playing fulltime with the Padres and on May 30, 1975 (a good day for pinch grand slams that May 30), San Diego manager John McNamara had Mike Ivie starting at first base against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Ivie is one of four major leaguers to hit two pinch grand slams in one season.

Jerry Koosman was working on a 2-0 lead in the 8th when he gave up one out singles to Johnny Grubb, Enzo Hernandez, and Bobby Tolan to make it 2-1. Dave Winfield doubled to score Hernandez to tie the game. Ivie was intentionally walked to load the bases for catcher Fred Kendall. Mets manager Yogi Berra brought in Bob Apodaca to relieve and McNamara countered with McCovey. It was no contest. McCovey hit a grand slam to right and the Padres went on to win 6-2.

McCovey would play for San Diego and Oakland in 1976 and in 1977, he returned to San Francisco and he hit career grand slams #17 and #18 in 1977. McCovey finished his career with a career .317 average with the bases loaded and an OPS of 1.075. In 196 plate appearances with the bases loaded, McCovey drove in 184 runs.

Broussard joined this group this year when he his third career pinch grand slam against Scot Shields of the Angels on April 21 at Anaheim. Broussard hit his other two pinch grand slams in 2004. The first was on June 23, 2004 for Cleveland against Mike Jackson of Chicago while pinch-hitting for Lou Merloni. The other came on August 12, 2004 against Vinnie Chulk of Toronto when he was batting for Josh Phelps.

Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com, Los Angeles Times, SABR Home Run Encyclopedia, Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book