Chris Hoiles' Ultimate Grand Slam

[clinikillz]

From Wikipedia:

"On May 17, 1996, Hoiles joined the list of 23 major league players who have hit an ultimate grand slam when he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with the Baltimore Orioles down by three runs against the Seattle Mariners. But besides being simply an "ultimate" grand slam, Hoiles' homer may be considered the "most ultimate" grand slam of all time, as he hit his home run on a full 3-2 count with 2 outs, the only time in major league history this has ever been recorded."

Does anyone remember this? I remember it, but only vaguely. How did the fans at the ballpark react? I can only imagine the stadium crowd going berserk.

Edit: Here's the video: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co...97235&c_id=mlb

[OrangeJerseys]

From Wikipedia:

"On May 17, 1996, Hoiles joined the list of 23 major league players who have hit an ultimate grand slam when he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with the Baltimore Orioles down by three runs against the Seattle Mariners. But besides being simply an "ultimate" grand slam, Hoiles' homer may be considered the "most ultimate" grand slam of all time, as he hit his home run on a full 3-2 count with 2 outs, the only time in major league history this has ever been recorded."

Does anyone remember this? I remember it, but only vaguely. How did the fans at the ballpark react? I can only imagine the stadium crowd going berserk.

Welcome to OH. Cheers.

I remember though not that well. There's probably a few folks on here that were there.

[SteveA]

From Wikipedia:

"On May 17, 1996, Hoiles joined the list of 23 major league players who have hit an ultimate grand slam when he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with the Baltimore Orioles down by three runs against the Seattle Mariners. But besides being simply an "ultimate" grand slam, Hoiles' homer may be considered the "most ultimate" grand slam of all time, as he hit his home run on a full 3-2 count with 2 outs, the only time in major league history this has ever been recorded."

Does anyone remember this? I remember it, but only vaguely. How did the fans at the ballpark react? I can only imagine the stadium crowd going berserk.

I was there. We actually had led into the top of the 9th but our bullpen had blown the lead and we trailed by 3 in the bottom of the 9th.

I was in the front row of Section 360 so the home run flew from right to left in front of me. It clearly was hit hard enough, only question was fair or foul and it easily went fair. I couldn't believe it.

And that was back when every game was a sellout or close to it....I'm sure there were 40,000 of us there going crazy.

[TGO]

This is one of those events that after 13+ years you remember so well and that were so incredible that you think you were actually there whether you were or not. So I can't remember if I was. I could have been - I was going to around 15 games a year at that point. But I think I probably was just watching on TV.

But yeah, the crowd went wild.

[bigjayb024]

I still remember that shot. I have the radio PBP w/ the legendary Jon Miller making the call on cassette somewhere.

[Sosa21]

Wow, that was a great memory for me. I was in my last year of college, working as a valet parker in Orlando. As I would park cars, I would constantly change the channel to 1500 AM to try to catch bits and pieces of Oriole games. Usually I could get every other word and try to make out what was happening. I gave up on the game, and then all of the sudden the O's had the bases loaded. I had just parked a car, and waited to get out until the at bat was over. I remember John Miller going nuts, couldn't really make out the call, but the crowd was really loud. After a couple of minutes it came through clearly that Chris went yard. Completely amazing at bat. Chris Hoiles at a knack for that. I think he also hit two grand slams in one game. I remember also watching Chris Hoiles in a game in Atlanta in 1997 strike out the first 4 or 5 at bats, then hitting a clutch double in extra innings. The Orioles swept the series. Wow, those were the good old days. Chris Hoiles, never met the high expectations I had for him, but we definitely got value from him. The Fred Lynn trade was one that is often overlooked, but worked out amazingly well for us.

From Wikipedia:

"On May 17, 1996, Hoiles joined the list of 23 major league players who have hit an ultimate grand slam when he hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with the Baltimore Orioles down by three runs against the Seattle Mariners. But besides being simply an "ultimate" grand slam, Hoiles' homer may be considered the "most ultimate" grand slam of all time, as he hit his home run on a full 3-2 count with 2 outs, the only time in major league history this has ever been recorded."

Does anyone remember this? I remember it, but only vaguely. How did the fans at the ballpark react? I can only imagine the stadium crowd going berserk.

[Icterus galbula]

I was there too, partially as celebration for my 11th birthday the next day. Section 32, behind home plate, with a great view of the ball's flightpath over the left field fence.

They used the highlight in HTS commercials for a few years afterwards.

[The Epic]

I remember that. My cousin had come over to spend the night while we set up our Domino Rally sets (yes, I had those, and yes, I was 13 at the time). When it happened, I ran upstairs and woke up my grandfather, like, "HOLY CRAP YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

That has to be one of my five favorite moments, but it lags slightly behind when Todd Frohwirth(sp?) got ejected from a game, and started throwing his cap and glove in anger...sidearm, and Steve Finley's "OMG OUT OF NOWHERE" diving catch.

[kireland]

I was there. We actually had led into the top of the 9th but our bullpen had blown the lead and we trailed by 3 in the bottom of the 9th.

I was in the front row of Section 360 so the home run flew from right to left in front of me. It clearly was hit hard enough, only question was fair or foul and it easily went fair. I couldn't believe it.

And that was back when every game was a sellout or close to it....I'm sure there were 40,000 of us there going crazy.

My wife & I were also at the game and, yes, the crowd was going crazy. But the weather had been awful all day and I believe the game had been delayed for a while by rain. By the time Hoiles hit the GS it was nearly midnight and much of the crowd had left. We moved from our seats down to the first row along the first base side, next to the tarp. From our view, I remember watching the ball headed to the LF seats and the Mariners' leftfielder (forget who it was) climbing the wall trying to catch it, and then Jay Buhner slowly walking off the field in disbelief from RF.

Amazing. Best game I've ever been to, or probably ever will (I mean, how do you beat an ultimate grand slam?)

By the way, anyone have video from it - I couldn't find it on YouTube or anywhere else

[Rell]

Wow does that game bring back some memories! I was there that night as well, and it was a very high scoring game...back and forth. It seemed like no lead was big enough. I remember that was the first night I got a real good look at Alex Rodriguez. He was very young, but routinely hit 2 HRs in the game. Seattle had such an explosive lineup! The stands were pretty empty due in large part to the game being very high scoring with many pitching changes and the extra innings. I feel like there may have been 5,000 fans left.

Great memories for sure.

[The Wedge]

I was watching on TV. It was my first year of college, and I was either just done with finals, or I had maybe one left. But it was a Friday night anyway. I actually think I had gone out with friends for most of the game, but since the game ran later than usual (it was almost a four and a half hour game) I got to watch from about the 7th on, culminating in the walk-off. I know I was going crazy, so I can only imagine the crowd at the yard.

[Juanvald]

In case anyone cared to day dream a little and go back 14 years to the 2 years of excitement we had, today is the 14th anniversary of Chris Hoiles grand slam on a 3-2 pitch, with 2 outs in the 9th inning and down by 3 runs. I believe it is the only time this has happened in major league history.

From previous threads on this topic, it looks like about 90% of the members of OH were at that game, lol. I was sitting in section 344, Row BB and somehow predicted the exact outcome to my friend. Even told him it would be a grand slam by Hoiles on 3-2 pitch with two outs. I pasted the box score below. I just wish there was highlights online somewhere for that game. I would pay money to see that homerun again.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo...99605170.shtml

[Camden_yardbird]

Man do I remember this game. It was the one that really cemented me as a lifelong diehard Orioles fan. I was the only one up in the house, watching it on a night were everyone else had gone to sleep because they had to go to work or school. It was really late if I remember.

When he hit that home run I started jumping up and yelling, most of it probably involuntarily. My step dad came in the room look about as irate as one who has just been woken up could, and asks what the hell was going on. (Probably with some less refined language.) I told him, and he sat there and watched the replay as many times as they showed it. He wasn't mad after that point, an I don't know if he missed the end of another Orioles game that year.

[The Epic]

I would pay money to see that homerun again.

You and me both. It feels like one of those things that seems better and better every time I remember it. I'd definitely put up money to see that footage. MASN has to have that hanging around somewhere...right?

[PaulFolk]

You and me both. It feels like one of those things that seems better and better every time I remember it. I'd definitely put up money to see that footage. MASN has to have that hanging around somewhere...right?

They've shown the clip of that grand slam at several Orioles games this season, including the last two nights.