Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A Lynn-tastic Grand Slam 8/21/12

Hey baseball fans!

I just went to last week's Yankee game against the Rangers which they won 8-2. In that game, Nick Swisher hit his 200th career homer, a grand slam. So in honor of that occasion, I will be writing about the person who hit the only grand slam in All-Star Game history, Fred Lynn.

Fred Lynn played for most famously the two teams that met up in the 1986 ALCS, the Red Sox and the Angels (the Sox won the series, but lost to the Mets in the World Series in seven games) from 1975-1990. Known as an all-around player, he hit 306 career homers, 1,111 RBIs, and had a career batting average of .283. He won Rookie of the Year and MVP for the Red Sox in '75, and made it to nine All-Star Games. In the All-Star Game of 1983, the 50th anniversary of the All-Star Game and at Comiskey Park, he smacked the first pitch thrown to him from Atlee Hammaker in the bottom of the third into the right-field seats for the only grand slam ever hit in an All-Star Game. His teammate Rod Carew was on second. The grand slam capped a seven run third inning for the AL, as they went on to win 13-3. Lynn was awarded MVP. Fred Lynn was an excellent player, but he isn't in Cooperstown. I think it's probably because he wasn't quite as good after he went to the Angels in 1981. He never hit over .300 or 30 homers again after the move. Still, I think he really deserves a plaque in the Hall of Fame. Send me your comments and tell me what you think. I might include some of your thoughts in an upcoming blog. That'll be a first. But for my next blog, I'm going to write about another first in baseball history, one that started it all. Thanks for reading!


P.S. - I forgot to mention to all of you that I just added a new feature to my blog. It's a Baseball History News Feed and it appears in the right column above the Blog Archive.  The News Feed will show different articles about baseball history written by others from all over the web every single day!! So even on days when I don't put up a new blog post, you should try to visit my site at least once a day. Thanks!!

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