Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo blasted a grand slam in the first inning of Wednesday’s win over the Cincinnati Reds, and he joined a pretty exclusive club thanks to the long ball.
Rizzo’s home run was his 28th of the season, and marked the third time in his big league career that he’s hit a grand slam.
According to Cubs historian Ed Hartig, Rizzo became just the third Cubs player in history to hit a grand slam as the clean-up hitter in the very first inning of the game. In doing so, he joined Hank Lieber, who accomplished the feat in Sept. 1939, and Bob O’Farrell, who did it against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1923.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, they couldn’t celebrate the anniversary of another remarkable feat in style. According to Christopher Kamka of CSN Chicago, Wednesday was the anniversary of the only time in team history that they’d hit multiple grand slams in the same inning, as they hit two slams against Pittsburgh in the fifth inning of an 1890 game.
