Seeing Is Believing

With the multitude of home runs being hit in 2000, it stands to reason that the season would produce numerous long-ball records and oddities. Here's a countdown of our 10 favorites from the first half.

10. There were 1,069 home runs hit in May, more than in any other month in major league history. The 57 homers hit on April 7 were the most ever slugged on one day.

9. Pirates outfielder John Vander Wal entered the season with no career grand slams in 1,318 at bats. He hit two in his first 137 at bats this year.

8. On June 20 in Toronto, the Tigers hit eight dingers against the Blue Jays, breaking their single-game team record by one.

7. Before beating the Devils Rays on April 19 with a ninth-inning solo shot, the Orioles' Cal Ripken Jr. hadn't hit a game-ending home run since July 13, 1984—a span of 2,367 games and 9,168 at bats. His next streak without a walk-off homer was much shorter: 24 games and 91 at bats later, on May 23, against the Mariners.

6. On May 21, six players hit grand slam homers—the most slams on one day in baseball history.

5. The Red Sox pitching staff set a team record by giving up at least one home run in 15 consecutive games, from June 13 through June 30. In that span 14 pitchers served up 36 gopher balls, including six in two starts by ace Pedro Martinez.

4. Catcher Keith McDonald of the Cardinals became the second player to hit home runs in his first two major league at bats, when he went deep as a pinch hitter on July 4 and homered in his next at bat two days later. Bob Nieman of the 1951 St. Louis Browns is the only other player to have done it.

3. In the sixth inning of an April 9 game at Kansas City, Twins Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive home runs. In the eighth Royals Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Mike Sweeney hit consecutive dingers. It was the first time that big league opponents had gone back-to-back-to-back on each other in the same game.

2. On April 23 in Toronto, switch-hitting Yankees teammates Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada became the only duo to each hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. They hit their bombs lefthanded off Blue Jays starter Frank Castillo, and then they connected from the right side off reliever Clayton Andrews.