I'll miss Joe Oliver, because he hit the only grand slam I've ever seen in person, in a very unusual game which included the only rain delay ever in a Seattle Mariner home game (the roof at Safeco Field failed to close). It figures that the one game I've been to at Safeco, it rains and the roof won't close.

I saw Rey Ordonez' only grand slam. That was a strange sight.

It's not a grand slam, but pretty cool anyway: I saw a Rafael Belliard home run.

I was also at the "Joe Oliver grand slam - M's home rain delay" game. That was the weirdest rain delay I've ever seen. I was in Seattle for the summer, but the rest of the year I'm basically in the middle of Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, so I have been to rainouts when they are expected.

It was kind of eerily amusing to watch the crowd - and the scoreboard and camera guys - because they really were unsure of what to do. So the PA just played music, and the cameras found this guy in a Superman T-shirt who was a dancin' fool. And now that I think of it, it was actually entertaining. All that happens in Cincy is every 15 minutes or so, a drunk guy's buddies talk him into running onto the tarp and doing a "Pete Rose" slide. The smart ones will crawl into the tarp's roll tube afterwards...

I saw a bizarre rain-delay moment in Colorado back in '99 - a guy ran from the left-field bleachers to the infield to do a slide. Just as he reached the edge of the tarp, he slipped and blew out his knee, before being set upon by 5 or 6 security personnel. They ended up carrying him off the field, and he presumably spent the night at the hospital rather than in jail.

This, of course, after watching Scott Rolen injure his back taking grounders before the game - Rolen would miss much of the remainder of the season with the injury.

And then to top it all off, the game was rained out, and played the next morning at 11 a.m. as part of a day-night doubleheader. There were under 1,000 fans in attendance, though they announced a crowd of over 43,000 based on the previous night's ticket sales. The beer vendors were shouting, "Beer! The breakfast of champions!" and "Beer - it's not just for breakfast anymore."

All this, of course, has nothing to do with Kevin Tapani and Joe Oliver, so in their honor, I'll raise a great big morning-brew toast to both of 'em. :)

Here's one from the north. Anybody remember the Lance Mullliniks inside-the-park HR? Take a guy who was already slow, wait until he's in his late 30s, then see if you can spot when he's having his heart attack (Answer: When he's rounding third, and he realises the third base coach is waving him home). Combine it with the fact that he looked a lot like an elderly book store owner, and you have some high quality comedy going on.

Now, I can't believe that Tapani retired, but I suppose the insane destruction of his W/L record this year probably had some massive emotional effects. After all, he started 8-1, then dropped his ERA while losing 13 out of 14. I know that would encourage me to hang them up, rather than worry about laying down a 20 game losing streak to end an otherwise respectable career.

And I honestly didn't realise that Joe Oliver was still playing.

yeah, he was w/ the Yankees last year. Probably saw the writing on the wall when they brought in Widger and Leyritz. Not to mention Todd Greene and Bobby Estalella (sic?) How many backup catchers do you need? Maybe Butch Wynegar is on the next bus into the Bronx.

when i was 8 my family and i went to a sox-blue jays game at fenway. my sister, 6 at the time, got bored and cranky sometime around the 7th inning, so we had to go. junior felix went on to hit an inside the park grand slam about five minutes after we left. i have yet to forgive her.

that was meant for another thread, my apologies.

I saw Mike de la Hoz's last homer and Clay Bellinger's first....How Bout That!

Home runs are a dime a dozen. How about no-hitters? (I've only seen one: Ed Halicki, 1975). How about triple plays? (Never.)

Chuck N.,

Within one unusual 15-month period, I saw a perfect game broken up with two outs in the 9th, followed by
two no-hitters: Nolan Ryan's 6th and a strange four-headed no-hitter thrown by the Orioles.

I have not seen anything even remotely resembling a no-hitter before or since.

In between inhaling I could have sworn I saw Mel Stottlemyre's immortal 5 for 5 day with an Inside-The-Park Grand Slammer.....or it could have been 2 different daze.

My favorite home run memories that I saw live at Shea:

1. Ordonez' grand slam(as mentioned above)

Home runs are a dime a dozen. How about no-hitters? (I've only seen one: Ed Halicki, 1975). How about triple plays? (Never.)

Well, in his last season, I saw Gaylord Perry lose a no-hitter in the 8th inning, but the worst was missing the Tippy Martinez - Lenn Sakata Game by one day. My understanding is that this is the only time 3 runners were picked off first base to account for all 3 outs in an inning in MLB history. I also understand that some Blue Jays fans are still a might touchy about this game... ;-) ...

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I saw Greg Gagne hit two inside the park HRs in one game off Daryl Boston in '86. (There may have been a pitcher involved, but mostly they were gappers that Boston took up against the Metrodome wall like a hockey player working for a faceoff.)

OK, I'll tell you the most impressive thing I ever saw at a major league ballpark:

I once saw Bob Gibson hit a home run over the left field fence at Candlestick Park.

In an old-timers game.

Gibson was 52 years old.

"It's RANCE, fyi" - the Phillies game where Davey Johnson hit the pinch-hit grand slam was the first baseball game I ever attended! Small world. Here's the box score, by the way:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B19780260.htm

I mainly remember it because of the fireworks after the grand slam. :)

One time at Shea, when Piazza was still a Dodger, I saw him hit a laser that I swear never got more than 25 feet up in the air and took no more 4 seconds to get over the fence.

I saw Shawon Dunston walk twice in a game.

JWB -

Cris E:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B19900694.htm

A real fun game. Hector Villanueva had a big game and was talking to a bunch of people behind the dugout after the game, long after everyone else had gone into the clubhouse. We found out later on the news that he had flown in some of his family from Puerto Rico to see him play and that this was the first time his parents had seen him play a major league game. A very good day to be Hector Villanueva.

Sudden Sam, your Mike Simms game link was broken.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B19911343.htm

Too bad there isn't PBP to go with it.