Ok Braves fans......................
We might have seen the last of pitchers batting in Major League Baseball, as the universal designated hitter has been used since 2020.
If that’s the case, then we’ll never get a chance to see another
Tony Cloninger. Fifty-eight years ago this week, Cloninger had the greatest hitting day any Atlanta Braves pitcher — maybe any pitcher period — ever had.
On July 3, 1966, Cloninger hit two grand slams and drove in a total of nine runs in a 17-3 rout of the Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. He became the first National League player at any position to hit two grannies in one game, and remains the only pitcher ever to do so.
“It was history — he wrote a page today,” Braves manager Bobby Bragan told the Atlanta Constitution. “I’d say that was about as impressive a page of history as I’ve ever seen written.”
Ironically, Cloninger’s double grand slam day wasn’t the only time he homered twice in one game. It wasn’t even the first time he did it in 1966. Cloninger also homered twice in a 17-1 bludgeoning of the New York Mets on June 16 in Atlanta. However, his homers that day were “only” a three-run shot and a two-run blast.
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