After a fiery stretch with the bat of Brett Phillips for the Tampa Bay Rays, the outfielder finds himself in the company of the two members of the Hall of Fame and legends of the New York Yankees, the very same Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, as as Jayson Stark originally reported for The Athletic.
First, let’s talk about the Bambino. In a span of just 19 days, Phillips hit three base-loaded homers and added a home run inside the park. In that way, he became the first player in the American and National Leagues to record three grand slams and a “leg” home run within 30 days. The previous record belonged to Ruth, who did the same in 36 days in 1929.
As for Gehrig, all three bases loaded homers were among 19 plate appearances from July 29 to Aug. 11. That tied Phillips with the Iron Horse (20 chances in 1931) and Tigers slugger Jim Northrup (14, 1968) as authors of three grand slams in the fewest plate appearances, per STATS.
Stark also reports that Phillips is the first major league player to hit two grand slams and a home run inside the park in a calendar month since Hall of Famer Willie Mays did so in September 1967.
“Those are some of the greatest players of all time,” Phillips told Stark when he learned that he had made that kind of history. “As it does not sound correct that my name is in the same sentence as theirs.”
Matt Kelly / MLB.com
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