the.com/grand slam
The one swing that turns a rally into a eulogy for the pitcher's ERA.
means A home run hit with all three bases loaded, scoring four runs at once — the maximum single swing can deliver.
from Borrowed from card games like bridge and whist, where a 'grand slam' meant winning every single trick in a hand — total, maximal victory. Baseball picked up the phrase in the late 1800s/early 1900s to describe the bases-loaded homer, since it scores the most runs one swing can possibly produce. The word 'slam' itself likely comes from an old term for a decisive, forceful blow — fitting, since both the card term and the home run are about taking everything at once.
- max value
- four runs, the most one swing can score
- bridge required
- needs bases loaded, so it's rare by design
- etymology
- borrowed from card games meaning winning every trick
- tennis meaning
- all four majors won in one calendar year