Grand Slams by Hall of Famers off of Hall of Famers

Below is a post from January 2017. Here are 3 new cases that can be added since then due to more guys getting into the Hall of Fame. 

Aug. 23, 1975 Ted Simmons off of Phil Niekro
Aug. 15, 1983 Mike Schmidt off of Lee Smith
July 7, 1997 Chipper Jones off of Pedro Martinez

Now the original post

I emailed David Vincent of SABR (and probably the expert on home runs) if he had a list of cases like this. Below is what he sent me.

The other day I mentioned to a friend that I had been to a game in Montreal in 1997 and saw Chipper Jones hit a grand slam off of Pedro Martinez. As you can see from the list below, the last case was in 1995 (and the last one before that was in 1985). That ten year gap is interesting.

Maybe it has been happening less in recent years or decades as the number of teams expanded, possibly making it less likely for future Hall of Famers to face each other. Now it probably takes time for cases to make the list since it can take years for players to get into the Hall, so that might be the reason why it has not happened in twenty years. Of course, it also depends on the writers and any selection committees that choose players. Roger Clemens, for example, allowed grand slams to Mike Piazza and Frank Thomas. Without a PED issue, Clemens would be in and we would have some more recent cases

Just a few interesting points that I saw without looking too closely. Bobby Doerr did it three times. It looks like no one did it more than three times (Simmons, DiMaggio and Foxx also have three) One case was a pitcher, Bob Gibson (off of Gaylord Perry). Ted Lyons was victimized six times.

07/30/1892 Hugh Duffy off Tim Keefe

08/29/1896 George Davis off Cy Young

07/28/1898 Honus Wagner off Amos Rusie

08/19/1918 Edd Roush off Rube Marquard

05/12/1921 High Pockets Kelly off Jesse Haines

08/17/1921 High Pockets Kelly off Rube Marquard

06/16/1924 Harry Hooper off Walter Johnson

07/28/1925 Rogers Hornsby off Burleigh Grimes

05/07/1927 Lou Gehrig off Ted Lyons

06/15/1927 Al Simmons off Ted Lyons

09/27/1927 Babe Ruth off Lefty Grove

07/25/1928 Al Simmons off Ted Lyons

07/03/1929 Babe Ruth off Red Ruffing

09/17/1929 Kiki Cuyler off Dazzy Vance

08/04/1930 Charlie Gehringer off Ted Lyons

08/14/1931 Earl Averill off Red Ruffing

08/29/1931 Lou Gehrig off Lefty Grove

04/21/1932 Mickey Cochrane off Red Ruffing

06/21/1932 Goose Goslin off Red Ruffing

09/22/1932 Jimmie Foxx off Lefty Gomez

06/27/1934 Al Simmons off Lefty Gomez

09/19/1934 Jimmie Foxx off Ted Lyons

07/18/1937 Joe DiMaggio off Bob Feller

08/01/1939 Bobby Doerr off Bob Feller

09/14/1941 Jimmie Foxx off Ted Lyons

08/04/1946 Bobby Doerr off Hal Newhouser

06/21/1947 Bobby Doerr off Bob Feller

07/22/1948 Joe DiMaggio off Bob Feller

05/21/1950 Joe DiMaggio off Early Wynn

06/07/1953 Yogi Berra off Satchel Paige

04/22/1956 Stan Musial off Warren Spahn

07/30/1956 Mickey Mantle off Bob Lemon

06/29/1958 Hank Aaron off Don Drysdale

07/29/1958 Ted Williams off Jim Bunning

08/29/1959 Ernie Banks off Warren Spahn

07/16/1960 Yogi Berra off Jim Bunning

09/19/1961 Willie Mays off Warren Spahn

08/14/1963 Hank Aaron off Don Drysdale

08/22/1963 Joe Torre off Juan Marichal

08/25/1963 Frank Robinson off Gaylord Perry

05/20/1965 Eddie Mathews off Warren Spahn

09/29/1965 Bob Gibson off Gaylord Perry

09/05/1966 Bill Mazeroski off Phil Niekro

07/02/1972 Willie McCovey off Don Sutton

05/06/1979 Gary Carter off Gaylord Perry

05/07/1985 Gary Carter off Bruce Sutter

06/16/1995 Kirby Puckett off Randy Johnson

 

Ruth-Gehrig 1927 is easily the best 1-2 punch in the AL & NL since 1900

Using Stathead, I looked up all the seasons of at least a 170 OPS+ in the AL & NL since 1900 with 400+ PAs. Click here to see the search results.

Then I found all the pairs of teammates who had at least a 170 OPS+ in the same year. Then I found each player's rank in OPS+. Those are all shown in the table below.

In 1927, Ruth had an OPS+ of 225, 11th best since 1900. Gehrig had 220, 15th best. Their average rank is 13. That is the lowest. Amazing that two guys in the top 15 were on the same team in the same year.

No pair comes close to this. The next one is again Ruth-Gehrig but in 1930. Their average rank that year is 31.5, Ruth is 12 slots lower than in 1927 and Gehrig is 25 slots lower.

Six of the eleven cases are Ruth and Gehrig (although, as you can see, Gehrig had a higher OPS+ than Ruth in one year, 1933).

It might be a big surprise, that the best pair outside of Ruth-Gehrig is Kevin Mitchell-Will Clark in 1989. But Ruth-Gehrig have five years that have much better average ranks.

Year	Team	Player	OPS+	Rank	Player	OPS+	Rank	Avg Rank
1927	NYY	Ruth	225	11	Gehrig	220	15	13
1930	NYY	Ruth	211	23	Gehrig	203	40	31.5
1931	NYY	Ruth	218	16	Gehrig	194	66	41
1928	NYY	Ruth	206	32	Gehrig	193	73	52.5
1932	NYY	Ruth	201	43	Gehrig	181	141	92
1989	SFG	KMitchell	192	75	WClark	175	220	147.5
2018	BOS	Betts	186	105	JDMartinez	173	249	177
1969	WSA	FHoward	178	164	Epstein	176	203	183.5
1937	STL	Medwick	182	137	Mize	174	233	185
1933	NYY	Gehrig	177	183	Ruth	176	196	189.5
2004	STL	Pujols	173	242	Edmonds	171	291	266.5

Update July 19: I found three additional pairs of teammates whose average rank would make this leader board, although one of the players had an OPS+ less than 170. They are below, with their ranks in parentheses followed by their average rank in red:

1961 Yankees) Mantle 206 (33) Maris 167 (376) 204.5

1959 Braves) Aaron 183 (127) Mathews 168 (342) 234.5

1929 Yankees) Ruth 193 (72) Gehrig 166 (404)  238

This means that Ruth & Gehrig have 7 of the top 14