Game Notes, 10/29/2024 – World Series G4

The bases are filled, a batter steps to the plate and settles in to await the delivery.  The ball hurtles toward the plate, the batter swings, and soon after, the bases are empty and the space around the plate is filled with four teammates.  A grand slam – it’s one of the more electric confluences of opportunity and execution within the game, and when this particular convergence comes together with the World Series stage as its performance space, well, to quote Gary Thorne from another momentous home run, “Hang onto the roof!”

This thrilling (or devastating, depending on the allegiances at hand) union has gotten pulses racing 23 times, from Elmer Smith on October 10, 1920, to Anthony Volpe on October 29, 2024.  Smith’s World Series grand slam jolted his club into the lead.  So did Volpe’s last night. So have eight others, including Freddie Freeman’s historic game-ender in this year’s Game 1.  

Every World Series grand slam is going to have its story to tell, its own tale to unfold through the tension and elation that preceded and followed.  Every swing a marker within the game, within the series, within the lineage of Fall Classics.  Last night, we got a landmark festooned with something never seen before:  a go-ahead slam for the team needing it in the worst way – while facing elimination. 

The Yankees, surpassing their combined run total from the three previous games, defeated the Dodgers 11-4.  With the victory, New York trails Los Angeles three games to one.

Anthony Volpe struck the big blow, hitting a grand slam in the third inning to give the Yankees their first lead since the 10th inning of Game 1.  

~At 23 years and 184 days old, Volpe is the youngest Yankee to homer in the World Series since Willie Randolph (23-097) in Game 1 of the 1977 Fall Classic.  Overall, Volpe comes in as the 12th youngest Pinstriper to go yard in the World Series.  Mickey Mantle occupies the four youngest spots, for his jacks in 1952 and 1953 (he was 20 years and 352 days old at his youngest, corresponding to a solo homer in Game 6 in 1952).  Tony Kubek, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller (twice) and Gil McDougald round out the list of those younger than Volpe.

~Volpe is the youngest member of the franchise to hit a World Series grand slam since Mickey Mantle in Game 5 in 1953, when Mantle was 21 years and 349 days old.  The only other Yankee with a grand slam in the Fall Classic at a younger age than Volpe was Gil McDougald (23-143) in Game 5 of the 1951 World Series.  

~Yankees shortstop Volpe is the youngest player to hit a grand slam in the World Series since Cubs shortstop  Addison Russell in Game 6 in 2016.  Russell – in that 9-3 win over Cleveland – was 22 years and 283 days old.  The five youngest players to go yard with the bases full in a Fall Classic contest (with Yankees occupying four of the five spots):

Mickey Mantle      Game 5, 1953       21 years, 349 days

Addison Russell   Game 6, 2016       22 years, 283 days

Gil McDougald      Game 5, 1951      23 years, 143 days

Anthony Volpe      Game 4, 2024      23 years, 184 days

Joe Pepitone        Game 6, 1964      24 years, 005 days 

~Beyond his home run and four RBI, Volpe also doubled and stole two bases.  It’s the kind of line tailored to a “Game Notes” pursuit.  To find any other World Series performer who posted a line with multiple extra-base hits and multiple steals, more than a century’s worth of Fall Classics have to be bypassed.  Athletics second baseman Eddie Collins did this in two different contests in the 1910 World Series.  In both cases – Games 2 and 5 – Collins had two doubles and two steals.  

~A perusal of postseason history and all its rounds finds one decent doppelgänger for Volpe:  Shane Victorino in Game 2 of the 2008 NLDS.  In that win for the Phillies, their center fielder hit a grand slam, doubled twice and had two stolen bases.  

Postseason History:  2+ XBH, 2+SB

Eddie Collins       1910 WS, G2        2 doubles, 2 steals, 1 RBI

Eddie Collins       1910 WS, G5        2 doubles, 2 steals, 2 RBI

Álex Rodríguez    2004 ALDS, G4    2 doubles, 2 steals, 0 RBI

Shane Victorino   2008 NLDS, G2    2 doubles, 1 HR, 2 steals, 4 RBI

Carl Crawford      2008 ALCS, G4     2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 steals, 2 RBI

Anthony Volpe     2024 WS, G4        1 double, 1 HR, 2 steals, 4 RBI

~Volpe’s grand slam is the 23rd in World Series history and the second in the 2024 Fall Classic, following Freddie Freeman’s extra-inning walk-off in Game 1.  Other Fall Classics to have witnessed multiple slams:

1956:  Yogi Berra (Yankees) and Moose Skowron (Yankees)

1964:  Ken Boyer (Cardinals) and Joe Pepitone (Yankees) 

1987:  Dan Gladden (Twins) and Kent Hrbek (Twins)

Aside from Volpe (hitting seventh), the Yankees also got home runs from their number eight batter (Austin Wells) and their leadoff hitter (Gleyber Torres).  

~No team – before this Game 4 version of the Yankees – had ever enjoyed a World Series contest with this same exact scenario:  homers from each of these three spots in the order.

~Similar to the guy (Volpe) hitting in front of him, Austin Wells also added a double and a stolen base to his home run.  In Game 2 of this World Series, Dodger Tommy Edman had a homer, a double and a steal.  This 2024 World Series is the first ever Fall Classic to see three players assemble this kind of line (2 XBH with one being a HR, 1 SB), let alone two players on the same team in the same game.  

2 XBH (incl. 1 HR) & SB in the World Series

Sam Crawford     1909, G5

Lou Brock            1968, G4

Dan Driessen      1976, G3

Willie Randolph   1981, G6

Dan Gladden       1987, G1

Kirby Puckett       1991, G6

Lenny Dykstra     1993, G4

Chase Utley         2009, G5

Juan Soto            2019, G1

Tommy Edman    2024, G2

Anthony Volpe **  2024, G4

Austin Wells**      2024, G4

**Volpe is the only shortstop on the list and Wells the only catcher.

~Torres’ homer extended his 2024 on-base streak to 13 games – he’s reached safely in every Yankees affair this postseason.  With a double and a walk, the guy hitting behind Torres – Juan Soto – also extended his on-base streak to 13 games. 

*Torres and Soto are two of 31 players in postseason history to reach safely in each of their team’s first 13 games.  Houston’s Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve had been the last pair of teammates to do this, with those two Astros making things happen in this way for the 2019 club.

*Torres and Soto find themselves matched with Derek Jeter (1996) for the second longest on-base streak to begin a postseason for any Yankee.  Jeter also owns the longest mark, 15 games in 2009 (Jeter reached safely in every playoff game that year).

*Torres’ tallies as a leadoff hitter are among the more prolific for any Yankee in the postseason when batting first:

10 runs – tied for second most; Jeter (14 in 2009) has the most

14 hits – tied for third most; Jeter (22 in 2009) has the most

5 XBH – third most; Jeter (8 in 2009) has the most

24 TOB – second most; Jeter (32 in 2009) reached the most

8 RBI – third most; Alfonso Soriano (9 in 2003) and Jeter (9 in ’04) have the most

Jazz Chisholm, Jr. stole his sixth bag of the 2024 playoffs.  He was part of a Yankees’ running attack that swiped five bags in the game.

~Chisholm’s six steals in the 2024 playoffs represents a new franchise best, eclipsing the five tallied by Alfonso Soriano in 2003.  With his two-steal effort in this Game 4, Anthony Volpe also has five.  Chisholm remains far away from the top mark for any player in a single postseason – Rickey Henderson (1989) and Kenny Lofton (1995) had 11.

~ Chisholm became the 73rd example of a cleanup hitter swiping a base in the World Series.  Two deadball era stars lead the collection – Honus Wagner had nine while batting fourth, and Frank Chase had six from the spot.  Mickey Mantle had two for the Yankees – the only member of the franchise to have more than one.  

~ Chisholm saw the guy hitting in front of him – Aaron Judge – steal a base.  The franchise has seen two other instances of their 3-4 hitters stealing bases in the same World Series game.  In Game 2 in 1921, three-hole batter Babe Ruth had two steals and cleanup hitter Bob Meusel had one.  In Game 1 in 1962, Tom Tresh had one steal as the three-hitter and Mickey Mantle had one while batting fourth.

~New York’s five steals set a franchise record for a World Series game, passing the four the club had in Game 1 of this 2024 Fall Classic.  Before this year, the top mark had been three, from Game 2 of the ’21 World Series.  The five in this game ties five other clubs for the second most for any team.  The 1907 Cubs had seven in their 3-3 tie (this was the first game of the Series) against the Tigers.  The 2024 Yankees are the first club to have five since the 1992 Braves in Game 2.

The Yankees had seven players in the starting lineup collect a hit and score a run.  There are two instances of a club having all nine starters hit safely and score in a World Series game.  In Game 7 in 1934, the Cardinals did it in their 11-0 win over the Tigers.  In Game 2 in 1936, the Yankees matched the feat in their 18-4 win over the Giants.  

Freddie Freeman homered again, making him the first player in World Series history to go deep in Games 1-4 of a World Series.  Freeman entered the contest aligned with Hank Bauer (1958) and Barry Bonds (2002) as the only World Series participants to homer in Games 1, 2, and 3.  

~Freeman also tied the Dodgers record for most home runs in a World Series, matching Duke Snider (1952 and 1955) for the throne.  Freeman is one of 10 players to hit exactly four home runs in a World Series.  He and the others trail Reggie Jackson (1977), Chase Utley (2009) and George Springer (2017) by one.  Four of the 13 members of this list – Snider in 1952 and 1955, Jackson in 1977 and Freeman in 2024 – accomplished this power display in a Dodgers-Yankees World Series.

~Three of Freeman’s four longballs in this World Series have given the Dodgers the lead.  No Dodger has ever had three such homers in a single Fall Classic.  Jorge Soler – for the Braves in 2021 (with Freeman as a teammate) – is the last to have three such home runs in one World Series.  

~In his World Series career, Freeman has four home runs that have put his team into the lead – a top-nine tally:

8:  Babe Ruth

5:  Lou Gehrig, Goose Goslin, Mickey Mantle

4:  Duke Snider, Gil McDougald, Gene Tenace, David Justice, Freddie Freeman

~Dating back to his work in the 2021 World Series, Freeman has gone deep in six straight contests:  a new World Series record.  He had been matched with George Springer, at five.

The Yankees became the fourth team to win a Game 4 while staring at the prospect of a sweep.  They joined the 1910 Cubs, 1937 Giants, and 1970 Reds.  Those three teams all dropped Game 5.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.