On Saturday afternoon, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols did it again – slugged his second grand slam home run in just two weeks. This time, his seventh-inning heroics turned a close game against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium into a comfortable and satisfying 8-2 victory.
In a record-breaking career that began in 2001, it became Pujols’ eighth grand slam, the most of any Cardinal player during this decade. Jim Edmonds is next with five. As a team, the Cardinals have 49 over the period.
Saturday’s slam was Pujols’ first against the arch-rival Northsiders, but the team’s eleventh Cub-breaker this decade, the most for the club against any rival, almost doubling their quantity against the next-most common victim, Cincinnati.
As it should be…
Special thanks to Tom Orf for the data pull that follows. Pujols and Cubs slams in bold.
St. Louis Cardinals grand slams: 2000 through 2009
| Date | Cardinal | Versus |
| 4/25/2009 | Albert Pujols | Chi |
| 4/11/2009 | Albert Pujols | Hou |
| 9/19/2008 | Adam Kennedy | @Chi |
| 8/6/2008 | Albert Pujols | LA |
| 7/20/2008 | Aaron Miles | SD |
| 6/21/2008 | Troy Glaus | @Bos |
| 8/31/2007 | Rick Ankiel | Cin |
| 7/26/2007 | Chris Duncan | Chi |
| 6/16/2007 | Chris Duncan | @Oak |
| 8/27/2006 | Gary Bennett | Chi |
| 8/22/2006 | Albert Pujols | @NYM |
| 8/9/2006 | Jim Edmonds | @Cin |
| 4/3/2006 | Scott Rolen | @Phi |
| 9/30/2005 | Albert Pujols | Cin |
| 8/7/2005 | David Eckstein | Atl |
| 6/4/2005 | Reggie Sanders | @Hou |
| 5/20/2005 | John Mabry | @KC |
| 8/22/2004 | Larry Walker | Pit |
| 8/17/2004 | Larry Walker | Cin |
| 6/9/2004 | Edgar Renteria | @Chi |
| 4/21/2004 | Jim Edmonds | @Hou |
| 9/3/2003 | J.D. Drew | @Chi |
| 8/2/2003 | Bo Hart | @NYM |
| 6/8/2003 | Scott Rolen | Bal |
| 5/9/2003 | Fernando Vina | @Chi |
| 9/17/2002 | Tino Martinez | @Col |
| 9/4/2002 | Edgar Renteria | Cin |
| 8/31/2002 | Eli Marrero | @Chi |
| 8/18/2002 | Edgar Renteria | @Phi |
| 8/10/2002 | Albert Pujols | NYM |
| 6/11/2002 | Albert Pujols | @Sea |
| 5/6/2002 | Fernando Vina | @Pit |
| 4/17/2002 | Jim Edmonds | @Arz |
| 9/21/2001 | Albert Pujols | @Pit |
| 9/9/2001 | Jim Edmonds | LA |
| 7/7/2001 | Mark McGwire | @Cle |
| 6/15/2001 | Bobby Bonilla | ChW |
| 9/24/2000 | Will Clark | @Chi |
| 9/20/2000 | Jim Edmonds | Hou |
| 9/16/2000 | Fernando Tatis | Chi |
| 7/25/2000 | Fernando Tatis | Arz |
| 7/14/2000 | Eduardo Perez | @ChW |
| 7/13/2000 | Shawon Dunston | @ChW |
| 5/30/2000 | Shawon Dunston | @Arz |
| 5/7/2000 | Eric Davis | @Cin |
| 4/23/2000 | Placido Polanco | Col |
| 4/20/2000 | Eli Marrero | SD |
| 4/11/2000 | Thomas Howard | @Hou |
| 4/6/2000 | J.D. Drew | Chi |
Geez! Can that even be right? It looks like they have been fairly steady at about four per season, except back in 2000 and 2002.
Before having looked at the data, I would have thought there were fewer than 49. On the other hand, the club has had over 57,000 plate appearances this decade, so 49 grand slams works out to .0086 percent of the time, or under nine-thousandths of one percent. Another way to look at it is that the team has over 1700 home runs during this time, so 49 of them represents 2.9% of the total.