Set Showcase #5: 1993 UD Denny's "Grand Slam" Set

Where were you in 1993? What were you doing? What were your interests? Well, I was in my early 20's living at home with my parents going to SJSU... and studying Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Erikson's stages of development... in hopes of becoming a teacher one day.

Just like most college students... I balanced my work, my family, and of course my friends & school. At the time, most of the people I hung out with were all going to school with me... so we often ate, slept (don't be dirty), partied, traveled, and of course studied together.

We studied everywhere... each other's houses, on park benches, at the library, and of course Denny's. It wasn't uncommon for us to eat there three or four times a week... no joke. I loved Denny's. And of course... I loved the baseball cards they gave out with each Grand Slam meal you purchased. In order to be in the set, you had to be a player who hit a grand slam in your MLB career. On the back of the card, Upper Deck did a little write up about the player and their grand slams... along with the # of grand slams they hit during their career.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any of these cards left from my college years. There may be a few sitting in boxes at my parent's house... but most likely, they were sold off with the rest of my collection around 10 years ago.

Then... I came across some of these while on one of my flea market hunts and knew I wanted to grab a set. So... of course I headed over to eBay. It's the fastest and easiest way to pick up a set. I know it's not the most fun... but for the price I had to buy it.

Without further adieu... I introduce to you... the 1993 UD Denny's "Grand Slam" set:

Set: 28 cards (1:1 pack)

Hall of Famers: 21% (Rickey Henderson, Robin Yount, Ryne Sandberg, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., and Kirby Puckett)

Future Hall of Famers: (Gary Sheffield?)

#1 Chili Davis (2 career grand slams)

#2 Eric Anthony (2 career grand slams)

#3 Rickey Henderson (1 career grand slam)

#4 Joe Carter (6 career grand slams)

#5 Terry Pendelton (3 career grand slams)

#6 Robin Yount (3 career grand slams)

#7 Ray Lankford (1 career grand slam)

#8 Ryne Sandberg (3 career grand slams)

#9 Darryl Strawberry (5 career grand slams)

#10 Marquis Grissom (1 career grand slam)

#11 Will Clark (4 career grand slams)

#12 Albert Belle (2 career grand slams)

#13 Edgar Martinez (1 career grand slam)

#14 Benito Santiago (3 career grand slams)

#15 Eddie Murray (17 career grand slams)

#16 Cal Ripken Jr. (2 career grand slams)

#17 Gary Sheffield (2 career grand slams)

#18 Dave Hollins (2 career grand slams)

#19 Andy Van Slyke (1 career grand slam)

#20 Juan Gonzalez (1 career grand slam)

#21 John Valentin (1 career grand slam)

#22 Joe Oliver (1 career grand slam)

#23 Dante Bichette (1 career grand slam)

#24 Wally Joyner (3 career grand slams)

#25 Cecil Fielder (5 career grand slams)

#26 Kirby Puckett (3 career grand slams)

#27 Robin Ventura (2 career grand slams)

#28 Danny Tartabull (9 career grand slams)

Can you believe that Eddie Murray had 19 career grand slams? He currently holds the 4th most in the history of MLB baseball. Lou Gehrig (23), Manny Ramirez (21), and Alex Rodriguez (21) are the only players who've hit more. Of course... some of these totals are outdated.

Rickey Henderson, John Valentin, & Dave Hollins finished their careers with 3 a piece... Grissom 4... Oliver, Pendleton, Clark & Sandberg each hit 5... Lankford & Joyner each sent 6 over the fence... Puckett smacked 7... Strawberrry, Santiago, Davis, Gonzalez & Ripken Jr each had 8... and Bichette, Martinez, had 9

Now for the big dogs... players in this set who finished with 10 or more career grand slams:

Joe Carter - 10 career grand slams

Cecil Fielder - 11 career grand slams

Danny Tartabull - 11 career grand slams

Albert Belle - 13 career grand slams

Gary Sheffield - 13 career grand slams

and the one that shocked me the most... Robin Ventura, who hit an amazing 18 career grand slams. Which means that between 1993 and 2004, when he retired... he hit 16 grand slams. That's insane! Another cool fact I learned about Mr. Ventura was that he became the first player to ever hit a grand slam during each end of a double hitter.

There are of course a couple of people who never added onto their totals. Eric Anthony and Robin Yount never hit another grand slam during their careers. I couldn't find anymore information on Andy Van Slyke, but it looks like he never hit another grand slam either (however, I could be wrong).

If you're interested in finding more cool statistics, I encourage you to head over to Baseball Almanac. That's where I found the career grand slam totals for all of these players.

Today's question is...

Do you think Manny and Alex will pass Lou during their careers? If so... who will do it? How many will the finish with?

Personally, I hope neither of them do. I admire Mr. Gehrig's legacy... and don't care much for Mr. Ramirez or Mr. Rodriguez. However... my guess is that Mr. Rodriguez will finish with finish with 24, while Manny will only hit one more to finish with 22.

Have a great weekend.