Relive Fernando Tatis' historic 2-slam inning 

ST. LOUIS -- A week ago was the 21st anniversary of the night Cardinals third baseman Fernando Tatis made history at Dodger Stadium. He hit two grand slams in one inning.

In the top of the third inning of the Cardinals' 12-5 win over the Dodgers, Tatis did something that no Major League player had ever done before, or has done since: Hit two grand slams in one inning. And he did it off the same pitcher. Tatis did something that no Major League player has ever done before, or ever done since: Hit two grand slams in one inning. And he did it off the same pitcher.

On April 23, 1999, Dodger Stadium was packed, in part because it was Los Angeles native Mark McGwire’s first game home since setting the single-season home run mark with 70 the year before. But the 46,600 fans actually saw history from the batter who came to the plate after McGwire.

Dodgers starter Chan Ho Park was working with a 2-0 lead to open the third inning, but two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs for Tatis. The Cardinals’ replacement cleanup hitter that night drove a 2-0 fastball to the back of the left-field bullpen. It was Tatis’ first career grand slam. In his second season as a big league regular, the 24-year-old had hit 23 home runs to that point in his career and was thrust into the cleanup spot because of an injury to Eric Davis’ left hand.

By the time Tatis came to the plate later in the inning, the Cardinals led comfortably, 7-2, after a homer, an error and an RBI single allowed the Cardinals to bat around. With Park still pitching, McGwire flied out to shallow right field for the second out of the inning. The bases remained loaded, and Park remained on the mound as Tatis came back to the plate.

On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Tatis launched a breaking ball over the left-field wall.

"I didn't think I had enough explosion,” Tatis told St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Rick Hummel about the second homer. “I was not sure it was going to go. It just happened. I thought, `I'm going to fly.' My mind is in other worlds right now."

Before that game, 4,777 grand slams had been hit, but no two had ever come from the same player in the same inning. In fact, no Cardinal had ever hit two home runs in one inning. Tatis became the 10th player in Major League history to hit two grand slams in one game -- only the second National League player to do so -- but his two in the same inning was and still remains alone in the record books.

Tatis’ second gram slam came on Park’s 87th and final pitch of the night. Carlos Perez came in to finish the third inning and stayed in for the next four.

"I never imagined what I would see [Friday],” former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said after the game. “The game's been played 100 years. And this is the first time. That was an electrifying moment in that dugout."