Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

The first question comes from Bob Green, who asks:

Which meaning of Grand Slam came first, baseball or winning a series of tournaments? Certainly not breakfast at Denny’s.

Bob, this is a great question, and before diving in to find the answer, my instinct said that the baseball reference came first. However, I was wrong.

It took me a good two hours to get an answer to my satisfaction.

The origin of “Grand Slam” actually comes from card games. In the early 19th century, the first use of the term ‘grad slam’ was used in conjunction with the game of whist in July 1800.

A grand slam was if someone were to take every trick in a single hand.

The game of bridge then adopted the use of grand slam in the late 19th century for similar use.

The definition at this point was simply to convey something that was a complete success.

The first use outside of the world of card games was in 1930 when Golfer Bobby Jones won the American Amateur, the British Amateur, the US Open, and the British Open in a single year.

At the time, those four were considered the major tournaments.

His complete success in winning every major tournament was dubbed the grand slam.

Jones’ accomplishment was all over the news, and it brought the term ‘grand slam’ into widespread use.

In 1933, the first use of ‘grand slam’ with respect to the four major tournaments in tennis was used when Australian Jack Crawford won the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon in a single year. He was runner-up at the US Open that year, losing in the final by a single set.

The first use of the term to describe a home run with the bases loaded only occurred in 1935. As early as 1920, there were interviews with Babe Ruth where he used the term ‘grand slam’ to describe simple home runs.

Both the golf, tennis, and baseball grand slams involved the number four and the definition of a grand slam changed slightly from ‘a complete success’ to ‘winning four of something.’

For those of you outside the United States, Denny’s is a national diner chain that is famous for its breakfasts. In 1977, Denny’s in Atlanta, Georgia, offered up a meal deal called the ‘grand slam’ in honor of the great Hank Aaron, who played for the Atlanta Braves.

The original Denny’s Grand Slam consisted of two buttermilk pancakes, two eggs, two bacon strips, and two sausage links.

There are now grand slams in many different sports and activities, usually revolving around winning four of something.

Of course, Operation Grand Slam was the plot hatched by Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond movie of the same name.