Happy Birthday, Fernando!

Fernando Tatis turned 40 today. The former Cardinals third baseman last played in the major leagues in 2010, but he had played in his native Dominican Republic since then and played in Mexico in 2014, so he officially announced his retirement from baseball in early October. Tatis (pronounced “TAH-tice”) came up with Texas in 1997 and was traded to St. Louis on the July 31 deadline in ’98. The Rangers sent Tatis, left-handed pitcher Darren Oliver and a player to be named later (right-handed outfielder Mark Little) to the Cardinals for shortstop Royce Clayton and right-handed pitcher Todd Stottlemyer. A native of San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., Tatis also played for Montreal, Baltimore and the New York Mets during his major league career. But his finest season, best game and record-setting, most memorable moment all came with the Cardinals in 1999. He hit .298, with 34 home runs, 107 RBI and 21 stolen bases. His career marks were .265, 113 HR, 448 RBI and 50 SB, so ’99 was a huge year. But the day that put Tatis on the national map was April 23, 1999, with the Cardinals visiting Los Angeles. The Dodgers led 2-0 after two innings and starting pitcher Chan Ho Park faced the top of the Cardinals order in the third. Darren Bragg led off with a single to right, Edgar Renteria was hit by Park on a 2-2 pitch and then Mark McGwire singled to right to load the bases. Park fell behind 2-0 to Tatis before the Cards’ third baseman took him deep for a grand slam home run and a 4-2 St. Louis lead. After J.D. Drew grounded out to first base, Cards catcher Eli Marrero hit a solo homer to make it 5-2. Placido Polanco, pinch-hitting for second baseman David Howard, walked, as did left fielder Joe McEwing. Cards pitcher Jose Jimenez tried to bunt the runners over, but everyone was safe, loading the bases again and bringing up leadoff man Bragg for the second time in the inning. Bragg reached base when Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros made a bad throw, scoring Polanco. Cards’ lead moved to 6-2, with the bases still loaded. Renteria singled to right to score McEwing, so it moved to 7-2 and the bases still were jammed. This time, Park went to a 3-2 count before Tatis homered, making him the first player in history to hit two grand slams in an inning off the same pitcher. That ended St. Louis’ scoring in the inning at 11 and the Cardinals went on to win big, 12-5. I don’t remember hearing why Dodgers manager Davey Johnson still had the South Korean-born pitcher in when Tatis came up again, considering that Park already had given up seven runs in the inning. But Johnson’s decision to leave Park on the mound produced the situation that placed Fernando Tatis in the record books forever.