Your Memory is Faulty

Yesterday I was checking in on Twitter, as I do several times a day, and I saw a tweet from Kevin Glew about Willie Upshaw.

That reminded me of a blog entry I wrote over 14 years about Willie Upshaw being the first Blue Jay to record 100 RBIs in a season. Here's how that piece was originally written.

I wrote that 14 years ago based on details in my memory bank. I remember being at a game in June 1984 and I remember seeing Willie Upshaw hit a grand slam and Dave Winfield hitting two for the Yankees in a 15-14 loss for my Blue Jays. But as I re-read it here in 2022, I questioned my memory for the first time. Did Winfield really hit two grannys in the same game? Did I really see three grandslams in one game back in '84?

I had it all wrong. For starters, this game I attended took place on June 29, 1987, not June 1984. So I was off by 3 years.

Dave Winfield hit a two-out grand slam in the eighth inning Monday night and the New York Yankees, who earlier had squandered a seven-run lead, came back to beat the Blue Jays, 15-14, at Toronto to take over first place in the East.

Winfield, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning, connected off Toronto reliever Tom Henke (0-3) for the Yankees’ second grand slam of the game, which tied a major league record. Don Mattingly hit the first one in the second inning as New York was building a lead that would become 11-4 after 5 1/2 innings.

Toronto closed to within three, 11-8, and then went ahead with six runs in the seventh, 14-11. But the Yankees came back with four runs in the top of eighth to take the lead for good, thanks to Winfield’s 18th home run.

In all, the teams combined for eight homers to tie the major league high for a game this season. Among those was a two-run inside-the-park home run by Ron Kittle.

Dave Righetti (5-3) pitched three innings for the win, allowing four hits and three unearned runs.

Not only did I get the date wrong, but Dave Winfield did not hit two grand slams. He hit one, and added another two-run shot, but the second Yankees grand slam was actually hit by Don Mattingly.

And although Willie Upshaw did hit a HR, it was not a grand slam. No Blue Jay hit a grand slam in this game.

So if you're keeping score at home, that's three significant errors in my recollection of this game. I misremembered those details for 35 years.

Your memory is faulty. Trust me.