Once again, it’s time for Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. Well actually, I am a day late, due to some family medical issues. Even on a Wednesday, I hope you are enjoying this weekly (Tuesday) presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
This post in the series looks at a couple of longball unicorns. Keith McDonald, who holds the all-time mark for the most career home runs by a player whose every MLB hit went yard, and Daniel Camarena, the only player whose lone MLB career hit was a Grand Slam. Side note, Camarena was a pitcher … 16 of the 29 hitters (to date) whose only MLB hit was a home run were moundsmen.
Photo: Ryan Casey Aguinaldo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
So, let’s get started with Camarena. The southpaw was a 20th-round MLB draft pick (Yankees -2011), out of Cathedral Catholic High School (San Diego, CA). To shorten a long story, Camarena’s path to the major leagues was not a “quick and easy” one. His MLB debut came in his tenth professional season and his path included Tommy John surgery (2015) and time in the Yankees’, Giants’, Twins’ and Padres’ minor-league systems.
Camarena made his MLB debut with the Padres on June 19, 2021, giving up three runs in 2 2/3 innings in a Padres’ 7-5 win over the Reds. His next appearance came on July 8 with the Padres facing the Nationals in San Diego. The game featured a pair of “aces” on the mound – three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer starting for the Nationals and Yu Darvish for the Padres. The pitchers’ duel, however, was not about to materialize. By the close of fourth inning, both starters were on the bench (or in the showers) and the score was Nationals 8 – Padres 7.
Camarena relieved Darvish in the top of the fourth inning, with the Padres already down 6-0. The first batter he faced was Scherzer, who fanned on four pitches. In the course of the inning, Camarena gave up a two-run homer to SS Trea Turner to run the Nationals’ lead to 8-0.
The wheels came off for Scherzer (who came into the game at 7-4, 2.10 on the season) in the bottom of the inning. It started with a Fernando Tatis, Jr. home run and then went strikeout, hit by pitch, single, hit by pitch, walk, strikeout. This brought up Camarena with the Padres trailing 6-2, the bases loaded and no outs. Retire the rookie pitcher, in just second MLB plate appearance, and Scherzer escapes with a six-run lead. Didn’t happen. Camarena took a 1-2 offering from Scherzer 416-feet to right field for a Grand Slam – his first (and what would prove to be his only) MLB hit. It made Camarena just the second pitcher in MLB history whose first MLB hit was a Grand Slam. For unicorn status, it also makes him the first hitter (to date), any position, whose only career MLB hit has been a Grand Slam. (The 2021 season was Camarena’s only one in the major leagues. He was released by the Padres in November 2024 and pitched in Mexico in 2025. His MLB stat line as a pitcher was 0-1, 9.64 in six games and, as a hitter, he was one-for-three (.333), with one home run and four RBI. (Side note: Scherzer gave up a double to to Padres’ LF Tommy Pham after Camarena’s Slam and was replaced on the mound by Kyle Finnegan. )
Spoiler Alert: At the end of this post, you will find charts of players whose only MLB hits were home runs. At the top of that list would Keith McDonald.
Keith McDonald has the most home runs of any MLB player whose every hit went for the distance.
McDonald was a star athlete for Esperanza High School (Anaheim, California). He was a three-year starter at quarterback – throwing for 31 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons. He also was a three-year player on the school baseball squad. How good was he? In his senior season, McDonald hit .406 and put up a 1.90 ERA (4-0, with three saves).
Selected in the 18th round of the 1993 MLB Draft, McDonald chose instead to accept a scholarship to the University of Utah; where he would be able to play both football and baseball. Things didn’t work out at Utah, however, and – after a difficult period of adjustment, a “red shirt” season in football and a challenging year on the diamond – McDonald chose to return to California. He transferred to Cypress College (Cypress, CA), where he combined his studies with a .353-8-37 line in 55 games (and, as a catcher, threw out 34 of 62 base runners attempting to steal). In 1994, it was on to Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA), where he hit .266, with seven home runs and 24 RBI in 48 games.
The St. Louis Cardinals selected the 6’2”, 215-pound, 21-year-old in the 24th round of the 1994 draft – and McDonald’s pro career was underway. From 1994 to 1999, McDonald worked his way up through Rookie ball, A, High- A, Double -A and Triple-A.
As he started the 2000 season at Memphis, McDonald had little idea he was on the brink of MLB history. He was hitting .246, with one home run and 17 RBI for the Memphis squad as the season moved into July – and, more important, precisely when Cardinals’ backup catcher Eli Marrero injured his hand attempting to steal a base. On July 2, McDonald was called up to the big club to replace Marrero.
He got his first taste of MLB action on July 4, before an Independence Day crowd of 46,022 (in St, Louis). McDonald came to the plate as a pinch hitter (for SS Edgar Renteria) in the bottom of the eighth inning – with the Cardinals ahead by a 13-3 score. It was a good opportunity to provide a rookie with a low-pressure first MLB at bat. After hitting just one home run in 177 at bats at Triple-A that season, McDonald sent a 2-2 pitch out of the park to left-center. The blast made him the 79th player to homer in their first MLB at bat.
McDonald did not play in the Reds/Cardinals July 5 tilt, but on July 6 – this time before a crowd of 43,287 – McDonald started at catcher against the Reds, batting in the number-eight spot. He got his first at bat in the bottom of the second, with the Cardinals trailing 3-2. He tied the game with a home run on a 1-0 pitch – becoming just the second MLB player ever to homer in their FIRST TWO plate appearances. He finished the day one-for-three with a walk and two RBI.
In McDonald’s next MLB game (July 8) – with the Cardinals hosting the Giants – McDonald replaced Matheny at catcher in the top of the ninth, with the Giants up 7-6. McDonald came to the plate in the bottom of the inning and drew a walk. He didn’t take the field again until July 13, when he again entered the game as a pinch hitter (this time in the top of the ninth with the Cardinals up 13-3 on the White Sox in Chicago). He grounded out to second.
Two days later (July 15), still in Chicago, McDonald pinch hit again. This time, it came in the top of the ninth of a game in which the Cardinals trailed 15-5. McDonald popped a 3-1 pitch for a two-run home run. (Attendance 40,681.) At this stage of his MLB career, he was three-for-six – with all three 0f his hits leaving the yard and all before crowds in excess of 40,000. McDonald got only one more major-league at bat that season, a ninth-inning, pinch-hit fly out against the Twins on July 15.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over. On July 21, McDonald was sent back down to Memphis, where he finished the season .263-5-30 in 83 games. He appeared in just two more major league games – in September of 2001 – going hitless in two at bats. McDonald then spent the next five seasons at AAA; playing in the Cardinals’, Cubs’, Pirates’, Rangers’ and Yankees’ systems. He played a total of 13 minor-league seasons, hitting .264, with 78 home runs and 418 RBI. His final MLB line was .333 (three-for-nine), with three home runs and five RBI.
Primary Resource: Stathead.com
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