ANDERSON — Adam Lind remembers hitting three grand slams in his baseball life.
The first came in a summer league game with the Anderson Outlaws at Highland’s Bob Stecher Field. The second was of the inside-the-park variety, believe it or not, while Lind was at the University of South Alabama.
The third came Monday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, on a towering line drive into the left-center field seats.
Imagine what the Toronto Blue Jays left fielder must have been thinking as he circled the bases with the first grand slam in his professional career.
“Honestly, I’m so caught up in trying to get to the 100-RBI mark,” he said by cell phone after Monday’s 18-10 victory against the Texas Rangers. “The only thing on my mind was, that’s a quick four.”
Four more quickly followed, giving the former Highland star a career-high eight in the game. That’s the highest single-game total in the majors, and it’s the most by a Blue Jay since Roy Howell drove in nine runs against the New York Yankees in 1977. Lind was born six years later.
His big night Monday included a solo home run to right field and a three-run double in the ninth inning.
“It feels great,” he said. “I’ll probably get some showtime on ESPN tonight.”
Indeed, SportsCenter kept track of Lind’s RBI total with a graphic during its highlight package. The budding star also went live on-air with the MLB Network’s “MLB Tonight” crew.
The timing couldn’t have been better.
Coming into the game, August had been a difficult month for Lind. The Blue Jays’ lineup was sapped of two productive bats when Scott Rolen was traded to the Cincinnati Reds at the end of July and Alex Rios was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox in early August.
With less protection in the lineup, Lind entered Monday with just three home runs and 11 RBIs in August.
Just as he’s done all season, however, he adjusted.
“It’s something you don’t see every night,” Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston told mlb.com of Lind’s performance. “That’s the wonderful thing about baseball because every night you might see something like that. This kid is going to be a good hitter. He stays through the ball and has good patience at the plate.”
None of Lind’s heroics this season have come as a great surprise to Anderson University’s legendary baseball coach, Don Brandon. Entering his 38th season with the Ravens next spring, he’s seen a fair amount of baseball in the state.
And he says Lind is the best left-handed hitter to come out of Indiana since Yankees great Don Mattingly.
“I am just absolutely tickled to death for him,” Brandon said of Lind’s breakout season.
But he wasn’t always a believer.
Lind attended several of Brandon’s annual baseball camps as a grade schooler. The boy didn’t flash abnormal potential, and, worse, he seemed to be too introverted to become a superstar.
“He was about the quietest guy I had ever seen,” Brandon said. “I was talking to (then pitching coach) Jim (Hazen), and he agreed. Neither one of us had ever heard him say a word.”
Lind, then as now, did the majority of his talking with his bat.
During Lind’s freshman season at Highland, Brandon was scouting a postseason game in Richmond against Connersville.
The Spartans’ pitcher, whose name has been lost to time, was a senior who Brandon recalls had already been selected in the major-league draft.
Lind had grown about a foot since his days as an AU camper, and he put on a show. He was 3-for-4 with a double and a single, but it was an opposite field home run that really caught Brandon’s attention.
The pitcher got two quick strikes and then started to work the outside corner of the plate. Lind fouled off a succession of bad balls before finally selecting one he liked and launching it deep to left-center.
“I turned and looked at the (major league) scouts, and they all had their heads down writing,” Brandon said. “It was a picture-perfect at-bat. This kid was a ninth-grade hitter, and he homers off a senior who’s already been drafted.”
Brandon quietly gave up hope of ever seeing Lind wear a Ravens uniform.
“I probably shouldn’t say that,” he said. “I try to get as many local guys as I can, and I’ve got my fair share of good ones. But I said to myself, ‘There’s something special about this guy.’”
Now, Lind is on the verge of joining another special club.
He entered the final month of the regular season with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs, and he added a solo homer in the first game of a doubleheader at Texas.
For years in the majors, 30 homers and 100 RBIs have stood as the benchmark of offensive greatness.
Brandon thought he might be getting too far ahead of himself when he hoped Lind might have a shot at those numbers early in the season. Now, he believes it will be an upset if Lind doesn’t reach them.
“If he remains healthy, it shouldn’t be that big a problem,” Brandon said. “If he can get eight (RBIs) in one night, he might be able to do those things.”
Lind’s still trying to wrap his head around his increasingly historic season.
To reach that offensive plateau in his first full season in the majors was beyond his loftiest goals.
“It’s unimaginable,” he said. “You’ve known me since I was in high school. This is something I could never have dreamed about.”
Soon, it could be reality.
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