Todd Pratt

Todd Alan Pratt (born February 9, 1967 in Bellevue, Nebraska) is a former Major League Baseball catcher from 1992 to 2006. He has primarily served as a back-up catcher for most of his career.

Pratt was drafted during the 6th round of the 1985 amateur draft. In 1987, the Cleveland Indians drafted Pratt from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft, but he would eventually be returned to the Red Sox. After spending time in the Baltimore Orioles organization, Pratt made his big league debut in 1992, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. He played with Philadelphia through the 1994 season, before signing with the Chicago Cubs for 1995. Pratt was signed by the Seattle Mariners in January 1996 but spent the entire season away from organized baseball working at Bucky Dent's baseball school after the Mariners released him. He would sign with the New York Mets on December 23, 1996.

The biggest moment of Pratt's career came when he was with the Mets. In game 4 of the 1999 NLDS, he hit a tenth-inning walk-off home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Matt Mantei, winning the Mets the series, 3 games to 1. In another memorable moment, during that year's NLCS, Pratt (who was supposed to be running the bases) was the first Met to embrace teammate Robin Ventura after Ventura hit a grand-slam to win Game 5 for New York. Since Ventura only touched first base, he was officially credited with a single, referred to jokingly as a "Grand Slam Single".

The Mets traded Pratt back to the Phillies in July 2001 for fellow catcher Gary Bennett. He stayed with the Phillies as Mike Lieberthal's back-up through the 2005 season. During this stint, Pratt hit the longest home run of his career, a 441-foot blast off Scott Olsen of the Florida Marlins during the 2005 season. The ball landed in the upper deck in left field at Citizens Bank Park.

Pratt signed as a free agent with the Braves in December, 2005. On January 12, 2007 he signed with the Yankees for a minor league deal, but was beat out for the club's backup catcher spot by Wil Nieves and retired.

Pratt was also a notable player of the online video game Ultima Online, and even appeared on the box of Ultima Online: Renaissance for marketing purposes.

Grand Slam Single

The Grand Slam Single is a reference to the hit that ended Game 5 of the 1999 National League Championship Series between the New York Mets and one of their rivals, Atlanta Braves. When Todd Pratt picked up Robin Ventura as he was rounding the bases and stopped him from finished his homerun trot. Thus ruining Ventura's chance of becoming the first player to hit a walk off Grand Slam in Post Season History. The game was played on October 17, 1999 at Shea Stadium.

The Play

The game was tied 2–2 going into the top of the 15th inning, until Mets pitcher Octavio Dotel gave up an RBI triple to Keith Lockhart, giving the Braves a 3–2 lead. In the bottom of the 15th inning, the Mets loaded the bases against Braves relief pitcher Kevin McGlinchy. Mets catcher Todd Pratt drew a bases loaded walk, tying the score 3–3.

The next batter was Mets third baseman Robin Ventura. Ventura crushed the 2–1 pitch over the wall in right-center for an ostensible grand slam, winning the game for the Mets and driving the Mets players and fans into a frenzied celebration. Ventura, however, never reached second base as Todd Pratt, the runner who was on first, picked up Ventura in celebration. Subsequently, Ventura was mobbed by his teammates, never finishing his trot around the bases. Because he failed to touch all four bases, the hit was officially scored a single. Roger Cedeno, the runner on third at the time, was ruled the only runner to have crossed home plate before the on-field celebration began and the Mets were awarded a 4–3 victory. Thus, Ventura was only credited with a single and one RBI. As a result, there had never been an official walk-off grand slam in MLB postseason history until Nelson Cruz hit one to allow the Texas Rangers to beat the Detroit Tigers 7–3 in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on October 10, 2011.

Defining the "single"

Sports books in Las Vegas were put into an unusual situation with the "single" as a final score of 7–3 (the score that would have been had Ventura completed his trip around the bases) meant the game would have gone "over" the over/under line, which was 7½ . However, the final score actually put the game "under," meaning that many bettors that should have received payouts did not.[1]

The play remains as one of the most memorable moments in Mets postseason history. Orel Hershiser, who played on the 1999 Mets remarked, "It will be right up there with Kirk Gibson's home run (Hershiser was a teammate of Gibson with the Los Angeles Dodgers during their championship season of 1988), Carlton Fisk, Bucky Dent. This one will be on that tape with them."[2] However, the Mets went on to lose the series to the Braves.

External links

• Todd Pratt - ESPN.com Player Card
• Todd Pratt - Baseball-Reference.com
• Todd Pratt - MLB.com