The term grand slam has become deeply ingrained in our recreational culture. In baseball, it signifies a home run with all bases loaded; in bridge, it denotes winning all thirteen tricks; and in tennis, golf, and rugby, it represents winning all the major championships of the sport within a year. These accomplishments trace their origins back to a trick-taking card game called Boston, which served as the precursor to bridge. Over time, the term transitioned into popular culture with the connotation of “great success” and was subsequently applied to various sports. Interestingly, in Boston, the term slam is believed to have no connection to the verb meaning “forceful sound”. Instead, it likely stems from slampant, a term from a seventeenth-century card game that ultimately referred to “trickery”.
