Home runs have provided some of the highest drama in baseball history. They are at their best when they provide a sudden end to an important game.
A home run is almost guaranteed to bring a crowd to its feet. No matter the score or the competitiveness of the participants, fans respond to the sound and sight of a ball driven high and far and out of a ball park. But clearly the most excitement, joy, or disappointment comes from a decisive blow in an important game.
The Historic Ones
Though most of today's fans know of it only from the archives or older relatives, Bobby Thomson's game-and-pennant winner in 1951 has a special place in baseball lore. Thomson's New York Giants had trailed their cross-town rival Brooklyn Dodgers by 13 and-a-half games in early August. Their great homestretch run resulted in a tie at the end of the regular season and, under the rules of that era, a best two-of-three playoff for the pennant.
The teams split the first two games and, with 20-game winner Don Newcombe on the mound, the Dodgers had a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead in the ninth inning. But the scrappy Giants rallied for three hits and a run with two outs, bringing to the plate Thomson, with a career high 31 home runs to his credit that season. Dodger manager Chuck Dressen called for Ralph Branca to relieve Newcombe and rued it almost immediately as Thomson drove the second pitch into the left field stands to end the game and the season.
A different type of drama attended a blast that also climaxed a remarkable late-season comeback, this one in 1938. The Chicago Cubs had been dysfunctional through half the season, resulting in the replacement of manager Charlie Grimm with catcher Gabby Hartnett. A sizzling 19-3 run in September brought the Cubs to within half a game of the league-leading Pittsburgh Pirates as the two teams squared off on September 28. The score was 5-5 with two outs in the ninth inning. With no lights available for extra innings, the game would likely have been called for darkness after the last scheduled batter, Hartnett himself. With two strikes on him, the player-manager smashed a home run to give his team first place, which they clinched three days later.
In 1960, Casey Stengel's record tenth pennant pitted his New York Yankees against the aforementioned Pirates. The lightly regarded Pirates won three close games while the Yankees ran away with three others by ten runs or more. Nevertheless, that left the clubs tied going into the seventh game, and they traded the lead several times in a slugfest that was 9-9 going into the bottom of the ninth. Leadoff batter Bill Mazeroski, a superb fielding second baseman not known for heavy hitting, drove reliever Ralph Terry's first pitch over the wall for Pittsburgh's first world championship since 1925.
More Recently
The Oakland Athletics were one of the outstanding teams of the 1970's and 1980's. In 1988 they were beginning a three-pennant run as they faced the lesser-esteemed Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series. Dennis Eckersley, one of the first pitchers to become a superstar as a "closer," was sent to the mound to protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning. With two out and one man on base, Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda called for Kirk Gibson to pinch hit. Gibson, his league's Most Valuable Player that year with a .290 batting average and 25 home runs, had been unable to start because of a severely injured leg. He homered off Eckersley to win the game, limped around the bases, and never batted again in the Series as his team went on to win, four games to one.
The Toronto Blue Jays were defending world champions in 1993 and led three games to two over the Philadelphia Phillies in game 6. After blowing a 5-1 lead, the Jays trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. With two on and one out, outfielder Joe Carter duplicated Mazeroski's feat with a walkoff home run that gave Toronto a repeat title.
Something Special
Babe Ruth's home runs thrilled fans for 15 years and made his unique reputation. Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and others hit their share of dramatic homers. But there's something special about one that wins a pennant or World Series game, no matter who hit it.
