World Series Rankings: The 10 Greatest Walk-Off Home Runs

Perhaps the most cathartic play in all of baseball is the game-winning walk-off home run.  By definition, its prerequisite of the hitter’s team being either tied or behind before the act only adds to the magnitude of its heroism and favorable appraisal in terms of its importance.

Unlike a play at the plate, there is no doubt about the game’s outcome once the ball leaves the yard.  The walk-off round-tripper is the ultimate omega; its result is absolute. 

With jubilant teammates locking arms at home plate in delicious anticipation of one’s arrival, the deafening pandemonium of a partisan crowd, and the vanquished opponents dejectedly scurrying off the field, touching them all after clearing the wall is every baseball lover’s definitive dream.

However, in the 106 years and 602 games of World Series baseball, only 14 men can lay claim to having accomplished such a feat on the grandest of stages.

Wednesday’s opening game between the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers will mark the latest edition of the Fall Classic, the culmination of our national pastime’s expedition from spring to autumn—and our annual renewal of the search for the next Hercules in cleats.

While we await the first pitch, I think it would be appropriate to review the ten greatest walk-off home runs in World Series history.

And as fans around the globe tune in from Montreal to Manila, perhaps we will be treated to yet another display of postseason theater at its best this year.

It’s just a matter of who will be courageous enough—or lucky—to accept the next piece of baseball immortality.

Honorable Mention

Mickey Mantle revisits his walk-off HR in the 1964 World Series

Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees (1964, Game 3)

Venue: Yankee Stadium (New York, NY)

Pitcher: Barney Schultz, St. Louis Cardinals

Situation: 1-1 Tie, Bottom 9^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 2-1, Yankees

Series Status After HR: 2 games to 1, Yankees

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 3, Cardinals

Summary: As the story goes, Mantle (see video) told catcher Elston Howard, who was on-deck, to go back to the clubhouse because he was going to end it himself.  Like clockwork, the Hall of Famer parked the first pitch he saw into the right field seats for a Yankee victory.  However, the Cards would take the series in seven.

Mark McGwire, Oakland Athletics (1988, Game 3)

Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Stadium (Oakland, CA)

Pitcher: Jay Howell, Los Angeles Dodgers

Situation: 1-1 Tie, Bottom 9^th, 1 out, 0 on

Final Score: 2-1, Athletics

Series Status After HR: 2 games to 1, Dodgers

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 1, Dodgers

Summary: Big Mac's one-out dinger to left-center gave Oakland its only win in the five-game set.  The 1988 Fall Classic was the only one to have two walk-off home runs in the same series.

Chad Curtis, New York Yankees (1999, Game 3)

Venue: Yankee Stadium (New York, NY)

Pitcher: Mike Remlinger, Atlanta Braves

Situation: 5-5 Tie, Bottom 10^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 6-5, Yankees

Series Status After HR: 3 games to 0, Yankees

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 0, Yankees

Summary: Yankees manager Joe Torre was unsure whether or not to start Curtis for Game 3, but his concerns were eventually quelled.  An unexpected power surge overcame Curtis, who crushed his second of two homers to give New York an insurmountable 3-0 series lead.  The postgame interview now lives in infamy due to Curtis brushing off NBC’s Jim Gray in response to the latter’s interrogation of Pete Rose earlier in the year. 

Scott Podsednik, Chicago White Sox (2005, Game 2)

Venue: U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago, IL)

Pitcher: Brad Lidge, Houston Astros

Situation: 6-6 Tie, Bottom 9^th, 1 out, 0 on

Final Score: 7-6, White Sox

Series Status After HR: 2 games to 0, White Sox

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 0, White Sox

Summary: Podsednik had gone homerless in 129 regular season games and 568 at-bats that year, but somehow connected on a 2-1 fastball to right-center to give the ChiSox the victory and the confidence they needed to sweep the World Series debutant Astros.

10. Tommy Henrich, New York Yankees (1949, Game 1)

Nick Laham/Getty Images

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 20: Flags fly over the facade atop Yankee Stadium as the New York Yankees play against the Texas Rangers in Game Five of the ALCS during the 2010 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 20, 2010 in the Bronx borough of New York City.

Venue: Yankee Stadium (New York, NY)

Pitcher: Don Newcombe, Brooklyn Dodgers

Situation: 0-0 Tie, Bottom 9^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 1-0, Yankees

Series Status After HR: 1 game to 0, Yankees

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 1, Yankees

Summary: We start the official countdown with the very first walk-off home run in World Series history.  Despite having eight NL pennants to their credit, the Brooklyn franchise had come up empty in October on four separate occasions and was hungry for their first world title.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers ran into the 11-time champion Yankees, who had defeated them in the Fall Classic just two years before.  At first, Game 1 didn’t quite seem like a precursor of things to come, as Newcombe threw a complete game five-hitter and fanned 11.

But he could not strike out Henrich (left), whose nickname “Old Reliable” rang true.  The pinstripe-clad first baseman led off the ninth with the game-winning jack and perpetuated the sorrow for Dodger fans, who would be left to pick up the pieces once again after the Yankees took three of the next four games for the series triumph.

9. Alex Gonzalez, Florida Marlins (2003, Game 4)

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

MIAMI - OCTOBER 22: Alex Gonzalez #11 of the Florida Marlins celebrates with teammates after hitting a game winning solo home run in the 12th innig during game four of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Yankees on October 22, 200

Venue: Pro Player Stadium (Miami, FL)

Pitcher: Jeff Weaver, New York Yankees

Situation: 3-3 Tie, Bottom 12^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 4-3, Marlins

Series Status After HR: Tied, 2 games apiece

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 2, Marlins

Summary: In the top of the 11^th, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out only to strand all three runners.  They would soon regret their inability to take the lead.

Gonzalez was the least likely candidate for a walk-off homer.  Leading up to this point, he was hitting .077 in the series. 

But the electricity of October took hold of the Venezuela native, and after running the count full, cracked a jonrón that barely carried over the left field wall.  The home run drew the upstart Marlins even with New York, and marked the first of three consecutive Florida wins to give the fledgling franchise their second World Series win in six years.

Watch the actual clip of Gonzalez's walk-off here.

8. Eddie Mathews, Milwaukee Braves (1957, Game 4)

The 1957 Milwaukee Braves defeated the New York Yankees in seven games

Venue: Milwaukee County Stadium (Milwaukee, WI)

Pitcher: Bob Grim, New York Yankees

Situation: 5-5 Tie, Bottom 10^th, 1 out, 1 on

Final Score: 7-5, Braves

Series Status After HR: Tied, 2 games apiece

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 3, Braves

Summary: The bottom frame of the tenth began with the Yankees ahead 5-4.  With ace Warren Spahn set to hit, Milwaukee manager Fred Haney sent in little-used Nippy Jones. 

In what would be his final appearance as a big leaguer, Jones was awarded first base when umpire Augie Donatelli ruled that a wild pitch from Tommy Byrne hit the batter’s foot, with the presence of shoe polish on the ball serving as evidence.

After Johnny Logan doubled in pinch-runner Felix Mantilla to tie the game, Mathews, a future Hall of Famer, walloped a majestic one-out, two-run shot to right field to end it.  The Braves would proceed to take the series in seven, not just providing Milwaukee with its lone World Series title, but the incomparable Hank Aaron his only ring as well.

7. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (2001, Game 4)

At the stroke of midnight, Derek Jeter ends Game 4 of the 2001 World Series with one mighty swing

Venue: Yankee Stadium (New York, NY)

Pitcher: Byung-Hyun Kim, Arizona Diamondbacks

Situation: 3-3 Tie, Bottom 10^th, 2 out, 0 on

Final Score: 4-3, Yankees

Series Status After HR: Tied, 2 games apiece

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 3, Diamondbacks

Summary: In one of the most memorable playoff comebacks in the illustrious history of the Yankee franchise, Arizona manager Bob Brenly handed the ball to Kim, his closer, in the eighth inning up 3-1.  After striking out the side, Kim looked to repeat the performance in the ninth.

Then disaster struck.

Shortly following securing the first two outs with lefty Paul O’Neill’s opposite-field single sandwiched in between, Tino Martinez stepped up to the plate.  On the first pitch he saw from the submariner, the Yankee first baseman belted a two-run homer to right-center, tying the game.

Brenly refused to throw in the towel on Kim, and left his closer in the game when it moved to the tenth.  The Korean responded at first, getting the first two outs.  But like a carbon copy of the previous inning, Jeter ran the count to 3-2 before smashing an opposite-field walk-off bomb, eerily subsequent to the clock passing midnight.

The D-Backs would get the last laugh with a walk-off single of their own in the seventh and deciding game, but the ending of Game 4 will forever live in the consciousness of baseball fans.

6. Dusty Rhodes, New York Giants (1954, Game 1)

A recap of Game 1 of the 1954 World Series ending with a 3-run walk-off HR from Dusty Rhodes

Venue: Polo Grounds (New York, NY)

Pitcher: Bob Lemon, Cleveland Indians

Situation: 2-2 Tie, Bottom 10^th, 1 out, 2 on

Final Score: 5-2, Giants

Series Status After HR: 1 game to 0, Giants

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 0, Giants

Summary: No self-respecting Giants fan would be without knowledge of “The Catch.”  Some of them can parrot Russ Hodges’s call of “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” word for word.

But Bobby Thomson’s iconic 1951 three–run blast only gave the Giants the National League pennant.  Willie Mays’s over-the-shoulder grab of Vic Wertz’s fly ball to the deepest part of center field merely saved Game 1 for the Giants.

The three-run explosion from Rhodes, who entered Game 1 as a pinch-hitter, not only ended the contest, but additionally, drove a stake through the hearts of the Indians, who were heavily favored after a regular season in which they won a then-AL record 111 games.  In a tragic scene seemingly an epidemic among Cleveland pro sports franchises in the years to come, they never recovered.

And, as it stands, the Giants’ four-game sweep remains the last world championship flag that flies in San Francisco’s AT&T Park, over 2,500 miles away from its original location.

5. Kirby Puckett, Minnesota Twins (1991, Game 6)

The late Kirby Puckett describes his walk-off HR in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series

Venue: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minneapolis, MN)

Pitcher: Charlie Leibrandt, Atlanta Braves

Situation: 3-3 Tie, Bottom 11^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 4-3, Twins

Series Status After HR: Tied, 3 games apiece

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 3, Twins

Summary: With five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at-bat and three games going into extra innings, the 1991 World Series was definitely the most exciting in baseball history.

Game 6 was no different, with the Braves just one win away from their first title since moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta.  However, the two teams remained deadlocked 3-3 until the 11^th, when Puckett faced off against Leibrandt.

With the raucous Metrodome faithful waving Homer Hankies, Puckett took the first three pitches.  Then, with the count 2-1, the stocky center fielder launched Leibrandt’s next offering into left-center for a theatrical game-winning homer that sent the series into a final game. 

Legendary CBS Radio announcer Jack Buck assessed the situation succinctly but perfectly: “And we'll see you tomorrow night!”

The Twins made the most of the opportunity, taking the deciding seventh game and their second World Series crown in five seasons.

4. Carlton Fisk, Boston Red Sox (1975, Game 6)

The closing credits for Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, featuring Carlton Fisk

Venue: Fenway Park (Boston, MA)

Pitcher: Pat Darcy, Cincinnati Reds

Situation: 6-6 Tie, Bottom 12^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 7-6, Red Sox

Series Status After HR: Tied, 3 games apiece

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 3, Reds

Summary: People in the North Star State might argue that the preceding home run should be ranked in this spot; I argue that Fisk’s blast changed the sport forever.

With the “Big Red Machine” one win away from the franchise's first title in 35 years, manager Sparky Anderson turned to Darcy, the eighth Cincinnati hurler to enter the game.  After taking a high pitch for a ball, the future Hall of Famer slammed Darcy’s second delivery down the left field line for what appeared to be a long foul ball.  

But the Red Sox catcher refused to lose faith in the ball’s trajectory, and so he hopped and waved the ball fair on his way to first base.  Fisk’s prayers were answered, as the ball struck the foul pole, giving Boston a dramatic 7-6 victory, pushing Cincinnati to the seven-game limit.

While the Reds would win the series, what would endure was the way cameramen shot home runs.  In the past, they were trained to follow the flight of the ball.  However, in this rare instance, NBC’s Lou Gerard was distracted by a nearby rat and kept his camera on the hopeful Fisk because he was late in moving his lens to the outfield.  The next two entrants on the list are prime examples of this paradigm shift. 

Considering that the Curse of the Bambino wasn’t broken until 2004, just one look at the shot 35 years after Fisk’s joyous jaunt and one can empathize with the plight Red Sox fans had endured leading up to that point.

Hell, the moment was so pivotal in many New Englanders’ lives that Robin Williams’s character spoke about it at length in the Academy Award-winning film Good Will Hunting.

3. Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles Dodgers (1988, Game 1)

Kirk Gibson recalls his historic HR in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series

Venue: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)

Pitcher: Dennis Eckersley, Oakland Athletics

Situation: 4-3 Athletics, Bottom 9^th, 2 out, 1 on

Final Score: 5-4, Dodgers

Series Status After HR: 1 game to 0, Dodgers

Series Final Outcome: 4 games to 1, Dodgers

Summary: “I don’t believe what I just saw!” –Jack Buck, CBS Radio

The A’s won their division by 13 games.  They swept Boston in a four-game ALCS demolition.  They were practically unbeatable.

Eckersley, a future Hall of Famer, had 42 saves in 1988.  Entering the final frame of Game 1 with a one-run lead, the A’s closer was virtually unhittable.

Encumbered by hamstring and knee injuries, Gibson needed assistance to walk and lingered in the clubhouse.

But in an ending befitting Dodger Stadium’s Tinseltown surroundings, the bespectacled Mike Davis drew a two-out bases on balls off Eckersley.  Then, waiting until the last possible second, Tommy Lasorda summoned pitch-hitter Dave Anderson from the on-deck circle back into the dugout.

The L.A. manager wanted Gibson, and one of the greatest at-bats in the history of the game would transpire next.

Gibson, a free agent acquisition from Detroit, was hobbled, but not incapacitated.  He proceeded to courageously foul off the best pitches Eckersley had to offer, his physical anguish completely evident with every swing.

Then as ball three sailed by to run the count full, Davis stole second.  Gibson subsequently stepped out of the batter’s box for a moment and muttered to himself, “Partner, sure as I’m standing here breathing, you’re going to throw me that 3-2 backdoor slider, aren’t you?”

Gibson dug back in and guessed correctly. In his only at-bat of the entire series, he clipped just enough of a 3-2 backdoor slider to send it into the right field bleachers.  The image of Gibson gingerly staggering around the bases and pumping his fist upon rounding second will be eternally etched in baseball lore.

Only one of two walk-off home runs in the World Series with the hitter’s team facing a deficit, and the only such one that came with two outs, Gibson’s close clearance of the wall sent shockwaves through the baseball world. 

And just like that, the invincible A’s, with five All-Stars (including American League MVP and the first 40-40 man, Jose Canseco), were suddenly human.  The Dodgers went on to rout the AL champions 4-1 en route to their fifth championship in southern California.

Watch the actual clip of Gibson's shot here.

2. Joe Carter, Toronto Blue Jays (1993, Game 6)

Joe Carter ignites the whole country of Canada with a game-winning HR in the 1993 World Series

Venue: SkyDome (Toronto, Canada)

Pitcher: Mitch Williams, Philadelphia Phillies

Situation: 6-5 Phillies, Bottom 9^th, 1 out, 2 on

Final Score: 8-6, Blue Jays

Series Status After HR: 4 games to 2, Blue Jays

Series Final Outcome; 4 games to 2, Blue Jays

Summary: The Phillies were looking to force a seventh game in Toronto.  The Blue Jays preferred to win their second consecutive World Series title in six.

Williams was coming off a nightmarish Game 4 where he lost the game by surrendering three hits and a walk that yielded four runs in two-thirds of an inning.  Carter was hitless in his last seven at-bats, including 0-for-3 in Game 6.

The two would meet in the bottom of the ninth, and something had to give.

Nursing a one-run lead, the Phillies’ lefty closer lived up to his moniker “Wild Thing.” He began the inning by walking future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.  Williams then retired Devon White on a fly ball before conceding a single to another Cooperstown enshrinee, Paul Molitor. 

This set the stage for Carter’s heroics.  On a 2-2 pitch, Williams sent the ball right into Carter’s wheelhouse, and the closer seemed to fall to his knees upon the release.

Carter got all of it. 

Williams would rise to his feet only to witness Carter slug a missile over the left field wall for only the second World Series-ending walk-off dinger in history.

An ecstatic Carter would later reveal that he would have cartwheeled around the bases—if only he knew how.  Gymnastic maneuvers aside, his Blue Jay teammates mobbed him at home plate for what has remained the last playoff game played north of the border.

1. Bill Mazeroski, Pittsburgh Pirates (1960, Game 7)

Bill Mazeroski hits a HR to win the 1960 World Series over the Yankees

Venue: Forbes Field (Pittsburgh, PA)

Pitcher: Ralph Terry, New York Yankees

Situation: 9-9 Tie, Bottom 9^th, 0 out, 0 on

Final Score: 10-9, Pirates

Series Status After HR: 4 games to 3, Pirates

Series Final Outcome; 4 games to 3, Pirates

Summary: Here is the ending that every Little Leaguer closes their eyes and visualizes on the sandlot.  It’s Game 7, bottom of the ninth, the hated Yankees stand in the way, and everything is on the line.

However, Mazeroski’s achievement was more fact than fiction; he actually lived the dream.

In a awesome display of offensive firepower, neither Pittsburgh nor New York showed any signs of letting up in the seventh and deciding game of the 1960 World Series.  The Yankees responded to a 4-0 Pirate lead with seven runs of their own. 

The Bucs, not to be outdone, capped a five-run eighth inning rally with Hal Smith’s three-run shot to pull ahead, 9-7.  But the Yanks would not go down quietly.  Behind an RBI single and some nifty baserunning from Mickey Mantle, New York was able to string together another two-run rally to tie the game in the top of the ninth.

In one of the most exciting elimination games ever from a scoring standpoint, the momentum inevitably swayed back to the hometown Pirates, who enjoyed the advantage of hitting last.

Up to the batter’s box sauntered “Maz” to lead off the bottom of the ninth.  On a 1-1 count, Terry chucked it right down Main Street.  The second baseman, not known for his power, crushed the ball over left fielder Yogi Berra’s head and into the cherry trees outside Forbes Field for the greatest walk-off home run in World Series history.

What seemed like the entire city of Pittsburgh poured onto the field from the stands to greet Mazeroski in a moment that will live in baseball highlight reels forever.

Asked to reflect on the game years later, Mantle would share that it would be the only time as an amateur or pro that he ever cried after a loss.

Stories about the whereabouts of the actual walk-off ball persist in the oral histories of baseball fans today.  Some people believe that a 14-year-old fan named Andy Jerpe retrieved the ball after the historic homer and had it signed by Mazeroski, only to lose it in the locker room amidst the celebration. 

Another rumor, as outlandish as it sounds, has a 13-year-old named Ted Szafranski catching the ball and returning it to Mazeroski after the game in exchange for two cases of beer.

Regardless of the ball’s resting place, the memory of Mazeroski’s mashing lives on.  But if you ask the man today, he would have never expected his walk-off home run to take on a life of its own.

“I just thought it was a hit to win a ballgame and would be forgotten about next year when we started it all over again,” the 74-year-old recently told MLB.com.  “Here we are 50 years later still talking about it.”

Walk-Off Candidates for 2010?

The Giants win Game 4 of the NLCS on a walk-off sac fly by Juan Uribe

It's an election year, and both teams in this year's Fall Classic field ample candidates for the hallowed position of 2010 walk-off World Series hero. 

For the Rangers, Home Run Derby stalwarts Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero come to mind. The same can be said about the Giants' jack leader Aubrey Huff and playoff phenomenon Cody Ross. 

But what about the potential unsung heroes?  I'm going to take a swing and give the readers two players (one from each team) who might not bat in the heart of the order, but still possess the propensity to come up big when it matters most.

SAN FRANCISCO

Juan Uribe (see video above) has been a clutch performer all year long.  Among his 24 regular season home runs, he owns several game-winning round-trippers, most notably against Jonathan Broxton and the archrival Dodgers.  He hasn't slowed down in the playoffs, with a walk-off sacrifice fly in Game 4 of the NLCS accompanied by a game-winning jack to the opposite field in Game 6 on the road to clinch the pennant for the Giants.

TEXAS

According to a report earlier this year on Baseball-Reference.com, Jorge Cantu (pictured) was tied for fifth in walk-off hits out of all major leaguers from 2008-10 with four.  While he's only gone yard once in a Ranger uniform, he's had double-digit home runs in each of the past four seasons.  Like Uribe, Cantu is a utility infielder.  And similar to his National League counterpart, he can be dangerous in the late innings.