Definition. A “walk-off” is any offensive play that gives the home team the lead – and thus, the win – in the bottom of the last inning.
Most of these game-winning hits come in the form of a walk-off home run or single. Walk-off doubles are rarer and game-ending triples are exceptionally rare (there were none in 2019). Any walk-off hit that isn’t a walk-off home run needs a runner on base to score the winning run.
By definition, a walk-off loss is a close game rather than a blowout, because the losing team kept the score tied until the last second, and may even have held the lead.
The term walk-off was originally coined by pitcher Dennis Eckersley to describe game-ending home runs that were so deep, you didn’t have to look at them as a pitcher.
Yankees: Mickey Mantle, No.
As for the most walk-off taters hit while trailing – it doesn’t get much more dramatic – on record (dating back to 1925), that mark belongs to Robinson, whose five are tied with Fred McGriff.
As a general rule, all runs count on a walk off home run. The player who hit the walk-off home run is allowed to run around the bases and score, but if that player misses a base or overruns another baserunner, that batter is called out and the home run does not count as a run.
A walk-off home run only happens when the MLB home team takes the lead in the bottom of the ninth inning or extra innings via a home run. Since the visiting team bats first in each inning, the home team can essentially walks off the field after winning the game.
“An official who favors the home team : A lot of refs get reputations as “homers”, which means they give all the tough calls to the home team (1980s+ Sports).”
The inside-the-park home run has a different character: it combines fast baserunning with a strong hit. Statistically, an inside-the-park home run is counted no differently than any other home run in a player’s season and career totals.
homer noun [C] (BASEBALL)
a home run (= a point scored in baseball when you hit the ball and have time to run all the way around the four corners of the playing field before it is returned): That season he hit 43 homers.
1: Lou Gehrig. The “Iron Horse” was one of the most clutch hitters in the history of the game, and as impressive as his regular season stats were, he was just as good in the World Series. Gehrig put together two of the best World Series performances of all time, hitting . 545 BA, four HR, nine RBI in 1928 and .
There might even be a walk or a wild pitch that gives the runner a chance to run across home plate. But a walk-off balk — where a pitcher (by definition) flinches or makes a motion like they’re going to pitch but doesn’t — is unheard of.
A walk-off triple (one that ends a game) occurs very infrequently. In general, game-winning hits with a runner on first base are walk-off doubles, since it is quite common for runners starting on first base to score on a double (as it is to make it from first to third on a single).
Jim Thome holds the MLB record with 13 career walk-off homers. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson shared the record at 12 before Thome surpassed them. Mantle also hit one in the postseason, and Thome hit none.
On June 2, 1987, the Denver Zephyrs hosted the Buffalo Bisons at Mile High Stadium. Aided by the thin air, much like baseballs hit out of Coors Field today, Joey Meyer launched a towering blasted that traveled an absurd 582 feet and is the longest homer ever caught on video.
Definition. A grand slam occurs when a batter hits a home run with men on first base, second base and third base. Four runs score on a grand slam – the most possible on one play – and a batter is awarded four RBIs.
History and usage of the term
On 22 occasions in major league history, all during the regular season, a player has hit a walk-off grand slam for a 1-run victory; 13 of those occasions came with the bases loaded and two outs. Some baseball observers call this an “ultimate grand slam” [1] [2].
Saturday marks the 23rd anniversary of the night Cardinals third baseman Fernando Tatis pummeled two grand slams in the same inning at Dodger Stadium, and even more astonishingly, did so off the same pitcher (Chan Ho Park).
If a batter-runner is incapacitated during a home run (or any other play where he is entitled to a particular base, such as a walk, a ground rule double, or a ball thrown into the dugout), then his team may use a substitute runner (who then takes his place in the batting order and on the field, unless further replaced) …
After the batter who hit in the game-winning run has touched first base, they can simply just “walk-off” the field, since the team has now officially won the game. They are not required to touch any of the other bases.
A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, though the effect is mostly the same, with the batter receiving a free pass to first base. One exception is that on a HBP (hit-by-pitch), the ball is dead.
Number of runs batted in
With one runner on base, two runs are scored (the baserunner and the batter) and thus the home run is often called a two-run homer or two-run shot. Similarly, a home run with two runners on base is a three-run homer or three-run shot.
A “balk-off”, also known as a “walk-off balk”, refers to a baseball team winning a game because of a balk on the pitcher.
Well, if we only counted “simple” walk off grand slams the event would not be as rare as people think: From the first Opening Day in Major League Baseball history, back in 1876, though September 25, 2022, there are two-hundred seventy-eight instances of players hitting a walk off-grand slam!
An ultimate grand slam is classified as a player hitting a bases-loaded, walk-off homer with his team trailing by three runs. There have been 32 instances on record (since 1925) of a player hitting an “ultimate grand slam,” though play-by-play data is incomplete prior to 1974, so some instances might be missing.