Few moments in sports are more dramatic than a walk-off home run. The term walk-off simply describes a run-scoring play, usually a hit, that ends a game, enabling the players to walk off the field. A walk-off homer, therefore, is a home run that ends a game. According to a Sports Illustrated article, pitcher Dennis Eckersley is given credit for coining the phrase walk-off. Eckersley, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, used it in 1993 while describing a pitcher's emotions as he walks off the mound after giving up a game-winning hit.
Circumstances
In baseball the home team always gets the last opportunity to score. For that reason only the home team can end a game with a walk-off home run. It can break a tie game, or in more dramatic fashion it can give a team a come-from-behind victory if the homer scores enough runs to overcome a deficit. The most runs a walk-off homer can produce is four--a grand slam that scores all three runners on base and the batter.
Drama
The energy of the fans can add to the drama of a walk-off home run. A home crowd that tries to root its team on to victory will be looking for a walk-off hit in the final inning. That atmosphere can help energize the home team. There is also the tension that comes with the situation. Ultimately the only two players in control at that point are the pitcher and the batter.
Chances
Hitting a home run in any circumstance isn't easy. A baseball player with a .300 batting average still fails to get a hit in seven out of 10 official times at bat. The odds of a walk-off homer grow longer if the hitter doesn't have a lot of power and is facing a relief pitcher who successfully closes games at a high rate and doesn't give up a lot of home runs. All this further helps to build drama around a walk-off homer.
Famous Walk-Off Homers
Walk-off home runs have become part of baseball lore. In 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a walk-off homer that gave the New York Giants the National League pennant and became known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World." Carlton Fisk kept the World Series hopes alive for the Boston Red Sox in 1975 with a 12th-inning walk-off homer in Game 6, although the Cincinnati Reds won the series in the next game. A hobbled Kirk Gibson won the first game of the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers with a ninth-inning pinch-hit homer off Oakland's Eckersley.
Championship Walk-Offs
A walk-off home run has ended the World Series on two occasions. In 1960 the New York Yankees outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55-27 in a seven-game series. Yet in the seventh game, Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski gave his team the championship with a walk-off homer. Joe Carter hit a walk-off three-run homer in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series to hand the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive championship.
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