Was Mazeroski HR the best World Series walk-off? All 11 ranked
Bill Mazeroski’s hit was so massive, it was bound to overshadow everything else he accomplished in his career.
That’s not the worst thing, at least when that hit is a solo home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates to beat the mighty New York Yankees in World Series Game 7. Mazeroski, who died this week, went on to a Hall of Fame career forged on his defensive wizardry at second base.
But that 1960 trip around the bases remains one of the biggest and most memorable blasts in baseball history, although there have been times a game-deciding hit or run driven in isn’t the most revered moment in a given Fall Classic.
With that, we take a look at the 11 homers, bloops, sacrifice flies and other oddities that ended a World Series – many of them long before Dennis Eckersley coined the term “walk-off”:
1. Bill Mazeroski, home run vs. Yankees, 1960 Game 7
Historical note: There was no salary cap in 1960, when the Pirates turned back the Yankee dynasty in a thrilling series that ended at Forbes Field. No, just the Steel City erupting when Mazeroski, as he told USA TODAY Sports years later, was “floating around the bases” after his homer against Bill Terry. It’d be 11 years before the Pirates reigned again in 1971.
2. Joe Carter, home run vs. Phillies, 1993 Game 6
Really tough to elevate a Game 6 Series winner over all the Game 7 dramas, but c’mon: A home run that flips the result of a game, stuns the Phillies into winter, with a Mitch Williams meltdown that many could anticipate coming, voiced legendarily by Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek: “Touch ‘em all, Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” A Game 7 winner is great, but getting the plug suddenly pulled on a winner-take-all-game is almost equally shocking.
3. Luis Gonzalez, single vs. Yankees, 2001 Game 7
It barely blooped and rolled into the grass of Bank One Ballpark, but with one defensive hack, Gonzalez toppled the mighty Mariano Rivera and ended the Yankee dynasty in stunning fashion.
An epic World Series looked for all the world like it’d end with the road team finally winning. But Rivera, who also blew Yankee playoff chances in 1997 and 2004, mishandled a bunt that changed the entire dynamic of the inning and forced the Yankees to play the infield in. Derek Jeter had no chance on the dying quail, and it’s kind of nice that exit velocity wasn’t around back then to besmirch the beauty of a perfectly placed bloop.
4. Earl McNeely, 12th-inning double vs. Giants, 1924 Game 7
Seems every fall we get a “longest game by time” or “longest game by innings.” Well, those records have to start somewhere and in 1924, the Washington Senators and New York Giants played on into the 12th, thanks largely to Walter Johnson’s four innings of shutout relief. Finally, McNeely rolled one down the third base line to score Muddy Ruel with the game-winner.
5. Billy Martin, single vs. Dodgers, 1953 Game 6
Bonus points here for the Yankees’ longtime torment of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who’d have to wait two more years to break through against their Bronx rivals. The Dodgers gamely tied Game 6 in the bottom of the ninth before Martin – better known as the mercurial manager – hit a single up the middle off Clem Labine to score Hank Bauer with the game-winner.
6. Edgar Renteria, 11th-inning single vs. Cleveland, 1997 Game 7
The grander drama seemed to occur two innings earlier, when Craig Counsell plated the tying run on a sacrifice fly off sketchy Cleveland closer Jose Mesa, denying the city its first World Series title since 1948.
No, once the Marlins tied it, a go-ahead hit had an air inevitability and the rookie Renteria delivered, right up the middle off Charles Nagy, plating Counsell with the championship run.
7. Gene Larkin, 10th-inning single vs. Braves, 1991 Game 7
An epic Game 6 and 7 in the Twin Cities culminated when Larkin’s pinch hit fly over a drawn-in Brian Hunter allowed Dan Gladden to trot home with the winning run.
The Metrodome fairly exploded, yet the ultimate moment couldn’t compare with the nine and a half scoreless innings Jack Morris and John Smoltz spun to precede it, nor the Kirby Puckett homer a night before to force Game 7. Still, a massive hit to end an epic game.
8. Goose Goslin, single vs. Cubs, 1935 Game 6
Hey, you don’t go 108 years without a World Series title without some heartbreak. This time, it was Goslin making up for the Tigers’ misery a year earlier against St. Louis with a single off Cubs starter Larry French to score fellow future Hall of Famer – and Mickey Mantle namesake – Mickey Cochrane with the Series-winner.
9. Bing Miller, double vs. Cubs, 1929 Game 5
Once again, not the most memorable hit, as that one would belong to Mule Haas (an ancestor of Moose Haas?), whose two-run homer with one out in the ninth ruined Cubs starter Pat Malone’s shutout. Miller made the Cubs pay for intentionally walking Jimmie Foxx (can’t blame ‘em for that).
10. Earle Combs, wild pitch vs. Pirates, 1927 Game 4
The lone Game 4 “walk-off” on the list, and it only sped up the utter certainty that was the ’27 Yankees. Sadly, Pirates pitcher Johnny Miljust properly walked Babe Ruth and struck out Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel before uncorking the fateful pitch.
11. Larry Gardner, 10th-inning sacrifice fly vs. Giants, 1912 Game 8
Game 8? As the kids now say, that’s so fake. But ties due to darkness were a thing then. Sadly, the decisive rally was spurred by a pair of errors on the Giants, enabling the Red Sox to push across the winning runs after New York took the lead in the top of the 10th.
