Walk-off Home Run - History and Usage of The Term

History and Usage of The Term

Although the concept of a game-ending home run is as old as baseball, the adjective "walk-off" only attained widespread use in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The first known usage of the word in print appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21, 1988, Section D, Page 1. Chronicle writer Lowell Cohn wrote an article headlined "What the Eck?" about Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley's unusual way of speaking: "For a translation, I go in search of Eckersley. I also want to know why he calls short home runs 'street pieces,' and home runs that come in the last at-bat of a game 'walkoff pieces'. . . ." Although the term originally was coined with a negative connotation, in reference to the pitcher (who must "walk off" the field with his head hung in shame), it has come to acquire a more celebratory connotation, for the batter who circles the bases with pride with the adulation of the home crowd.

Sportscasters also use the term "walk-off hit" if any kind of hit drives in the winning run to end the game. The terms "walk-off hit by pitch", "walk-off walk" (a base on balls with the bases loaded), "walk-off wild pitch", "walk-off reach-on-error", and "walk-off balk" have been also applied, and the latter has been dubbed a "balk-off"; though some people say that winning a game on such technicalities doesn't merit a term normally used to describe a clutch hit. It is a separate stretch of the term to call a hit a walk-off when what ends the game is not the hit but the defense's failure to make a play (as in a single with a possible out at the plate). The day after Eric Bruntlett pulled off a game-ending unassisted triple play for the Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Mets on August 23, 2009, the Philadelphia Daily News used the term "walk-off triple play" in a subheadline describing the moment.

As of September 27, 2011, on 27 occasions in major league history – all during the regular season – a player has hit a game-winning grand slam for a 1-run victory; 15 of those occasions came with two outs. A walk-off grand slam when the team is down by 3 runs is sometimes called an ultimate grand slam. Roberto Clemente hit the only walk-off inside-the-park grand slam in baseball history. Clemente's 3rd base coach instructed him to stop at 3rd, but Clemente ran through the stop sign to score the winning run. Chris Hoiles' grand slam occurred under the cliché situation: bases loaded, two outs, full count, bottom of the ninth inning, and down by three runs. This was later referred to as the ultimate, ultimate grand slam. The most recent "ultimate grand slam" was by Ryan Roberts, who performed the feat in the 10th inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6 on September 27, 2011. This was the third ultimate slam of the 2011 season, the most ever in a single season.

In a rare occurrence, only four pitchers in major league history have surrendered two game-ending grand slam home runs in one season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau:

• Satchel Paige of the St. Louis Browns, in 1952, to Sammy White of the Boston Red Sox on June 30, and Eddie Joost of the Philadelphia Athletics on July 15.
• Lindy McDaniel of the Chicago Cubs, in 1963, to Bob Aspromonte of the Houston Colt .45s on June 11, and Jim Hickman of the New York Mets on August 9.
• Lee Smith of the California Angels, in 1995, to Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics, on June 30, and Albert Belle of the Cleveland Indians on July 18.
• Francisco Rodríguez of the New York Mets, in 2009, to rookies Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres, on August 7, and Justin Maxwell of the Washington Nationals on September 30. Rodríguez is the only pitcher to surrender two game winning grand slams to two rookies.