The greatest World Series home runs of all time

It’s not nice to tease. Especially when your franchise hasn’t won a World Series since 1948. However, the hope of Cleveland baseball fans was elevated when the rather light-hitting Davis drove an Aroldis Chapman pitch just over the high left-field wall, and inside the foul pole, for a tying two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs. Though it would be the Cubs who prevailed to end their 108-year World Series drought, Cleveland fans will always have a fondness for Rajai’s Fall Classic heroics.

There were many magical moments during the Red Sox’s streak-busting run to the 2004 World Series title. However, Belhorn’s eighth-inning tiebreaking, two-run homer off the mesh netting of Fenway Park’s Pesky Pole in right field in Game 1 versus St. Louis tends to be forgotten by fans outside Boston. And, Cardinals fans certainly do not need to be reminded. The home run proved to be the difference in a wild 11-9 Boston victory, and made Bellhorn another in a long line of World Series heroes in major-league history.

Speaking of unlikely World Series heroes. As baseball fans know, the Yankees did not win that emotional 2001 World Series just weeks after the September 11 attacks. Yet, the Series was the setting for two of the most notable home runs in the storied history of the Yankees franchise. The 2001 season would be the last of an MLB career that featured parts of 11 seasons for Brosius, who ended up going out in style when he belted a tying, two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning off stingy Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim. New York eventually won in 12 to take a 3-2 series lead, which the Diamondbacks would overcome.

In the same game that featured the only triple play to be turned in World Series history, came the first grand slam hit during the Fall Classic. That came from Smith, in the first inning off Brooklyn’s Burleigh Grimes, to give Cleveland a 4-0 lead. The then-Indians went on to win 8-1 and take a lead in the series they would claim. Since Smith went deep with the bags loaded back in 1920, 20 other grand slams have been hit in World Series play. Most recently by Atlanta’s Adam Duvall in Game 5 during the 2021 event — also off the aforementioned Framber Valdez.

Reggie Jackson wasn’t the most cordial of teammates, and the Yankees’ 1977 clubhouse was not known for special team chemistry. However, when it came time for New York to make a run at another World Series title, Jackson more than proved his worth. Following a rough 2-for-16 performance in the AL Championship Series, Jackson earned the “Mr. October” moniker with his three-home run performance in New York’s 8-4, series-clinching Game 6 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Two into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium and a final drive onto the center field batter’s eye. Each seemingly more impressive than the next. In ’77, Jackson became the first player to hit five home runs in a World Series.

Podsednik did not hit a single home run during 129 regular-season games for the White Sox in 2005. However, he went deep twice during Chicago’s postseason run to the franchise’s first World Series title since 1918. Paul Konerko’s seventh-inning grand slam gave the White Sox a 6-4 over Houston in Game 2, but the Astros tied it with two runs in the ninth. The bottom of the frame, it was time for Podsednik to add his name to White Sox lore by pulling a Brad Lidge pitch into the right-center field seats for a 7-6 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Before the Braves won their second world championship in 1957, they needed to tie this series with the New York Yankees at 2-2. Milwaukee did so with some extra-inning heroics from the great Eddie Mathews. After blowing a 4-1 lead in the ninth, the Braves allowed the Yankees to go up 5-4 with a run in the 10th. However, Milwaukee got a run back in its half of the frame, then Matthews came through with a two-run, walk-off homer into the right-field stands off Bob Grim, who knew it was gone the moment the ball hit the bat, for a 7-5 victory.

The Nationals trailed 2-0 entering the seventh inning of Game 7 at Houston in 2019. Anthony Rendon made it a 2-1 game with a solo homer in the frame, then Kendrick eventually delivered what should be the biggest hit in Nationals’ history. With a man on base, Kendrick drilled a Will Harris that hit the right-field foul pole to put Washington ahead 3-2. The Nationals tacked on three more runs over the next two innings and stunned the Astros with a 6-2 victory for the franchise’s first World Series crown. We’re still not certain how Expos fans fell about this.

Leave it to a veteran dubbed “Old Reliable” when the Yankees’ needed a run. Not only was Henrich’s ninth-inning homer into the lower right-field stands off Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe’s the only run of New York’s Game 1 victory over its rival, but it was also the first walk-off home run in World Series history. Long before the term walk-off was a popular thing. Amid a star-studded Yankees’ lineup filled with names like Berra, DiMaggio and Rizzuto, it was Henrich, in the second-last campaign of a career that spanned 11 seasons, who held that distinction.

We return to the aforementioned 2001 World Series between the Yankees and Diamondbacks. Right before Scott Brosius’ noted Game 5 heroics, it was “The Captain” who came through to help New York even the series. Before we get to that, Jeter’s New York teammate Tino Martinez tied Game 4 with a two-run homer off Byung-Hyun Kim in the bottom of the ninth. Then shortly after midnight on Nov. 1, Jeter was anointed “Mr. November” when he smacked a 3-2 Kim pitch into the right field bleachers to give the Yankees a dramatic 4-3 win in 10.

The 2011 World Series was certainly one of the best that should actually be celebrated more. Texas won Games 4 and 5 home to take a 3-2 lead and led 7-4 in a back-and-forth Game 6. St. Louis, though, rallied as Freese’s two-run triple tied it at 7-7 in the ninth. After Texas scored two in the top of the 10th, the Cardinals again answered with two in the bottom of the frame. They ultimately won the game on Freese’s solo homer in the 11th, which immediately etched his name within the storied legacy of Cardinals baseball.

New York’s four-game World Series sweep of the Cubs included one of the most legendary moments in baseball history. While we might not know the real reason Babe Ruth seemed to point to the center field seats in the fifth inning of Game 3 at Wrigley Field, the great slugger was said to have “called his shot” before driving a home run into that exact part of the park. For decades, and generation upon generation, the legend of the moment has been a notable part of baseball lore and Ruth’s iconic, larger-than-life legacy. It’s been one of the many reasons to romanticize the game over the years.

The highly entertaining ’91 series between Minnesota and Atlanta was all about the walk-off. The Braves knotted the series at 2-2 with walk-off wins in Game 3 and 4, and led 3-2 when it was time for Game 6, back in Minnesota. This contest went to 11 innings, and when the stars needed to shine the brightest, the beloved Puckett stepped up to plate and sent a Charlie Leibrandt pitch into the left-center-field seats of the Metrodome to break a 3-3 tie. And, prompted the great Jack Buck to proclaim: “We’ll see you tomorrow night.” Of course, fittingly, the series ended in the 10th on Gene Larkin’s RBI single for a 1-0 Twins’ Game 7 victory and World Series title.

There have been two World Series that ended on home runs. The second came courtesy of Carter, a true professional in every sense of the word. Playing Game 6 at home, Carter’s Blue Jays trailed 6-5 in the ninth inning against Philadelphia closer Mitch Williams. However, there were two men on when Carter stepped to the plate, then lined a Williams’ pitch just over the left-field wall. It sent Toronto fans into delirium while Carter jubilantly hopped around the bases before touching home plate for an 8-6 victory and second straight World Series crown for the franchise.

Speaking of iconic sports moments. Sure, Gibson’s famed walk-off, two-run homer off Oakland Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of the ’88 World Series opener — for a 6-5 victory — did not decide the ultimate outcome of the overall event, it set the table for Los Angeles’ dominance. In fitting a Roy Hobbs, made-for-Hollywood fashion, the ailing and hobbled Gibson came off the bench for his only appearance of the series and delivered one of the most memorable moments in sports history. As noted, the Dodgers won the series four games to one, with Gibson providing the defining moment of the Fall Classic — and his own illustrious career.

A top-10 all-time baseball moment. Mazeroski’s famed solo drive over the left-field wall at Forbes Field, on a 1-0 count off Ralph Terry, remains the only walk-off home run in a World Series Game 7. Depending on who is doing the talking, critics, historians, fans, etc., the drive that sent Pittsburgh to an improbable 10-9 victory and third World Series title, this is the greatest home run in the history of professional baseball. It forever etched Mazeroski as a legend of the game, and still might be the greatest sports moment — or any moment — in Pittsburgh history.