Female softball team celebrating a home run on a sunny day at the field.

What is a “Walk-Off” Home Run?

The 30-second answer

A walk-off home run is a homer that ends the game on the spot, a hit by the home team in the bottom of the 9th inning or later, turning a tie or a deficit into an instant win. The moment it clears the fence, the game’s over and everybody walks off the field. It’s the most dramatic ending baseball has.

The slightly longer version

The term was coined by Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, and he meant it as an insult as it described the losing pitcher’s miserable walk off the mound. The name stuck, but the meaning flipped to celebrate the hitter. A few things that surprise new fans: only the home team can walk off (if the visitors take the lead, the home team still gets its at-bat, so the game goes on), and it doesn’t have to be a home run a walk-off can be a single, a sacrifice fly, an error, even a bases-loaded walk. But the walk-off homer is the king of them all. The rarest version is the walk-off grand slam sometimes called the “ultimate grand slam” which has happened only about 30 times in MLB history. And the most famous one ever: Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 walk-off to win the 1960 World Series, still the only one in a winner-take-all final.

What to watch for:

  • The bat drop. The hitter knows it’s gone so watch the bat flip or the slow walk out of the box while the ball is still in the air.
  • The mob at home plate. Teammates pour out of the dugout and swallow the hero before he touches the plate. Helmets get ripped off. Someone gets a water bath.
  • The count matters. Bottom of the 9th, two outs, down by one that’s when the stadium gets impossibly loud, because everyone knows what’s possible.
  • Not every late homer is a walk-off. A go-ahead homer in the top of the 9th by the visitors isn’t one since the home team still bats. Walk-offs belong to the home team only.

Say this out loud

“Walk-off! Ballgame!”

“He walked it off!”

“Ultimate grand slam are you kidding me?”

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