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Where do you rank the best postseason home runs?

Big Phil

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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I could do a Youtube link with all of them but my guess is you all know which ones I mean. So I've narrowed it down to 7 home runs and I take the impact of the home run and which one is the most dramatic from top to bottom. If you feel there are others that belong, list them on here. So where do you rank them?

Bobby Thomson 1951 - Lots of drama here, and a good backstory to it also. There is a classic call in a classic ballpark with the fiercest rivalry in baseball between the Giants and the Dodgers. Thomson's home run didn't come without some controversy but it eliminated the Dodgers and it was a come from behind home run in the bottom of the 9th. The knock on this is that the Giants lost the World Series to the Yankees.

Kirk Gibson 1988 - Okay, it was Game 1, but it set the tone for the series, which the Dodgers won in 5 games. The count is 3-2 with 2 outs the Dodgers are behind by one and Gibson can barely walk when he comes up to the plate. Then he drills a home run to the right field stands. Poetic.

David Freese 2011 - Tie game in Game 6 of the World Series after a series of dramatic comebacks just in the game alone for the Cardinals. Maybe this is the best baseball game ever played. Freese hits a bomb to straight away center in extra innings to send the Game to 7, which the Cards win.

Joe Carter 1993 - Come from behind again in Game 6 of the World Series. Just the 2nd time a home run has ended the World Series.

Bill Mazeroski 1960 - Game 7 of the World Series, the Pirates and Yankees are tied and Maz hits a home run that gives the Pirates the win in a series they have no business winning.

Dave Henderson 1986 - One strike away in Game 5 of the ALCS is all the Angels needed to polish off the Red Sox. Remember, this was Game 5! Then Henderson gets a hold of a Donnie Moore pitch and puts it in the left field stands, just barely. It's a two run shot and the Red Sox go up 6-5, eventually win this game and then win the next two at Fenway Park.

Aaron Boone 2003 - Lots to like about this one. It was a Red Sox/Yankees series and it capped off a great comeback in Game 7. The knock is that the Yanks lost to the Marlins somehow in the World Series, but they did win the ALCS with this homerun. The game was tied at the time.



Carlton Fisk's home run in 1975 in Game 6 is left off here purposely. Great baseball moment, but the Red Sox lost the next day to the Reds. It might be #1 or #2 if the Red Sox win but they didn't and it just prolonged the World Series. I know not all of the home runs ended up in a World Series win but they at least won the championship series and got them to the World Series.
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Pwnasaurus

Pwnasaurus

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Feb 21, 2003
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These are great choices. I would have to think on it. I'll give some cursory comments now as it were....

Bobby Thomson 1951 - This might be my choice out of the gate...such a vivid highlight and such a great rivalry.

Kirk Gibson 1988 - I can still remember watching this live with my brother in his room, staying up to watch Eck come in and seeing Gibson hobbling out of the dugout. Such an awesome moment. It might have been just Game 1 but I agree it set the tone in an overwhelming manner. Fans agree too I think as the bat used by Gibson went for more $$$ than I expected for an artifact that didn't win a series.

David Freese 2011 - I can't vote on this one due to bias.

Joe Carter 1993 - Another great moment but I think Game 7 would have been Hentgen vs Mullholland which I remember thinking the Jays were taking at home anyway.

Bill Mazeroski 1960 - Actually this might beat the Thompson homer.

Dave Henderson 1986 - This homerun is bittersweet as it sent Donnie Moore into such a spiral that it is my belief he was never able to recover from despite things I've read that it wasn't a leading cause.

Aaron Boone 2003 - Rivera threw 3 innings at the end of this game. Imagine Chapman doing that today.
 
Big Phil

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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Pwnasaurus said:
These are great choices. I would have to think on it. I'll give some cursory comments now as it were....

Bobby Thomson 1951 - This might be my choice out of the gate...such a vivid highlight and such a great rivalry.

Kirk Gibson 1988 - I can still remember watching this live with my brother in his room, staying up to watch Eck come in and seeing Gibson hobbling out of the dugout. Such an awesome moment. It might have been just Game 1 but I agree it set the tone in an overwhelming manner. Fans agree too I think as the bat used by Gibson went for more $$$ than I expected for an artifact that didn't win a series.

David Freese 2011 - I can't vote on this one due to bias.

Joe Carter 1993 - Another great moment but I think Game 7 would have been Hentgen vs Mullholland which I remember thinking the Jays were taking at home anyway.

Bill Mazeroski 1960 - Actually this might beat the Thompson homer.

Dave Henderson 1986 - This homerun is bittersweet as it sent Donnie Moore into such a spiral that it is my belief he was never able to recover from despite things I've read that it wasn't a leading cause.

Aaron Boone 2003 - Rivera threw 3 innings at the end of this game. Imagine Chapman doing that today.
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Good analysis on all of them, especially the Henderson vs. Moore home run. Donnie Moore was hardly at fault in this game but he seems to get the lion's share of the blame. The Angels were up 5-2 in the bottom of the 9th. Mike Witt allows a two-run home run to Don Baylor and it's 5-4. Witt gets the 2nd out, I think it was Dwight Evans. My thought is, for goodness sakes, leave him in, he's one out away from sending you to the World Series. Nope. Gene Mauch panics and pulls him. Gary Lucas comes in to face Rich Gedman and his first pitch he hits Gedman in the helmet. All of the sudden the winning run is on base. Mauch pulls Lucas in favour of Moore. He has two strikes on Henderson and gives him a potential strike but certainly not a pitch you'd expect would be a home run. Henderson sort of reached down low for it. 6-5. The Angels tied it but the Sox won in extra innings. Then won Game 6 and 7. Man, that is a lot of baseball played outside of that Moore pitch. That really shouldn't have been the vocal point, but it is.

Moore's career is never the same and he's done in 1988. He had problems in his personal life as it was, but he took a gun and shot his wife (didn't kill her) but then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide in front of his kid I believe. What a mess. How this home run factors in is anyone's guess but it may have had an impact in a way.
 
Big Phil

Big Phil

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By the way, does anyone know why you see empty seats with Henderson's home run in Angel Stadium in the left field seats? It's strange, because there are no empty seats anywhere else in the ballpark, just there at that point in the game. The Angels were on the verge of going to the World Series. I just find that strange. There are plenty of empty seats in the left field seats for some reason and it I out of place.
 
td_ice

td_ice

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Aug 13, 2005
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Not trying to be a homer, but for me, nothing trumps a walk off, WS game 7 home run. Regardless of the teams. But in this case, add to the fact that David beat Goliath.

Maz.
 
GIN ANTONIC

GIN ANTONIC

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Gaudreau said:
1. Mazeroski
2. Carter
3. Freese
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There is no debating Maz and Carter are 1-2. Freese is not top 3 though. It was great but the triple in the 9th was bigger in my opinion, even though the HR was a walkoff. It's an all-time clutch performance though.
 

vwg*

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GIN ANTONIC said:
There is no debating Maz and Carter are 1-2. Freese is not top 3 though. It was great but the triple in the 9th was bigger in my opinion, even though the HR was a walkoff. It's an all-time clutch performance though.
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He's top 3 for me just because of how the series ended. Texas basically gave away the series 2 separate times in the most amazing fashion. But you're probably right.
 
Cassano

Cassano

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Jeter Flip, Mr. November, Kim's collapse in 2001 WS, Boone HR. Biggest playoff moments for the Yankees all ended in heartbreak.
 
GIN ANTONIC

GIN ANTONIC

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Kovacic said:
Jeter Flip, Mr. November, Kim's collapse in 2001 WS, Boone HR. Biggest playoff moments for the Yankees all ended in heartbreak.
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Not sure I put the Jeter flip up there as one of the best postseason HR ever but yeah, it probably deserves an honourable mention in this thread.

The overrating of Jeter continues well into retirement I see... :laugh:
 
darko

darko

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Carter or Pujols for me.

Aaron Boone ranks high for me but that's understandable. Scott Brosius is not far behind Boone.
 

S A W F T*

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Kerry Wood HR in Game 7 of the 2003 NLDS - registered on the Richter Scale, that's how loud Wrigley and the neighborhood was.
 
Terry Yake

Terry Yake

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robert terwilliger said:


bonds had a 1.994 ops in this series. this put the giants ahead 4-0 in a game that they'd have won if dusty baker didn't have a learning disability.
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and i don't even think that's the furthest HR Bonds hit in that series. the ball he crushed off Percival in game 2 still hasn't landed yet

#1 for me is definitely Joe Carter. Walk-off to win the WS, doesn't get any better than that

#2 is Kirk Gibson. That one stings because the A's obviously should have swept that series but that home run basically won the series for the Dodgers

#3 Mazeroski. Game 7 walkoff to win it all is something you dream about
 
Big Phil

Big Phil

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Suplex City said:
Kerry Wood HR in Game 7 of the 2003 NLDS - registered on the Richter Scale, that's how loud Wrigley and the neighborhood was.
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NLCS you mean?

But come to think of it, that was a brief moment in Steve Bartman's life where he may have felt he was off the hook (not that he should have ever been blamed). Cubs win Game 7 and we never remember his name. A great team would have done that too.
 
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