The most memorable HR of all time

[sdimag]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Jeez, there's a shocker. 'Angry Gehrig Guy' is pissed about something. What a surprise!!! Who could've possibly seen that coming...I mean besides anyone with a pulse? Why don't you save time for the people who can still see your posts and just make a list of the very few things in the world that DON'T trigger you??? Although I routinely just skip past your posts like everyone else on the site, I can't take it anymore, so welcome to my ignore list. (And, yes, I know you don't care. Good riddance.)

Could not agree with you more!

[egri]

For me, though it was way before my time, it's Ted Williams homering in his last at-bat. The last home game for a team that finished seventh in an eight team league, with only about 10,000 fans in attendance, he had two long fly balls that died on the warning track. He figured if those two didn't go out, nothing would. He finally did hit one out, to finish a season where he hit .316 with 29 home runs and a .451 OBP. Guys in their primes today won't put up those numbers, and he did it as a broken-down 42 year old.

[the 'stache]

Fun topic!

The Bill Mazeroski shot won the '60 World Series, so theoretically, no homer should be bigger. All these guys beat themselves up for 154 (and now 162) games to win a title. Maz, arguably the greatest defensive player in baseball history, most improbably, won the Bucs the championship with his bat, beating the most storied franchise in professional sports history in the process.

Hank Aaron's #715 passed the biggest icon in North American professional sports history (apologies to Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Jim Brown and a few others of similar stature, but The Babe will rule until the end of time). Aaron was a gentleman, a model of consistency and greatness for his entire career, and with levels of stress, and an understandable concern for his own well being, given the threats against his life, Aaron broke sport's most hallowed record, clobbering a home run in the Deep South, and was greeted by two white men as he rounded the bases. Sometimes, moments transcend the game. Hank Aaron passing the Sultan of Swat is a moment that did just that.

Yet, even as a lover of the Pirates and Hank Aaron, both, I have to go with Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Around the World". The iconic call by Russ Hodges that was almost lost to time. It's imprinted on my brain forever.

Ralph Branca. Bobby Thomson. The rope to left field. One swing literally broke the hearts of every man, woman and child in Brooklyn. As of August 11th, the Bums led their cross town rivals by a whopping 13.5 games. The Dodgers went 26-22 down the stretch-not terrible, and the Giants played out of their minds, going 37-7 to close the season.

The call. The improbable comeback. The men involved. Hell, Willie Mays was on deck when the ball cleared the wall. Just....fantastic.

Honorable. Bucky "$&($%*^&" Dent.
Roger Maris #61.

Sadly, the game as it exists in the year 2021, just isn't a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Seemingly every outcome is a home run or strikeout. But my passion for the history of the game has never been greater.

[jiw98]

June 24, 1968. When Jim Northrup hit his second grand slam of the game against the Indians. Maybe not as dramatic as a World Series home run, but it sure was a iconic home run for me as a young Tiger fan. I believe Northrup hit 5 grand slams that year.

[Kevin]

I gather it’s Bobby Thomson then everything else...

[quinnsryche]

Every single HR hit by the White Sox in the 2005 postseason. I know it's not old and many not famous but for me to see my Sox win a World Series, which I never thought I would, the memories of Scotty Pods, Jeff Blum, Paulie, AJ and the rest will always be the most memorable to me.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by jiw98

June 24, 1968. When Jim Northrup hit his second grand slam of the game against the Indians. Maybe not as dramatic as a World Series home run, but it sure was a iconic home run for me as a young Tiger fan. I believe Northrup hit 5 grand slams that year.

His 5th slam that year was in the World Series, too.

[howard38]

I'm surprised at how little love Aaron Boone's pennant winning shot gets and not just on this thread. An extra inning walk-off in game seven against their bitterest rival yet it seems that even Yankees fans seldom talk about it.

[egri]

Originally Posted by howard38

I'm surprised at how little love Aaron Boone's pennant winning shot gets and not just on this thread. An extra inning walk-off in game seven against their bitterest rival yet it seems that even Yankees fans seldom talk about it.

I'm not a Yankees fan, so I'll defer if one of them chimes in, but it might have to do with them getting upset in the World Series that year.