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Touch 'Em All: The Best Homers Ever

By MARTIN FENNELLY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 21, 2007

On their first date, they met where everyone did in downtown Pittsburgh, under the ornate clock outside Kaufmann's department store. "You'd say, 'Meet me at the clock,'" Bill Mazeroski said. They were married in 1958. Two years later, on Oct. 13, 1960, time stood still.

Bill and Milene left Forbes Field looking for a place to go. There was bedlam all around them. And it was all Bill's fault.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had won the World Series against the New York Yankees on Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. Fans tugged at Maz as he rounded the bases. Later, looking to escape, Maz and Milene went to a park on a hill near the ballpark.

"We found a bench," Mazeroski said several years ago. "We were all alone. Maybe there was a squirrel or two. We looked down and watched the cars and people in the streets, listening to the city celebrate."

Heading into the All-Star break, 243,319 home runs had been hit in major-league baseball history. With Barry Bonds on the heels of Hank Aaron and 755 career home runs, we celebrate 44 wonderful home runs - the great, the long, the weird - 44 for the number "The Hammer" wore. This isn't a definitive list. There's no such creature. By the way, if you ever hit one out yourself, feel free to add No. 45. Hank wouldn't mind.

44

In The Beginning

On May 2, 1876, Ross Barnes of the Chicago White Stockings hit a pitch from Cincinnati Red Stockings hurler William "Cherokee" Fisher for the first home run in major-league history.

43

Bambino

In Baltimore on Feb. 6, 1895, a doctor stepped away from the bedside of an expectant mother, pointed to the midwife, then to the mother - the first called shot in home run history. George Herman Ruth and his wife Kate were proud parents of George Herman Ruth Jr., who emerged eating a hot dog.

42

Doink

He smashed 462 home runs, but the greatest Jose Canseco home run was a May 26, 1993, fly ball by Indians batter Carlos Martinez that bounced off our hero's head and over the wall.

41

Singular Feat

In Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS, Robin Ventura ended a 15-inning marathon and saved the Mets from elimination with a grand slam at Shea Stadium. Only teammates mobbed Ventura before he reached second base. He was credited with a mere single - one base and one RBI.

40

Two-For-One

On Sept. 14, 1990, Mariners hitter Ken Griffey Sr. homered off the Angels' Kirk McCaskill in the first inning. Griffey Sr. told the next man up, "That's how it's done, son." Ken Griffey Jr. smiled. Then he homered to nearly the same spot, making the Griffeys the first father and son to hit back-to-back homers.

39

What A Ride

There have been great All-Star Game home runs, but the one Reggie Jackson hit at the 1971 gathering still startles - up, up, up to the roof at Tiger Stadium.

38

Key Word: Gloamin'

In the gathering darkness of Wrigley Field and the 1938 NL pennant race, Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett hit a ninth-inning home run to beat the Pirates. Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'" helped the Cubs win the pennant.

37

Jackie, As Always

No. 42 saved the final day of the 1951 season, making a lunging catch with the bases loaded in the 12th, then hitting a home run in the 14th to beat the Phillies and force a playoff with the Giants. That was Jackie Robinson.

36

For Josh: Did He Do It?

Josh Gibson, the great Negro League star, is reportedly the only man to hit a baseball out of Yankee Stadium. It happened in 1934. Or did it? Josh Gibson died at age 35 in 1947, before Jackie Robinson played in the majors. You're darn right Josh did it.

35

Cats

On April 4, 1998, White Sox giant Frank Thomas hit a boomer inside Tropicana Field that caromed off a speaker hanging from a catwalk - the first Catwalk Moment in baseball history. It was ruled a home run. Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild argued, but home plate ump Jim McKean pointed to the hulking Thomas and told Rothschild, "You gotta tell him it's not a homer."

34

Beats "6-4-3 Double Play" Baker

The 1911 World Series turned on a pair of dingers by Philadelphia Athletics third baseman John Franklin Baker, who media dubbed "Home Run" Baker, which stuck the rest of his life.

33

Go crazy, George! Go crazy!

Go crazy! Ah, the foam on George Brett's mouth on July 24, 1983, when his go-ahead home run off the Yankees was ruled an out due to excessive pine tar on his bat, back when substances were mostly outside the body.

32

The Birth Of The Tape Measure

On April 17, 1953, Mickey Mantle hit a baseball out of Washington's Griffith Stadium and into the back yard of a house. A Yankees PR man measured the blast at 565 feet. A decade later, Mantle homered off the façade atop Yankee Stadium. We miss you, Mick.

31

Grand Illusion

Fernando Tatis couldn't make the Devil Rays in spring training. Five years earlier, playing for the Cardinals on April 23, 1999, he hit two grand slams - in the third inning. Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park served both. Tatis currently plays for the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs. Chan Ho Park is his teammate.

30

From The Heart

In 1993, Jason Leader, a young cancer patient at a Boston hospital, received a get-well phone call from Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn, who promised to hit a home run the next day, Jason's 11th birthday. Mo kept his promise.

29

One Strange Bird

Leave it to Wade Boggs to make history where you'd least expect it - over the fence. On Aug. 7, 1999, Boggs' 3,000th hit was a home run, the only man ever to do that. And, yes, dinner that day was lemon chicken.

28

Three Of A Kind

Babe Ruth hit his third homer in Game 4 to help sweep the Cardinals from the 1928 World Series. It's the second time Ruth hit three out in a Series game. In the ninth, he sprinted across the outfield - yes, sprinted - to snare a foul ball for the Series' final out. It was good to be the Babe.

27

Papi's Pop

The Red Sox don't make their historic comeback from three games down in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees unless David Ortiz doesn't hit a two-run, 12th-inning homer into the Boston night to win Game 4.

26

The "Good" Bartman

In Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, Derek Jeter and 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier combined for a game-tying eighth-inning home run - Jeter did the swinging and Maier the catching.

25

Wee!!!

Marilyn Monroe was only 15 years old on July 2, 1941, when Joe DiMaggio, an immigrant's son, the pride of the melting pot, broke Wee Willie Keeler's record of 44 consecutive games with a hit by belting a sixth-inning home run against the Red Sox.

24

Two Circles, One Streak

In the fourth inning at Camden Yards on Sept. 6, 1995, Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. circled the bases after a homer. An inning later, the game with the Angels became official. Ripken passed Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played. Then he circled the stadium.

23

Whiz!!!

The 1950 Philadelphia Phillies, the "Whiz Kids," beat the mighty Dodgers for the pennant on Oct. 1 at Ebbets Field. Phillies center fielder Richie Ashburn threw out the potential winning run at home in the ninth. The next inning, Dick Sisler hit a three-run homer.

22

Sixty, Count 'Em, 60

Babe's 60th broke the old mark of 59, held by Ruth, which broke the mark before that, 54, held by Babe. You get the idea. The 60 stood for 34 years.

21

The Greatest Generation

Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg was drafted into the Army, but discharged on Dec.5, 1941, only to re-enlist after Pearl Harbor - the first ballplayer to join the fight. He served with distinction and returned with a bang. On July 1, 1945, Greenberg hit a homer in his first game back. A few months later, he won the pennant with a grand slam.

20

Teddy Endgame

"Gods Do Not Answer Letters" novelist John Updike wrote after Ted Williams homered in his final at-bat on Sept. 28, 1960. Updike noted, "He ran as he always ran out home runs - hurriedly, unsmiling, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of."

19

Going, Going, Gone

He was 40, tired and bitter. He was with the Boston Braves. But eight days before he retired, on May 25, 1935, Babe Ruth was Babe Ruth one last time. He rapped out his final three home runs in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. The last of them, No. 714, was the longest homer ever hit there.

18.

Two-For-One II

Do they show "Twilight Zone" reruns in South Korea? On consecutive nights in the 2001 World Series, Yankees Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius hit two-out, two-run home runs in the bottom of the ninth off Arizona pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim.

17

Le Coup Appeler

Did he call the shot or didn't he? In the 1932 World Series, at Wrigley Field, the Babe was tired of being ridden by the Cubs and their lemon-throwing fans (whatever happened to lemon throwing?). Ruth pointed to center field - or did he? The ball carried out to center, the longest home run ever hit at Wrigley.

16

So Close

On Oct. 12, 1986, the California Angels were one out - one strike - away from the World Series when Boston's Dave Henderson stroked a two-run homer off reliever Donnie Moore. The Red Sox went on to win that game, and two after that, to set up Bill Buckner's Game 6 error against the Mets in the World Series.

15

Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!

The original "Go crazy" is uttered by announcer Jack Buck after Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS ended on a home run by Ozzie Smith - the first left-handed home run of his career.

14

Start Spreadin' The Mace

He never touched home plate. Chris Chambliss beat the Royals and won the pennant for the Yankees in 1976 with a homer in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, then tried, without success, to work his way through the gangs of New York on the base paths.

13

One More Nail

The Yankees and Red Sox had done it all, so the 2003 ALCS was a fresh twist, when Aaron Boone homered in the bottom of the 11th in Game 7, the first time the Yanks had ever won a pennant off the Sox that way.

12

Puckish

Face it: Kirby Puckett wasn't going to let the Twins lose the 1991 World Series. In Game 6, with the Braves one win away, Puckett drowned out even the Metrodome crowd with a leaping catch at the wall and later with the game-winner, an 11th-inning homer that set up Game 7 and another Twins championship.

11

With Relish

There was never enough mustard to cover him, but Reggie Jackson's third home run in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, a dead-center blast off Dodgers knuckleballer Charlie Hough, said more than Reggie could ever say himself, which is saying something.

10

A Matter Of Record

Say what you will about Barry Bonds, and we surely will, but his 2001 season was history. Bonds' 71st came just three years after Mark McGwire supposedly put the record out of reach. Bonds added his 72nd a few innings later and his 73rd a few days later.

9

The Monster

Carl Yastrzemski's knees buckled as he looked up at Bucky Dent's home run into Fenway Park's left-field screen. Punch-and-Judy Dent's three-run chip shot threw the Yankees-Red Sox one-game playoff on Oct. 2, 1978, into reverse.

8

Summer Of Love

On Sept. 7, 1998, when Mark McGwire rocketed a low liner over the fence at Busch Stadium for his record 62nd homer. Sammy Sosa was on the field, Roger Maris' family was in the stands and McGwire's son waited for Dad at home plate. It was as fresh as hot apple pie. Too bad we now wonder what the real ingredients were.

7

They Still Lost The Series

"Why don't we put a camera in the left-field scoreboard?" someone at NBC suggested before the 1975 World Series. That person now owns his own island. The camera inside Fenway Park's Green Monster caught Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hopping and waving fair his 12th-inning Game 6 homer to beat the Reds.

6

Joe, Canada

No one had ever won a World Series with a walk-off homer when his team was trailing. But that's what Toronto slugger Joe Carter did in 1993. Carter's joyous romp around the bases in Game 6 almost made everyone forget the daily flood of illegal Canadian immigrants, and geese, across our border.

5

An Honest Man

His record lasted longer than Babe Ruth's, but his hair didn't. Roger Maris, born in Hibbing, Minn., and raised in North Dakota, cut from simple stock, never asked for fame or that criminal asterisk. On Oct. 1, 1961, he drove one into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium for his 61st home run. Maris' teammates had to force him to take a curtain call.

4

Where Were You?

Just how many car motors were running in the Dodger Stadium parking lot when it happened? No one would ever admit they left early the night an aching Kirk Gibson made a miracle against Dennis Eckersley and the A's in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Gibson gimped around the bases like Roy Hobbs. The A's were beaten and stayed beaten.

3

The Hammer

It was Henry Louis Aaron who hit the home run that answered a prayer - that good men can outlast hate. His 715th home run, hit in Atlanta on April 8, 1974, was perhaps the most important in history, hit by a man who grew up in segregated Alabama, learned from Jackie, and who taught us all.

2

See Coogan's Bluff, Miracle Of

Decades later, it was learned the Giants had stolen signs from the Dodgers. Maybe Bobby Thomson knew what Ralph Branca would throw. But nothing can steal the moment. Oct. 3, 1951, is locked away forever. And who wouldn't give anything to know the identity of that woman caught by newsreels doing a celebratory war whoop in the Polo Grounds stands?

1

Steel City, 1960

Here we are, back on that park bench overlooking Pittsburgh, with Bill Mazeroski and Milene and a squirrel or two, listening to the celebration below. That's what happens when you hit one and it stays hit.

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Was 44 homers too small of a sampling? Here are 56 more famous, quirky, or just notable home runs in major-league baseball history:

•1919 - Babe Ruth hits his longest homer, estimated by some between 612 and 625 feet, at Tampa's Plant Park during spring training game

•1923 - Babe Ruth hits first homer at Yankee Stadium

•1923 - Casey Stengel wins Game 1 of the World Series with an inside-the-park homer

•1930 - Jimmie Foxx wins Game 5 of the World Series with a ninth-inning home run

•1932 - Lou Gehrig becomes first man in the 20th century to hit four homers in a game

•1933 - Babe Ruth hits the first homer in All-Star Game history

•1933 - Mel Ott clinches World Series for the Giants with 10th-inning homer in Game 5

•1941 - Ted Williams wins All-Star Game with walk-off

•1948 - Cleveland's Ken Keltner hits three-run homer in playoff with Red Sox

•1949 - Tommy Henrich's ninth-inning homer gives Yankees 1-0 win in Game 1 of Series

•1952 - Pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm homers in first big-league at-bat. Pitches 23 seasons and bats 432 more times - never hits another

•1952 - Mickey Mantle breaks tie, Game 6 of Series

•1954 - Dusty Rhodes' homer gives Giants win in Game 1 of World Series

•1955 - Stan Musial wins All-Star Game

•1957 - Hank Aaron homers in the final weekend to help Braves win pennant

•1957 - Eddie Mathews' two-run, 10th-inning winner, Game 5 of Series

•1959 - Joe Adcock ends Harvey Haddix's no-hitter

•1962 - Willie Mays homers on final day of season to force playoff with Dodgers

•1963 - Flighty Jimmy Piersall hits 100th career homer, runs bases backwards

•1963 - Willie Mays ends scoreless pitching duel between Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal - in 16th inning

•1964 - Mickey Mantle wins Game 3 of Series with booming walk-off - his 16th in World Series play - to break Babe Ruth's postseason record

•1964 - Ken Boyer's grand slam gives Cardinals Game 4 win

•1965 - Willie Mays fouls off 13 straight fastballs before hitting homer

•1966 - Braves pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams in one in game

•1966 - Frank Robinson hits homer for 1-0 win and Orioles' Series sweep

•1967 - Carl Yastrzemski homers for Red Sox on next-to-last-day of season for win

•1968 - Denny McLain grooves home run ball so Mickey Mantle can pass Jimmie Foxx on all-time homer list

•1969 - Al Weis' homer ties Series-clinching Game 5 for Miracle Mets

•1971 - Rick Wise hits second home run while pitching no-hitter

•1971 - World Series MVP Roberto Clemente homers for Pirates, Game 7

•1972 - Johnny Bench homers in ninth to tie Game 5, NLCS

•1975 - Frank Robinson homers in first game as baseball's first black manager

•1975 - Bernie Carbo's eighth-inning shot ties Game 6 of Reds-Red Sox Series

•1975 - Tony Perez golfs a Bill Lee curve to turn around Game 7 of Series

•1979 - Willie Stargell puts Pirates ahead in Game 7 of World Series

•1980 - Mike Schmidt hits homer to help Phillies clinch NL East title against Expos

•1980 - George Brett beats Goose Gossage as Royals win AL pennant

•1981 - Rick Monday wins pennant for Dodgers

•1984 - Steve Garvey homers to beat Cubs in Game 4 of NLCS

•1984 - Kirk Gibson makes Goose Gossage pay to ice World Series

•1985 - Braves pitcher Rick Camp, an .074 lifetime hitter, homers in bottom of 18th to send Mets-Braves July 4 marathon onward

•1985 - Jack Clark's bomb off Dodgers wins NL flag for Cardinals

•1986 - Lenny Dykstra wins Game 3 of NLCS with walk-off

•1989 - Bo Jackson hits monster spring training homer at Baseball City off Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd

•1989 - Jose Canseco's blast into fifth deck at SkyDome during ALCS

•1992 - Blue Jays pinch-hitter Ed Sprague wins Game 2 of World Series

•1993 - Mark Whiten hits fourth homer of game, drives in 12 runs

•1995 - David Justice homers as Braves clinch Series with 1-0 win

•1996 - Jim Leyritz stuns Braves with three-run shot in Game 4 of World Series

•1998 - Mark McGwire's 70th

•2001 - Cal Ripken Jr. homers in his final All-Star Game

•2002 - Scott Spiezio's homer leads Angels back in Game 6 of World Series

•2004 - On the 18th pitch - the longest recorded at-bat in baseball history - Alex Cora homers after fouling off 14 straight pitches

•2005 - Chris Burke's 18th-inning homer ends longest playoff game and wins NL Division Series for Astros

•2006 - Marlon Anderson finishes off back-to-back-to-back-to-back Dodgers home runs to tie Padres in ninth

•2006 - Magglio Ordonez wins pennant for Tigers with walk-off three-run homer