Walk-off home run

Although the concept of a game-ending home run is as old as baseball, the adjective "walk-off" attained widespread use only in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Three players have hit two walk-off grand slams in a season: Cy Williams in 1926, Jim Presley in 1986, and Steve Pearce in 2017.

[15][16] Of the 32 home runs, only Roberto Clemente's was hit inside the park, at spacious Forbes Field on July 25, 1956.

[19] Del Crandall's September 11, 1955,[20] Alan Trammell's June 21, 1988,[21] and Chris Hoiles' May 17, 1996 grand slams occurred under the most dire situation possible: bases loaded, two outs, full count, bottom of the ninth inning, and down by three runs.

The most recent ultimate grand slam was hit by Giancarlo Stanton on September 20, 2022, in the New York Yankees' 9–8 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

[23] The rules of baseball[24] provide that: The first point above was problematic in the 1976 American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals.

The Yankees and Royals entered the bottom of the ninth inning of the decisive fifth game with the score tied, 6–6; Mark Littell was the pitcher for Kansas City, and Chris Chambliss was the first batter for New York.

Chambliss hit Littell's first pitch into the right field bleachers to win the game and the American League pennant for the Yankees.

(A comment to Rule 5.08(b) permits the umpires to award the run if fans prevent the runner from touching home plate.)

Although the term itself would not be used until over 100 years later, Casey at the Bat, an 1888 poem by Ernest Thayer, features a potential walk-off home run.