The most memorable HR of all time

[Snapolit1]

Tell me you age and what you favorite team was and I can probably tell you what the most important home run of all time was.

As to Bartolo Colons home run, there is no one who is a bigger Mets fan than me. And god am I tired hearing about that. Was a funny moment but don’t understand the seemingly never ending worship of that. Saw it live. Was amusing. But let’s move on.

[RCMcKenzie]

Altuve

[steve B]

I've been trying to figure this out.

There's most memorable to most people. And most memorable to me, which most people don't remember at all.

Most of the generally memorable ones have been covered already.
I'd add David Ortiz walk off in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, although it may be a distant 10th? 15th? to some of those others.

And Ted Williams homering in his last at bat.


For me, of course there are the usual ones already mentioned. The ones I wasn't around for were a big enough deal that I saw them on film years after.

I don't know the date, but a Jim Rice HR I saw in person was amazing. It seemed like the ball was gone in the time it took to turn my head to see where it went. The other home runs I'd seen all were in the air long enough to watch and enjoy. This was just bang! and on to the parking garage, maybe beyond.

The other was a Dave Kingman HR at Fenway I think 77 while he was with the Yankees. A massive shot, or maybe just the biggest popup home ever.
Most Yankees /Redsox homers have a lot of cheering going on. This one it started then just faded to stunned silence for a few seconds.
It hit up in the bank of lights on the tower in left center. Homers into the lights on the tower closer to the foul line were not very unusual. This was the only one I recall seeing into the farther lights.
Not on anyones list of longest homers at Fenway, not on youtube, nothing...

Likewise for one Nomar hit. Very few homers had been hit out of Fenway to the right of the flagpole. And none after they put up the added bit of wall there. I think when I heard about homers to that area, it was Foxx, Rice, and maybe Mantle?
Nomar hit one that hit the new wall section right about in the center. In the older version of the park it would have been a fourth.
Not really any mention of it either at the time, or later.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

As to Bartolo Colons home run, there is no one who is a bigger Mets fan than me. And god am I tired hearing about that. Was a funny moment but don’t understand the seemingly never ending worship of that. Saw it live. Was amusing. But let’s move on.

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.)

[David W]

In my lifetime here is my list (Disclaimer I’m a Cardinals fan)
1 - David Freese 2011 WS
1a - Ozzie Smith off Tom Niedenfuer 1985 NLCS

2 - Kirk Gibson 1988 WS

3 - Carlton Fisk 1975 WS

4 - George Brett pine tar home run

5 - McGwire hitting 70

6 - Bonds breaking McGwire season record and Aaron career record

7 - Joe Carter 1992 WS

8 - Pujols off Lidge 2005 NLCS

9

[guy3050]

This....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbEHAsZxRYo

[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...

[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.