Walkoff Homers in World Series Game 3

Just in case

There have been 182 homers hit in various Games 3 of the World Series. The first was hit by Danny Murphy of the Philadelphia A’s against the Cubs in the 1910 World Series. Of greater interest was the home run hit in the following Series. It was so momentous that it secured the “Home Run” moniker on its batter, Frank Baker. The A’s Baker had gone deep in Game 2 of the 1911 Series against future HOFer Rube Marquard. When he went deep again in Game 3 against the great Christy Mathewson, Frank (not even his true first name) was rarely used; the Philadelphia third baseman was now Home Run Baker.

The first player to hit two home runs in a Game 3 was Lou Gehrig in 1928 against Jesse Haines of the Cardinals. Making it even more delicious was the fact that the second one was the only inside-the-park homer in a Game 3. Babe Ruth scored ahead of Lou. There have been 12 inside-the-park homers in the World Series, Gehrig’s was the 10th. the 12th was hit by Alcides Escobar of the Royals in Game 1 of the 2015 Series against Matt Harvey of the Mets. It was the only inside-the-parker of Alcides career.

In 1932, Babe Ruth hit the most famous, well, certainly the most controversial, homer in Game 3. We all wonder to this day, if he actually called his shot in the 5th inning off Charlie Root of the Cubs. Just to let you know, Lou Gehrig made it back-to-back homers after the prediction in question and both Ruth and Gehrig each had a pair of homers in that game.

Walkoff homer number one came in 1964.

It wasn’t until 1964, that a walkoff homer in Game 3 was hit. Anyone and everyone called this shot. Even Mickey Mantle did. The Mick led off the 9th inning with the score tied 1-1 and the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals tied 1-1 in games. Preparing to face the knuckleballing reliever Barney Schultz, Mantle told Yankees’ starter Jim Bouton, 'I'm gonna hit one outta here.' Bouton had pitched nine marvelous innings only allowing an unearned run, due to a Mantle error. The hobbling Mantle was in right field because he couldn’t cover center in his condition. Kirk Gibson looked like Usain Bolt in comparison to Mantle. Tim McCarver, Schultz’s batterymate, described the first pitch to Mickey, "It wasn't thrown," McCarver said. "It was dangled like bait to a big fish. Plus it lingered in that area that was down, and Mickey was a lethal low-ball hitter lefthanded. The pitch was so slow that it allowed him to turn on it and pull it." That was walkoff number one.

Walkoff number two came in 1988.

Mark McGwire homered off Jay Howell of the Dodgers. Let’s remember that Kirk Gibson hit his walkoff homer in Game 1.

Walkoff homer number three came in 1999.

When you think of Yankee sluggers, who may or may not have hit two home runs in a World Series game, how long might it take before you think of Chad Curtis? Yet, Curtis who had three regular season two-homer games in his career, took Tommy Glavine deep in the 5th and Mike Remlinger long in the bottom of the 10th, the 50th extra-inning game in World Series history and the 100th win for the Yankees in the World Series.

It was Joe Torre’s 11th consecutive World Series victory, which broke the major-league record set by Joe McCarthy.

Game 3 walkoff homer number four came very late in 2018.

You remember the guy who started in Game 1 for the Rangers of the 2023 World Series? It was the same Nathan Eovaldi who was on the mound for the Boston Red Sox in the 18th inning of Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Eovaldi, pitched 4.2 innings in Game 1 in 2023 that ended in a walkoff win for Texas. Eovaldi, pitched 6.0 innings in Game 3 in 2018 that ended in a walkoff win for LA. It was the longest game in World Series history and it was still significantly more enjoyable than any game that ends because of the placement of the Manfred Man. Okay, I’ll admit 7 hours and 20 minutes is a long game, but it was great.

That’s it. No time for more. Enjoy Game 3 tonight.