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100 Greatest Home Runs of All Time
By David Schoenfield & Jeff Merron
Page 2

Get all the home runs: 100-71 | 70-41 | 40-16 | 15-1 | Complete List

100 GREATEST HOME RUNS OF ALL TIME
15
Dick Sisler wins 1950 pennant for Phillies
Oct. 1, 1950: Tied on the season's final day, the Phillies and Dodgers play a memorable game for the pennant: Richie Ashburn throws out the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the 9th, setting the stage for Sisler's 3-run homer off Don Newcombe in the 10th.
14
Chris Chambliss: Game 5, 1976 ALCS
Chris Chambliss
Oct. 14, 1976: After George Brett's 3-run HR ties the game in the 8th, Chambliss leads off the bottom of the 9th with the series-winner off the Royals' Mark Littell -- sending Chambliss into a rumbling trip around the bases as Yankee fans rush the field.
13
Reggie Jackson's third HR, Game 6, 1977 World Series
Oct. 18, 1977: Mr. October leads the Yankees to an 8-4, series-clinching victory by pounding three home runs, the final shot a deep blast to center off Charlie Hough in the 8th.
12
Scott Brosius: Game 5, 2001 World Series
Nov. 1, 2001: Amazingly, for the second night in a row, a Yankee hits a game-tying, 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th off Arizona reliever Byung-Hyun Kim. New York wins the game 3-2 in 12 innings.
11
Kirby Puckett: Game 6, 1991 World Series
Kirby Puckett
Oct. 26, 1991: Puckett caps a terrific individual effort -- three hits, two runs, three RBIs, one spectacular catch -- by leading off the bottom of the 11th with a home run off Charlie Leibrandt for a 4-3 Twins victory over the Braves.
10
Bucky Dent: 1978 playoff
Oct. 2, 1978: The light-hitting Dent -- four homers on the season -- adds another stake to Boston's history of misery with a stunning 3-run, two-out flyball over the Green Monster off Mike Torrez in the 7th inning. The Yankees take a 3-2 lead and take the division title with a 5-4 victory.
9
Barry Bonds' 71st home run, 2001
Oct. 5, 2001: The most amazing hitting season in history culminates with a record 71st home run off the Dodgers' Chan Ho Park, a 1st-inning blast at Pac Bell Park. Bonds adds No. 72 in the 3rd inning and No. 73 two days later in the season finale.
8
Kirk Gibson: Game 1, 1988 World Series
Kirk Gibson
Oct. 15, 1988: The great Vin Scully: "All year long they looked to him (Kirk Gibson) to light the fire and all year long he answered the demands. High flyball into right field. She is gone! [pause] In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened." Indeed. A 4-3 A's lead turns into a 5-4 Dodgers stunner.
7
Roger Maris' 61st, 1961
Oct. 1, 1961: Imagine the pressue of trying to beat a record that nobody wants you to beat. On the season's final day, Maris hits No. 61 in the 4th inning off Boston's Tracy Stallard. His record lasts 37 years -- longer than Ruth's.
6
Carlton Fisk: Game 6, 1975 World Series
Oct. 21, 1975: Fisk ends one of baseball's greatest games in the bottom of the 12th at Fenway Park. He waves his home run fair as it hits the foul pole. But the Red Sox lose Game 7.
5
Mark McGwire's 62nd, 1998
Mark McGwire
Sept. 7, 1998: The Great Home Run Chase between McGwire and Sammy Sosa goes to McGwire when he sends a low, screaming liner over the left-field fence in St. Louis -- with Sosa looking on from right field. Steve Trachsel is the victim. Sosa later takes a 66-65 lead, but McGwire hits five homers over his final three games to finish with 70.
4
Joe Carter: Game 6, 1993 World Series
Oct. 23, 1993: Carter hits the only World Series-ending home run to come when his team was trailing at the time. The Phillies lead the Blue Jays 6-5 with Mitch Williams on to force a Game 7. But Carter deposits a 2-2 pitch into the left-field stands in Toronto for an 8-6 victory and ecstatic romp around the bases.
3
Hank Aaron breaks Ruth's career record
Hank Aaron
April 8, 1974: Aaron homers in his first at-bat of the season in Cincinnati to tie the Babe at 714. Then in the Braves' home opener at Fulton County Stadium, he slams No. 715 off Al Downing into the left-center bullpen. 53,775 fans were there to see the historic moment, but baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn didn't think it worth his time. He is in Cleveland to attend the Indians' home opener against the Brewers and address the Wahoo Club.
2
Bobby Thomson wins 1951 pennant
Bobby Thomson
Oct. 3, 1951: New York catches Brooklyn with an epic late-season rush to force a best-of-3 playoff. Only 34,320 attend the rubber game of the playoff at the Polo Grounds, capacity 55,000, due, at least in part, to gloomy weather. It is so overcast that the stadium lights come on at 2:04 p.m. But the sun comes out shortly before Thomson steps to the plate in the bottom of the 9th. The Dodgers lead 4-1 entering the inning, but Don Newcombe falters and Ralph Branca comes on to face Thomson with a 4-2 lead and two runners on. Thomson takes a strike and then ... the Giants win the pennant (but lose the World Series).
1
Bill Mazeroski: Game 7, 1960 World Series
Bill Mazeroski
Oct. 13, 1960: Game 7 is the ultimate baseball drama, and only one man has ever ended a Game 7 with a home run -- the man who tops our list as owner of the greatest home run of all time. In a wild, thrilling Game 7, the Pirates lead 4-0, then the Yanks lead 7-4. Then the Pirates score five in the bottom of the 8th, and the Yanks tie it in the top of 9th. Mazeroski leads off the bottom of the inning against Ralph Terry and hits the second pitch over the ivy-covered wall in left field at Forbes Field.





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