Joshua Shifrin - Dingers: The 101 Most Memorable Home Runs in Baseball History

Copyright 2016 by Joshua Shifrin and Tommy Shea

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit: AP Images

Print ISBN: 978-1-61321-831-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-832-7

Printed in the United States of America

Joshua:

This book is dedicated to my two amazing sons. I love you.

Tommy:

In memory of Paul Donoghue, Sister Patricia Feeley, and Jim Fox

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Major League Baseball. The National Pastime. A piece of the worlds sports fabric. Hundreds of millions of baseball fans span the globe. From Asia and South America to right here in the good ol USA, the world loves its hardball.

From splitters to spitters, from a frozen rope to a suicide squeeze, from extra innings to no-hitters, baseball is truly a great game. But nothing gets the juices flowing like a home run, a round-tripper, a big bomb, the long ball.

A dinger.

Baseball fans worldwide love the big hit. Some of the most iconic moments in all of sports have come via the home run. From a modern-day blast to the long shots of yesteryear, its amazing how one mighty swat of the lumber can produce a moment that is remembered and revered for generations.

One of the many things that make this great sport so perfect is its very imperfect nature, its ability to spark conversation and debate. Who is the best player of all time? Which team was the greatest of them all? Which moments stand apart from the rest? And, of course, the argument over the greatest homer of all time. Was it Bobby Thomsons big hit that led to those immortal words, The Giants Win the Pennant!? Was it Hammerin Hank Aarons 715th blast that eclipsed the Babes seemingly unreachable mark? Was it Kirk Gibsons walk-off blast in Game One of the 1988 World Series that ignited the Dodgers upset victory over the mighty As? The deliberation will persist forever.

Now, Shifrin and Shea scour the chronicles of baseball history to choose the 101 most memorable home runs of all time. While this list may cause some disagreement, baseball fans everywhere will relish reliving these most memorable home run moments. Nothingbut nothing creates more excitement than the classic long ball, the big bomb, the round-tripper, the homer.

The DINGER!

On May 26, 1993, in a game between the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians, Jose Canseco became a part of one of the craziest home runs in history but not with his bat. Like all castles filled with kings, there are always a couple of jesters around to keep things lively.

Cansecos mercurial career was filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. After being drafted in the 15th round in 1982 by the Oakland As, he eventually broke into the majors at the end of the 1985 season. The big man who carried a big bat and who had an ego to match quickly made a name for himself and, in 1986, he was named the American League Rookie of the Year. Two years later, in 1988, the multitalented Cuban-American became the first man to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases on his way to a unanimous American League Most Valuable Player title.

It wasnt all roses and rainbows for the superstar, however. After his retirement, Canseco admitted to using anabolic steroids during his career in a tell-all book entitled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big . Today, in addition to his exploits on the field, he is largely remembered for his financial woes, and the circus atmosphere that follows his unveiling the steroid era in baseball.

But in the middle of Cansecos career, there was one incident that qualifies as simply unique. Canseco was playing right field for the Rangers. When the Indians came to bat in the bottom of the fourth, the Tribes utility infielder, Carlos Martinez, launched a shot toward the gap between right and center field. Canseco immediately sprinted toward the ball. He was about to glove it when he lost the ball in the sun. He found, or felt it, soon enough. It bounced off the top of his head and over the fence for a home run!

Martinez was credited with a dinger, both literally and figuratively, as the befuddled Canseco could only shake his throbbing head and smile. This wacky moment is widely remembered as one of the most unique four-baggers in the games history.

In September of 1963, the St. Louis Cardinals had won 19 of their previous 20 games.

They were within a game of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, whom they were hosting on September 18 as the end of the season was approaching.

The Cardinals had scored 120 runs in their 20-game sprint toward the National League pennant. It was also Hall of Famer Stan Musials last season. There was definitely magic in the air.

That is, until the Cards faced Johnny Podres and Sandy Koufax.

The two Dodger lefties silenced the sizzling Cardinal bats, allowing one run and seven hits in the first two games of the series.

Game Three was close to a do-or-die one for the Redbirds. And they had future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson pitching for them.

Gibson was twenty-seven years old and just coming into his prime. He would go 188 that seasonand only get better in the years that followed.

The Dodgers were starting Pete Richert, a lefty who had made his major-league debut a year earlier against the defending National League champion Cincinnati Reds and struck out the first six batters (Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Wally Post, Johnny Edwards, and Tommy Hunter) he faced to start his career.

He would later be an All-Star with the Washington Senators and a key member of the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1960s and early 70s, but at this point in his career he couldnt crack the Dodger starting rotation that began with Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Podres.

Cardinals right fielder Charlie James hit a two-run homer off Richert in the second. In the third, center fielder Curt Flood doubled home two more.

The Cardinals owned a 51 lead in the top of the eighth, and Gibson had retired 10 straight Dodgers.

Bob Miller had kept the Dodgers in the game by spinning 4.2 innings of one-run ball in relief of Richert.

In the eighth, Dodger manager Walter Alston pinch-hit Dick Nen for Miller.

The night before, Nen had been playing for the Spokane Indians, the top farm team of the Dodgers, against the Oklahoma 89ers in Game Seven of the Pacific Coast League Championship.

Oklahoma City won the title, but Nens consolation prize was a trip to the National League pennant race.