Baseball’s greatest moments often come down to a split-second swing that sends a small white ball into the stratosphere. This collection explores 10 home runs that didn’t just clear fences—they rewrote history, broke hearts, and created legends. Think of them as baseball’s version of plot twists that even M. Night Shyamalan would envy.
10. Bucky Dent’s Home Run (1978)
The 1978 AL East title came down to a one-game playoff between the Yankees and Red Sox—a rivalry that’s been slowly killing New England sports psyches for generations. Bucky Dent (New York Yankees), a shortstop with all the power of a desk lamp, stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with the Yankees trailing 2-0.
Facing Mike Torrez with two men on base, Dent somehow muscled a 1-1 pitch over Fenway Park’s Green Monster. The ball barely cleared the wall (like a toddler peeking over a counter looking for cookies).
“I didn’t think it was going out,” Dent later recalled, joining the entire Red Sox nation in their disbelief.
This improbable homer propelled the Yankees to the ALCS and eventually the World Series title. Boston fans subsequently added a middle name to Dent that coincidentally rhymes with “tucking.” Some wounds never heal—they just get commemorative t-shirts.
9. Kirby Puckett’s Series-Extending Smash (1991)
Game 6 of the 1991 World Series had the Minnesota Twins one loss away from watching the Atlanta Braves celebrate on their turf (a scenario about as appealing as dental surgery without anesthesia). Enter Kirby Puckett (Minnesota Twins), a man built like a fire hydrant but with the grace of a ballet dancer.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Puckett faced Charlie Leibrandt and delivered the baseball equivalent of hitting the snooze button on Atlanta’s championship hopes—a walk-off blast over the left-center field wall.
Jack Buck’s legendary call still gives goosebumps: “We’ll see you tomorrow night!” (Four words that made Braves fans consider calling in sick the next day.)
The Twins rode this momentum to a Game 7 victory behind Jack Morris’s 10-inning shutout—the baseball equivalent of carrying the entire team on your back while also cooking dinner.
8. Mark McGwire’s Milestone Moment (1998)
On September 8, 1998, Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) stepped into the batter’s box carrying the weight of baseball history and possibly some other enhancements that we’ll diplomatically call “nutritional supplements.”
Facing Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel (who suddenly found himself in the role of history’s reluctant supporting character), McGwire crushed a low line drive for his 62nd homer, shattering Roger Maris’s 37-year-old record.
The home run chase with Sammy Sosa revived baseball after the 1994 strike faster than free nachos bring fans back to the stadium. Their friendly rivalry brought millions of casual fans to the sport, most of whom had no idea they were watching the pharmaceutical equivalent of a space race.
McGwire finished with 70 homers, a record later broken by Barry Bonds (in an era when baseball players seemingly transformed into Marvel superheroes overnight). The steroid cloud hanging over this achievement is thicker than the fog at a San Francisco Giants game, but the pure electricity of that moment remains undeniable.
7. Joe Carter’s Championship Clout (1993)
Game 6 of the 1993 World Series delivered the kind of ending that Hollywood scriptwriters would reject as “too unrealistic.” Bottom of the ninth, two runners on, Toronto trailing Philadelphia by a run—it’s the scenario kids practice in backyards, usually without the millions watching and the crushing pressure.
Joe Carter (Toronto Blue Jays) faced “Wild Thing” Mitch Williams, a closer whose pitching style resembled someone trying to throw a baseball while falling down an escalator. On a 2-2 count, Carter connected with a slider that wasn’t so much hanging as it was begging to be hit.
Tom Cheek’s iconic call—”Touch ’em all, Joe!”—perfectly captured the moment, though Phillies fans probably had some alternative phrases in mind (none suitable for network television).
The blast secured back-to-back championships for the Blue Jays and made Carter a Canadian hero, which presumably earned him free maple syrup for life.
6. Carlton Fisk’s Imploring Blast (1975)
Game 6 of the 1975 World Series gave us baseball’s most famous interpretive dance. In the 12th inning, Carlton Fisk (Boston Red Sox) launched a towering drive down the left field line, then began a bizarre sequence of body movements that looked like he was simultaneously directing air traffic and performing an exorcism.
As the ball sailed toward the foul pole, Fisk’s frantic arm-waving became the sports equivalent of using “The Force.” Remarkably, it worked—the ball struck the pole for a game-winning homer.
NBC’s camera captured this iconic moment by accident. Director Harry Coyle had instructed his cameraman to follow Fisk instead of the ball because a rat was scurrying by the cameraman’s legs. So baseball’s most memorable reaction shot exists thanks to stadium vermin (a fact that somehow feels perfectly on-brand for Fenway Park).
Though the Red Sox lost Game 7 (continuing their tradition of raising hopes only to crush them spectacularly), Fisk’s homer remains baseball’s premier “mind over matter” moment.
5. Hank Aaron Ascends the Throne (1974)
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron (Atlanta Braves) stepped to the plate carrying more than a bat—he bore the weight of racial animosity and death threats that would break lesser men faster than a poorly thrown curveball.
Facing Al Downing of the Dodgers in the fourth inning, Aaron connected on a 1-0 pitch, sending the ball over the left field fence for his 715th home run. Babe Ruth’s record fell, and for a brief moment, America had to acknowledge greatness that transcended color barriers.
Two fans briefly joined Aaron rounding the bases (security in the ’70s being about as effective as a screen door on a submarine), before he was met by teammates at home plate.
“I just thank God it’s all over,” Aaron said afterward, in what might be the most understated reaction to a monumental achievement in sports history. The home run wasn’t just a statistical milestone—it was a triumph of dignity over hatred, perseverance over prejudice, and talent over everything else.
4. Bobby Thomson’s Earth-Shaking Swing (1951)
The 1951 pennant playoff featured the most dramatic comeback this side of a daytime soap opera. The New York Giants, who had trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers by 13½ games in August (a deficit roughly equivalent to climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops), completed their miraculous comeback in spectacular fashion.
In the bottom of the ninth at the Polo Grounds, the Giants trailed 4-2 with two runners on base. Bobby Thomson (New York Giants) stepped in against Ralph Branca, in what would become baseball’s most famous pitcher-batter matchup until Pedro Martinez introduced Don Zimmer to the ground.
Thomson crushed a fastball into the left field stands, prompting Russ Hodges’ frantic call—”The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”—a piece of broadcasting that conveyed excitement the way a tornado conveys a light breeze.
Later allegations that the Giants stole signs using a telescope (the 1950s version of the Astros’ trash can symphony) complicated Thomson’s legacy, but couldn’t erase the moment’s raw emotional power.
3. Kirk Gibson’s Gut-Check Moment (1988)
Game 1 of the 1988 World Series featured a man who looked less like a baseball player and more like someone who’d just crawled out of a car wreck. Kirk Gibson (Los Angeles Dodgers) sat injured in the clubhouse with knees so damaged they practically needed their own zip code, plus a stomach virus for good measure.
The Oakland A’s brought in Dennis Eckersley—a closer so dominant he made batters consider early retirement—to protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Then came the most dramatic hobble in sports history.
Manager Tommy Lasorda, in a move somewhere between desperate and insane, sent Gibson to pinch-hit. Barely able to walk (moving like a zombie from “The Walking Dead” but with worse mobility), Gibson somehow worked the count to 3-2 before connecting on a backdoor slider.
His awkward trot around the bases resembled a man crossing hot coals while carrying grocery bags. Vin Scully, baseball’s poet laureate, delivered the perfect line: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!”
The heavily favored A’s never recovered from this punch to the gut. Sometimes baseball isn’t about athletic grace—it’s about sheer stubbornness in spikes.
2. Bill Mazeroski’s Unforeseen Climax (1960)
Game 7 of the 1960 World Series was baseball’s version of David vs. Goliath, if Goliath had been pummeling David for most of the fight. The New York Yankees had outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55-27 in the series (beating them by football scores), yet somehow the teams were tied entering the bottom of the ninth.
Bill Mazeroski (Pittsburgh Pirates), known primarily for his defense (about as likely to hit a series-winning homer as a chess grandmaster is to win a slam dunk contest), led off against Ralph Terry. On a 1-0 pitch, Mazeroski sent the ball over the left field wall at Forbes Field, delivering the only Game 7 walk-off homer in World Series history.
The Pirates, despite being statistically demolished, captured the championship thanks to baseball’s beautiful disregard for logic and fairness.
The ball’s whereabouts remained unknown for decades until it was revealed that a grounds crew member had retrieved it that day (and presumably failed to realize it was worth more than his house).
1. Babe Ruth’s Mythical Gesture (1932)
Did he or didn’t he? Baseball’s greatest mystery that doesn’t involve the 1919 White Sox continues to spark debate. In Game 3 of the 1932 World Series at Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth (New York Yankees) allegedly pointed to center field before hitting a home run off Charlie Root.
After taking two strikes and enduring trash talk from the Cubs bench that would make a modern Twitter thread seem tame, Ruth made some kind of gesture. Whether he was pointing to the bleachers, the dugout, or just telling the Cubs where they could stick their opinions remains history’s best “he said, they said.”
On the next pitch, Ruth crushed a homer so majestic it needed its own ZIP code. Contemporary accounts vary wildly, like eyewitness testimonies after a UFO sighting. Some newspapers reported the called shot immediately, while Cubs players denied it with the vigor of politicians caught in a scandal.
Whatever actually happened, the moment perfectly encapsulates Ruth’s larger-than-life persona—a man so extraordinary that when people claimed he predicted his own home run, everyone thought, “Yeah, that sounds like something he’d do.”
