We Are Down to One.....

[Bobcat]

Only one man is alive today who was standing on the field at the end of the game at Yankee Stadium for the Brookyn Dodgers, October 4, 1955.

Edwin Donald Snider - The Duke Of Flatbush -

[donzblock]

Didn't large Donald emerge from the dugout at the end of the game?

[Bobcat]

He sure did !

[Mattingly]

Was Don Zimmer on the field for that last game? I note he was on the WS roster that year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1955_WS.shtml

[Bobcat]

Yes, he was, Shuba batted for Zimmer in the top of the 6th, Amoros replaced Shuba playing LF, Gilliam changed positions to 2B....and the rest is history......

[Bobcat]

Did a little research on Duke's walk off home runs and found out he had 8 of them.

Snider had 8 walkoff homers:

7-24-1952(game 2)

7-16-1955

7-25-1956

8-16-1956

8-20-1957(game 2)

9-03-1958

9-14-1961

6-07-1963

I remember the last one very clearly, I was watching it on TV, Lindsay Nelson was calling the game, it was the bottom of the 9th against St Louis, they were ahead 2-0 but the Mets has two on and one out and they brought in the lefthander Olivo to face The Duke, there were several "conferences" on the mound, seemed like one after each pitch, I could not take watching it any longer and switch to the radio side with Bob Murphy, Duke worked the count to 2-2 then fouled off a pitch he should have belted into the seats, then another conference on the mound, then the final pitch, a liner into the stands in right field, 3-2 Mets, final. The Mets fans chanting "Let's Go Duke".

[Bklyn Boy since 1936]

Did a little research on Duke's walk off home runs and found out he had 8 of them.

Snider had 8 walkoff homers:

7-24-1952(game 2)

7-16-1955

7-25-1956

8-16-1956

8-20-1957(game 2)

9-03-1958

9-14-1961

6-07-1963

I remember the last one very clearly, I was watching it on TV, Lindsay Nelson was calling the game, it was the bottom of the 9th against St Louis, they were ahead 2-0 but the Mets has two on and one out and they brought in the lefthander Olivo to face The Duke, there were several "conferences" on the mound, seemed like one after each pitch, I could not take watching it any longer and switch to the radio side with Bob Murphy, Duke worked the count to 2-2 then fouled off a pitch he should have belted into the seats, then another conference on the mound, then the final pitch, a liner into the stands in right field, 3-2 Mets, final. The Mets fans chanting "Let's Go Duke".

I've been in, around and interested in baseball for as long as I can remember and, unless my mind is turning to mush, I've gotta say that I've never heard the term "walk off home runs". Please explain what that term means.:noidea: As I said, my mind might be turning to mush or maybe I'm just having a senior moment.

[Bobcat]

I've been in, around and interested in baseball for as long as I can remember and, unless my mind is turning to mush, I've gotta say that I've never heard the term "walk off home runs". Please explain what that term means.:noidea: As I said, my mind might be turning to mush or maybe I'm just having a senior moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk-off_home_run

[donzblock]

Wikipedia is wrong. A walk-off homerun occurs when the batter hits one out and walks around the bases. If he runs to second and then walks the rest of the way, that, too, is a walk-off homerun. However, if he runs all the way to third and then walks home, that is not a walk-off homerun. Interestingly, when Snider was asked several years ago if he could remember hitting any walk-off homeruns, his response was, "I don't understand the question."

The "walk-off homerun" is not to be confused with a homer followed by a walk. The Joe Carter World Series' homer was not a walk-off homerun, either, because Carter several times leaped and hopped while making the circuit. As for Bobby Thomson's shot heard round the world, the status of that homer will remain in limbo until the official protest is filed and adjudicated.

[Bklyn Boy since 1936]

Now I'm really confussed :noidea

My only salvation in this discussion is Wikipedia states that although the concept is as old as baseball, the term itself has come into wide use only since the 1990s.

Since Major League Baseball, as I know it, ended in October, 1957 I don't feel too badly about not knowing these new fangled terms.

[dodger dynamo]

Now maybe I too was living in a cave, but I was under the impression that "walk off" home run meant after the home run, (which wins the game for the team at bat). As soon as the batter rounds the bases and touches home plate, he and all of the players "walk off" the field, because the game is over.
The other rules I'm sure are true and a very real explanation, but I like my interpretation better.

[JMC Bomber]

Now maybe I too was living in a cave, but I was under the impression that "walk off" home run meant after the home run, (which wins the game for the team at bat). As soon as the batter rounds the bases and touches home plate, he and all of the players "walk off" the field, because the game is over.

Cave or not, that's exactly what it means.

[Mattingly]

Yes, he was, Shuba batted for Zimmer in the top of the 6th, Amoros replaced Shuba playing LF, Gilliam changed positions to 2B....and the rest is history......

So then we're down to two, right? The Duke and Zim.

[Bobcat]

So then we're down to two, right? The Duke and Zim.

No, there are others alive who were not on the field at the end of the game but Snider is the only one alive who was on the playing field when the final out was recorded. Zimmer was removed from the game in the 6th inning.

[aqib]

What did Zimmer have to say about the move? I don't recall hearing him say anything and he wasn't in the HBO movie.