10 things I didn’t know about game-ending hits

It’s the most exciting way for a game to end. It’s the bottom of the ninth (or extra innings) when a bat connects on a pitch for a hit that drives home the game-winning and game-ending run.

A walk-off win.

Wanna know how much the culture of baseball fandom loves walk-off wins? Well, Almost all of baseball’s most famous games end on walk-offs. Think about. The Carlton Fisk game. The Kirk Gibson game. The Bill Mazeroski game. Last year’s World Series gave us the David Freese game. You can find some great games that aren’t walk-offs, but the enduring appeal of the walk-off winner is obvious.

In that spirit, I recently engaged on a project. At the Event Finder at Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index, you can get a list of every walk-off hit since 1948, so I thought I’d look up that info and do some research based on it. Based on playing around with that data, here are 10 things I didn’t know about game-ending hits.

1. Not all game-ending hits are walk-off hits

Far too late into looking through the data, I realized that not all game-ending wins are walk-off wins.

Via B-ref’s Play Index, I have on file over 9,800 wins, but about 330 of them weren’t game-ending hits. Some were hits that ended the game because a runner got thrown out on the bases. Or it was the last out before a rain delay. Throughout the project, I thought I was just looking up walk-off wins, but that isn’t quite what I got. It’s “only” 97 percent of the games I have on file. Eh, close enough.

For the rest of this list, pay close attention to when the article says “game-ending” or when it says “walk-off,” as those phrases aren’t being used interchangeably here but specifically to refer to either the full list or just 97 percent of it.

2. Career leaders: most game-ending hits

Here’s the main reason why it’s fun to look up all the game-ending hits: so you can find out who are the all-time leaders. Here they are:

Hitter	        Hits
Frank Robinson 	26
Tony Perez 	22
Dusty Baker 	21
Andre Dawson 	20
Robrto Clemente 	20
Brooks Robinson 	19
Lou Whitaker 	19
Manny Mota 	19
Rusty Staub 	19

Just missing the list with 18 game-enders is the leader among active players, David Ortiz. He’s tied with Fisk, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Graig Nettles, Don Baylor, and Jack Clark.

All hail Frank Robinson! He’s easily the 1948-onward champion at the walk-off hit. All 26 of his game-ending hits were walk-off hits, too. He peaked with four in 1959, three of which came in under three weeks in July-August. His next-to-last career hit was a game-winning pinch-hit single in 1976. He had nine walk-off singles, five doubles, and a dozen homers, including a walk-off grand slam in August 1962. Over half of his walk-offs, 15, came in extra innings.

While all of Robinson’s game-enders were walk-offs, the same can’t be said for Tony Perez. He once singled with none on just before a rain delay in a contest that ended in a tie. Another time he doubled only to have the would-be tying run thrown out at the plate to end the game. Thus Perez has “only” 20 walk-off hits.

That means Dusty Baker has the second most walk-off hits with 21. Most notably, Baker had walk-off bases-loaded singles in back-to-back games on May 28-29, 1972. While he’s No. 2, he’s still five behind the leader. All hail Frank Robinson, indeed.

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In his playing days, Baker gave fans plenty to cheer about.

That would put Perez in a tie with Roberto Clemente and Andre Dawson with 20 walk-offs, except that Clemente only had 19 walk-offs and one game-ender that didn’t win the game. Among guys on the leaderboard, only one other has a game-ender that didn’t win it, Brooks Robinson.

3. Percentage kings

Most of the guys on the leaderboard above were guys with a ton of hits. Of the top nine guys in game-ending hits, only Clemente had 3,000 hits, but most were over 2,000 hits, usually well over 2,000. Dusty Baker was just under 2,000, with 1,982 career hits. That means slightly over one percent of his career hits were game-ending safeties, an impressive achievement.

There have been over 2,180,000 hits in major league baseball from 1948 onward but barely over 9,800 game-ending hits (and under 9,500 walk-offs). It works out to one game-ending hit per 222.6 hits overall. At that rate, Baker should’ve had nine but instead had more than double that, an impressive achievement.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

But of course, Baker’s rate pales in comparison to one other man listed above: Manny Mota, who hit 19 game-ending hits (all walk-offs, too) out of just 1,149 career base knocks. That’s almost four times the number you’d expect.

Ah, yes, but Mota has a trick up his sleeve. He was the all-time grand champion pinch-hitter, allowing him to come up far more often than one would expect with the game on the line.

Mota and Baker are two of only six batters in history with over 1,000 hits and more than one percent of their career hits going for game-enders. Here’s a list of all six:

Batter 	        Game-Enders  Total Hits
Dusty Baker 	21	     1981
Manny Mota 	19	     1149
Hector Lopez 	15	     1251
Bob Aspromonte 	13	     1103
Ken McMullen 	13	     1273
Ryan Zimmerman 	12           1049

In every case, every game-ending hit was also a walk-off hit. Ryan Zimmerman hasn’t had any yet this year but had a half-dozen in 2006-07, including two in three days against the Marlins in early July, 2006.

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Zimmerman has barely 1,000 hits, but as many game-ending hits as Tony Gwynn and Derek Jeter combined.

To find someone that tops Mota’s percentage of hits that ended games, you have to go way down to Damon Berryhill. A career .240 hitter, Berryhill was not a career pinch-hitter like Mota, yet he somehow hit 10 game-ending walk-off hits among his 488 career knocks. Go figure. Berryhill is the only person with over 300 career hits who had more than two percent of his hits end games.

To find someone who tops Berryhill, you have to go down all the way to Chris Jones. A National Leaguer in the 1990s, Jones had eight game-ending hits (all walk-offs) out of just 257 career hits. With 1,119 plate appearances in 548 games, Jones was used as a pinch-hitter fairly often, ramping up his totals.

To find someone topping Jones, you have to go all the way down to 109 career hits, where you find Miguel Ojeda and his six game-ending shots. Like Jones, Ojeda averaged just a little over two trips to the plate per game. One of Ojeda’s game-enders wasn’t a walk-off, but even five out of 109 gives him the percentage lead among batters with over 35 hits.

4. Most hits, no game-enders

Let’s flip this around and see who has the most hits from 1948 onward with zero game-ending hits? As it happens, of the 757 guys with over 1,000 hits in that period, only these three guys never ended a game with a hit:

Never did it	Hits
Norm Cash 	1820
Don Blasingame 	1366
Greg Gross 	1073

Who knows what Norm Cash’s problem was? By and large, having power helps because a home run is the easiest way to get a walk-off. Yet despite hitting well over 300 homers and having so many hits overall, Cash never ended a game with any sort of hit.

In his career, he came up at home in the ninth inning or later in a tie game 111 times. He had just 14 hits in those plate appearances, 13 singles and one double. His best game was on June 11, 1961, when he singled in the bottom of the ninth and then again in the 11th. That 11th-inning single came with runners on first and second but couldn’t score anyone because it was an infield single. Cash’s power just evaporated in those games.

He wasn’t worthless in them, though. Despite having just 14 hits in those 111 times at the dish, he also had 27 walks (12 intentional) and two hits-by-pitch, for a respectable on-base percentage of .387, but he never did end any game.

Thirty-one of those plate appearances came with a runner in scoring position. Cash received 15 walks (12 intentional) and otherwise was 1-for-16 with an infield single and only four balls making it out of the infield.

5. Fewest career hits with a game-ender

From 1948 onward, 699 players have exactly one hit in the big leagues. Of those, just one had his sole career hit end a game: Dan Ardell. He had six career plate appearances with the 1961 Angels and only one hit. Rather frustratingly, his game-ending hit is one of the 300-some shots that didn’t result in a walk-off win. A base runner got thrown out on his hit, thus, no batter has his only hit end a game.

One player had two career hits and one game-ender, and in this case it was, in fact, a walk-off. On Aug. 26, 1993, Richie Lewis stepped to the plate for the Marlins in the bottom of the 13th inning against the Astros. He was still looking for his first big league hit, and no one expected him to get it here.

After all, he was just a relief pitcher. He only came to the plate because Florida was out of pinch hitters. But damned if he didn’t connect for an RBI single. He wouldn’t get another hit for four years, ending his career with two hits in 10 at-bats in 217 appearances.

Among position players, three men had three hits each but hit a walk-hit shot: Rodney McCray, Dave Criscione, and Randy Schwartz. What, were you expecting it to be people you’d heard of? Criscione’s walk-off was a homer, and McCray’s walk-off came in his last career plate appearance.

6. Game-enders by pitchers

Mentioning Richie Lewis brings up a fun fact: some of these game-ending hits came from the bats of pitchers. In all, 64 pitchers combined for 69 game-ending hits, with Mickey McDermott hitting three and two apiece coming from Carl Scheib, Bob Lemon, and Mel Queen.

Those guys all played long ago, and sure enough, most of these game-enders are from long ago, as 49 of the 69 are from before 1970. Only three have happened since the 1994 strike.

The most recent one came on May 24, 2005, when Reds reliever Randy Keisler hit a single in the bottom of the 14th with runners on second and third for a 5-4 win over the Nationals. Two years before that, Brewer pitcher Glendon Rusch hit a bases-loaded walk-off single in the bottom of the 14th. In 1997, Dennis Cook did it for Florida in the 12th inning.

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Rusch: one game-ending shot hit, and one career game-ending hit allowed.

The last time any pitcher hit a walk-off hit in regulation came on July 31, 1990, when San Francisco’s Don Robinson smacked a bases-loaded single against Houston for a 3-2 win. Earlier that year, Zane Smith hit the last extra-base walk-off shot by a pitcher when he doubled in a run in the 13th inning. That was also against Houston (though against a different reliever).

Craig Lefferts can claim to be the only pitcher in the last 40 years to hit a walk-off home run, which he did in 1986.

Five times a pitcher has driven in the game’s only run with his walk-off hit. In 1980, Joe Niekro did it in the 17th inning, which is tied for the latest walk-off hit by a pitcher.

7. Pitchers giving up game-ending hits

Since we’re looking at pitchers, let’s look at it from the other angle: who gave up the most game-ending hits? Whereas Frank Robinson leads hitters with 26 game-enders, 17 different pitchers can top that. It makes sense if you think about. Pitchers can be used exclusively in relief in close games, but hitters have to follow the batting order. Even a pinch hitter like Manny Mota won’t get as many chances as a relief pitcher.

At any rate, here are the leaders among pitchers:

Pitcher 	Hits
Rollie Fingers 	44
Roy Face 	40
Lindy McDaniel 	39
Rich Gossage 	35
Gene Garber 	35
John Franco 	34
Mike Marshall 	32
Kent Tekulve 	32
R. Hernandez 	32
Randy Myers 	31

On July 28, 1971, all-time walk-off hit king Frank Robinson faced all-time walk-off hits allowed king Rollie Fingers with two on and Robinson’s Orioles trailing by two. Naturally, Robinson hit a three-run walk-off home run. Added bonus: the day before, Fingers surrendered a walk-off home run to Frank’s fellow Robinson teammate, Brooks. It was the only time in his career that Fingers surrendered walk-off homers on consecutive days.

This list is mostly guys from the 1970s and 1980s. Back then pitchers completed more games, but then again, you only had a five-man bullpen. Also, the relief ace wasn’t used in exclusively save situations, but as a general fireman, which meant more times entering the game with the score tied.

Fingers may top the list, but Face had the most impressive pace for a while. He allowed seven walk-off hits in 1960 and then six more in 1961. Fingers never had a single year like that, let alone two.

8. Game-ending triples

A game-ending home run might be the most storybook way to end a game, but a game-ending triple is far more rare. There are 3,098 walk-off homers since 1948, but only 139 triples.

No one has done it three times, but several have done it twice: Al Kaline, Ed Ott, Floyd Robinson, Garth Iorg, Jack Clark, Sibby Sisti, and Vada Pinson. All the game-ending triples by these guys were also walk-offs.

The best walk-off triple of that bunch belongs to Ed Ott. In a game-tied 4-4 with no one on, he hit one to center and tried for an inside-the-park home run. The throw beat him but was nowhere near the plate, causing the scorer to mark it as 3B/E8. Ott hit just 10 career triples, but danged if two of them weren’t walk-off triples.

Jack Clark is the only one to do it twice in one season, as his pair of walk-off triples came barely five weeks apart in 1980.

There have been just seven walk-off triples that drove in three runs, most recently done by Grady Sizemore in 2006. That’s the only one since Sept., 1987, when Juan Beniquez hit one.

9. Game-ending doubles

OK, so that’s triples, but what about doubles? These aren’t nearly as rare, with 889 in all, but that’s still pretty infrequent.

The king here is, fittingly, Frank Robinson. He has five game-ending doubles, all of which were walk-offs. That they were all walk-off sets him apart from Brian Giles, who also had five game-ending doubles, but only four of his were walk-offs. A would-be game-tying double in Aug., 2004 resulted in the runner being thrown out at the plate to end the game.

That said, Giles can still stand proud, as he and Robinson are the only ones with more than three game-ending doubles. Several dozen men are tied with three, though.

About a dozen men have hit two game-ending doubles in one year. R.J. Reynolds hit a pair just 15 days apart in 1984, but only one was a walk-off. The closest bunching of two walk-off doubles belongs to Paul Molitor, who hit two just 22 days apart in 1993. At the other extreme, Pete Rose hit two game-ending doubles 14 years apart.

(Oh, if you’re looking for info on game-ending homers, I covered that in this article).

10. Game-ending hits and teams

The club with the most game-ending hits since 1948? The Dodgers, with 473. They handily top the Indians at 436. Cleveland narrowly wins the battle for second place over its state rival, the Cincinnati Reds, who have 431.

Obviously, all pre-expansion teams have an edge in this, and sure enough, they’re the top 16 teams. The fewest for any pre-expansion team is 365 by the Detroit Tigers. They barely edge the Houston Astros at 353. Blame Norm Cash.


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Don Von Handburger
11 years ago

A walk-off triple usually requires a poor baserunning decision from the hitter…

Andy Moursund
11 years ago

Mariano Rivera finished nearly 200 more games than Rollie Fingers (892 to 709), and yet he’s not even on the list of top 10 walk-off pitchers.  One more amazing thing about Mighty Mo.

Hizouse
11 years ago

Thanks for another interesting article, Chris.

I am surprised that there are that many walk-off triples. I suppose the batter would only try for third—if he’s acting rationally—if he thought the runner on first had a decent chance of being thrown out at the plate. And even then, the official scorer could score it as a double, with the batter advancing to third on the throw. Perhaps official scorers are more charitable with walkoffs.

Suppose a batter could easily reach third on a walkoff hit. Does he get credit for a 3B if: (a) he never touches third base, peeling off just before he gets there to go high-five somebody, or (b) he touches third base after the runner scored and the game is over?

Devin McCullen
11 years ago

Actually, I have heard of Rodney McCray, but that would be because of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_V5z95lBZ8

kds
11 years ago

Fun stuff.  Could you write about walk-off non hits.  Walks, HBP, Outs including DP, FC, interference, and everybody’s favorite; balk off walks.  I mean balk walk offs.  Balk off balks maybe.  Hold while I step off and figure this out.

Scott
11 years ago

I did a post a few years ago that answered some of these questions on walk offs like there were 12 walk-off balks etc.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/8/4/976511/walk-off-triples-how-often

gdc
11 years ago

I recall seeing a walkoff HBP to Kevin Mitchell in this game where it not only drove in the only run, it was the bottom of the 13th.
Yeah, tell me you remember Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry were teammates…on the Dodgers.

Chris
11 years ago

Two years a ago, my son’s 13U team lost the state championship, in extra innings on a balk.  The third base umpire called the balk (bases loaded, two outs, 2-2 count), ran off the field, got into his car and left, never explaining himself.  Worst ending ever.  The boys came back the next year and beat the same team for state.

Mike S.
11 years ago

“Mariano Rivera finished nearly 200 more games than Rollie Fingers (892 to 709), and yet he’s not even on the list of top 10 walk-off pitchers.  One more amazing thing about Mighty Mo.”

I’ll bet anything that Fingers entered a whole lot more tie games and close games than Rivera has.
Closers were used differently back then.

Andy Moursund
11 years ago

“I’ll bet anything that Fingers entered a whole lot more tie games and close games than Rivera has.
Closers were used differently back then.”

Maybe on a percentage basis, but 183 games is a mighty big gap to make up for.  And don’t forget that while Mo works the ninth in nearly all of the Yankees’ close games on the road, the Swingin’ A’s spread those close games around to several other relief pitchers like Darold Knowles and Paul Lindblad.

And then of course there’s the little matter of career ERA+, where Mo’s advantage is a crushing 206 to 120.  That pretty much says it all about who made the most of his opportunities.

F X Flinn
11 years ago

Beyond his power, Cash had a great eye for the strike zone, took walks happily—the prototypical moneyball player, you might say. The stat about being intentionally walked 12 of 31 times there was a runner in scoring position says a lot about how he was regarded. As I came of baseball age in 1961, a Yankee fan on Long Island, Cash was in his prime was an Ortiz-like presence at the plate, dangerous and clutch.

Lee Panas
11 years ago

Great work Chris. I was surprised and happy to see Whitaker make the top 10.  I remember him getting some walk-offs, but I didn’t know he had so many. He must have done it quietly like he did everything else in his career.

Crunruh
11 years ago

I remember an interview with Lou where that was noted and he said it was one of his favorite parts of the game.  He loved trying to go long in late innings.

The Cash data is surprising.  Certainly an anomaly that in 114 ABs he did go the yard.

Would like to see game inning ABs that did not involve a hit, if possible.