A Baseball Question

[Cyclopsis Joe]

It feels like I asked this before, but I can't remember.

What, technically, is a walk-off homerun? Is it an actual...play? Or is it just a stupid phrase?

[Nick 1733]

I believe, and am not totally sure, that it is when a player hits a home run to end the game.

[NJTank]

Its a new phrase and its a HR that ends a game.

[mjrbaseball]

Or is it just a stupid phrase?

Exactly

[slapshot]

I thought the term used to mean a pinch hitter who comes off the bench and pinch hits a game-winning home run. It has since been defined as any home run that ends the game, so all players walk off the field.

[Mac the Knife]

Walk off = Game Winning.

It's just new paint on an old house.

[pcgd]

You can also have walk off base hits.

Basically, the long and short of it is meaning once that game winning play ends (base hit, home run, suicide squeeze, whatever...) you can WALK-OFF the field. Hense it can only happen in the bottom of the ninth of any game.

And no there are not "Walk off Strike outs" or "Walk off double play"...it only pertains to offense.

I don't know why, but like everyone said, its just a fancy term. I think MLB keeps track of Game winning _____ but not Walk off _______.

[Cyclopsis Joe]

Ahh, thank you for all the responses. It never made sense to me.

I really appreciate it!

[Discrim]

you can thank Dennis Eckersley for giving up the famed Kirk Gibson homer, after which he coined the "walkoff" term. After that it really caught on, so now it's as common as talkin about batting average

[worst. jersey. ever.]

Dennis Eckersley: "He hit it, and everybody walked off the field"

Any game-ending homerun is a walkoff homer