MLB Prime 9: Greatest Home Runs

welcome to prime nine the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not end this week we spotlight the top nine home runs in the history of the game why nine that's baseball nine players nine innings prime nine when reggie jackson sucked his third home run deep into the night of the 77 world series it instantly became a part of baseball lore well guess what mr october did not make the prime nine and neither did mr november [Music] not even the reigning home run king made the list [Applause] in judging the top nine home runs of all time we looked at the situation [Applause] the outcome [Applause] the dramatic implications of the blast and its place in baseball history [Applause] and the same holds true for baseball don't agree oh well that's what makes prime nine so much fun it's the ultimate water cooler show because everyone has their own opinion and we've got ours big poppy nice home run yesterday so here we go the top nine home runs of all time starting with number nine on prime nine the year was 1976. the new york yankees had not been to the world series in more than a decade but one swing of the bat was about to bring down the house we're in the bottom of the ninth inning this game is for the american league championship it was slipping away the fans needed a hero the thing about that moment was we had that three-run lead george brett hits this home run off of grant jackson that ties it up and and it gets that moment where where i come up all right [Applause] [Music] and i stood up the plate and he threw the first pitch and it was a high fastball and i just swung delivered [Music] [Applause] and of course the famous run around the bases it's amazing he survived it at all [Applause] when i hit second base there's like people all over the place i tripped and the only thing i could think of is what if i was on the ground and there's all these thousands of people on top of me and i can't breathe third base was just a mountain of people so i went around those folks and and then i took a b-line uh straight to our dugout [Applause] everybody's asking the same question did you touch home plate and i said it was impossible to do that and what we did and this was a true story i took two cops with me and made our way through that crowd and home plate was gone of course but i did put my foot on that area same stadium nearly three decades later the pennant once again was on the line but this time it was a game seven bolt out of the blue that ruined boston's date with destiny the red sox five defensive outs away from heading to the world series first of all you get to extra innings in that particular ball game with pedro on the map he managed to come back on him and now here we are in the extra innings the american league penalty at stake and here's aaron boone coming up to the plate normally the starting third baseman boone wasn't accustomed to pinch-hitting now he was facing knuckleballer tim wakefield the possible series mvp joe had said hey just think back through the middle i just happened to say to him i said just get a single doesn't mean you won't hit a home run it doesn't mean you won't hit a home run i said you know i just get a good pitch to hit and i did aaron boone to lead off his first date of the game [Applause] first pitch he gets a knuckleball and all of a sudden the prettiest sight you ever want to see you see the ball go up into the air it was the greatest feeling i could ever have especially in that tense of battling game seven championship series 2003 all of a sudden you know we're heading to another world series aaron boone hit the first pitch of the inning just like chris chambliss in 1976 it was perfect it was just unbelievable my darren told me the ghosts will show up eventually and they did man this is stupid sometimes you fail sometimes you succeed and to have a small place in the history of that stadium is something that i'll get to i guess tell my grandkids about someday [Music] [Applause] welcome back to prime nine featuring the greatest home runs in baseball history you've seen the ninth and eighth best now it's time for number seven a hero to red sox fans for his dramatic home run in the 1975 world series [Applause] [Music] the red sox hadn't won the fall classic since 1918 they were decided underdogs when they faced the powerful big red machine in 75. that series might have been from beginning to end as intense a series as there ever was i'm telling you the interference that world series believe it or not they had a super bowl flavor because when we went to boston we had three or four days rained out when you have a world series with a thousand reporters at the event everyone in the country realized what we were doing and who it was it was doing it because of the press but could the series live up to the hype once play resumed game six answered that with a battle for the ages [Applause] [Music] after bernie carbo set the stage with his dramatic eighth inning blast the game went into extra innings where the spotlight fell on fisk pudge and i were standing in the on deck circle the 12th inning seemed like i was about two in the morning and he says i'm gonna get on and you knocked me in wow he forgot about the part of me knocking him in [Music] [Applause] fist comes up and just hits a ball that just just looks like it's going to go foul he's weight weight if you remember how he was waving the ball fair i think i was doing the same thing on the third base side as carlton fish was doing on the first base side and carlton fist had a lot of little boy in him right there this particular moment just happens to be one of the most dramatic memorable single swings in the world series [Applause] it is something that means a lot to a lot of people the greatest home run hitter of all time babe ruth was a magical name an almost mythical figure who outslugged entire teams one of babe's home runs has become legendary i will say that i've had thrills before something like hitting a home run in chicago that time the lord was with me when i called the shots the babe's called shot took place in the 1932 world series and some bad blood between his yankees and the cubs is what led to his memorable blast yankees win the first two games of the series at yankee stadium now they go to chicago for game three up steps ruth and cubs are jabbering from the dugout there was plenty of invective hurled at ruth and some of it uh unmentionable to this day and so the yankees and cubs were riding back and forth ruth is talking back well after this one particular time when i went to bed charlie root was pitching the boys that were there would give me that on you and i looked down at center field and i deployed i said i'm gonna hit the next pitch ball right past the flagpole well the good lord must have been with [Music] ruth's infamous gesture is baseball's version of the loch ness monster did anyone really see it did it really happen is he in fact calling his shot there are people there who said he did not point to center field gabby hartnett the cubs hall of fame catcher who was in the game at the time always denied that ruth was pointing to the center field fence as the pitcher did charlie root who swore that he would have knocked the babe on his butt had ruth showed him up like that it's clear ruth is pointing to somebody and saying something this may be confirmed by the actions that ruth took while he was running around the bases where he was engaging in a pushing motion with his hands to indicate that he had put one over on the cubs ruth not only a showman but also a great self-promoter picked up on it ran with it and with a wink made the story a staple for the rest of his life we now return to prime nine where we've got the greatest home runs of all time chris chance and aaron boone checked in at nine and eight respectively followed by carlton fisk and the bane now things get really hard beginning with number five how would henry aaron describe henry aaron's 715th home run you deliver a swing long drive we're back we're back we're back it's gone [Laughter] before hank aaron got to revel in his record-breaking moment he had to endure the task of chasing a legend the greatest home run hitter of all time babe ruth was a magical name and to some the thought of hank eclipsing the babe was blasphemy aaron knew that a lot of people didn't want him to pass baver's hallowed record because ruth was an icon and here is aaron about to shatter the icon it bothered me at the time you know to think that somebody could sit down and write vicious letters to someone i just kind of erased it a little bit it helped him focus some people if you mess with them they'll roll over and die and quit but there are other people if you mess with them you just make them stronger and that's how hank was just tied babe in the all-time home run parade hank did of course prevail and his long journey reached its conclusion in atlanta against pitcher al downing who had a unique perspective on this historic moment okay henry's coming to the plate now how am i going to proceed to pitch to him and here is henry aaron this crowd is up all around i remember as a cold night cold freezer and he says hey man i'm tired of this let me get this over with i said hey man go ahead do what you got to do cause i don't doubt anything that you tell me he's sitting on 7 14. here's the pitch by downing there's a drive in the left center i just remember pointing over the fence it's gone it's over the fence out of here it's gone it's 7 15. there's a new home run champion of all time and it's henry aaron did he really do that 7 15 that was the unreachable number the record that they cite in our lifetime could never be broken has in fact been broken and as the cheers rained down upon him hank looked back from whence he came i just thank god it's all over with thank you very much oh i thought about you come a long ways baby you know i mean from mobile alabama all the way to breaking one of the most prestigious record in baseball henry aaron the home run king of all time i feel very proud of myself [Music] the 1988 world series between the dodgers and the a's was likened to the tale of david versus goliath but game one of that series leaned more towards the classic film the natural thanks to la's mvp and team leader kirk gibson i had a torn semi-membranosa's hamstring tendon to my left leg and i had a strained medial collateral leg with my right leg and it was an ugly ugly feeling vin scully who knows the dodgers well because he's their announcer during the regular season he's also doing the game on nbc tv he flatly states that gibson is not available the man who was the spearhead of the dodger offense throughout the year will not see any action tonight for sure gibson having heard vin scully say that he's not available says to lasorda well he thinks he has one good swinging i said great i just ran out i didn't give him time to say anything else for fear that he might change his mind and look who's coming gibson walks up there knowing that he wants to hit a home run so the dodgers are trying to catch lightning right now i had programmed myself to say when you walk out of the dugout 50 000 people are going to go nuts and you won't hurt all year long they looked to him to light the fire until he was physically unable to start tonight he needed a long time to get there so he was driving me nuts it's like to get this guy up here let's get this thing over with and with two out you talk about a roll of the dice this is it and i got up 02 on him in heartbeat because he couldn't catch up with the fastball but with a full count gibson guessed on a pitch that he could catch up to before the 3-2 pitch i stepped out of the box and said to myself partner sure as i'm standing here breathing you're going to throw me that 3-2 back door slider aren't you and ector's leo's throw the back door slider and gibson takes a swing which i still cannot believe would even have produced a medium fly ball he must have just got it right on the sweet spot and it's gone [Applause] vin scully says in a year that has been so improbable the impossible has happened and that's just how it felt gibson's improbable blast inspired the dodgers to win three more games and capture the fall classic five years later and for just the second time ever a home run ended the world series 6-5 philadelphia in the bottom of the nine roger mason had thrown the eighth inning gotten through the eighth inning and i got called to come in the ninth jim fragosi will give the ball to mitch williams to try to get the final three outs and force a game seven mitch was a great competitor he wanted the ball when the game was on the line and he also had a tendency to make those situations quite interesting [Applause] ricky has a lung at bat and gets on base and i get a base hit the center and as a base runner on first you know i'm the winning run in that situation the run that would win the world series is at first and joe carter is the batter i was excited i was happy to be in that moment because it seems like every time the game was on the line i was up in that position [Applause] [Music] when i saw the ball clear left field wall i'm sitting there going this can't be for real [Applause] the winners and still world champions the toronto blue jays if you're growing up you obviously want to be the guy that hits a home run in the ninth inning to win your team the world series and for joe a dream came true for him [Music] i jumped on home plate and i just let it go and with everybody on top of me it was great welcome back to prime nine where we're showcasing the greatest home runs in the history of baseball chris chambliss kicked it off at number nine followed by aaron boone and and with his called shot at number six is the babe hank aaron hit the fifth greatest home run ever followed by kirk gibson and with the number three spot now owned by joe carter it brings us to the final two in the 1960 world series the mighty yankees outscored pittsburgh 46-17 through the first six games yet somehow the pirates forced a game seven there with the score tied in the ninth an unlikely hero would earn his place in baseball lore [Music] you know all i'm thinking about walking up to the plate was i gotta hit the ball hard somewhere i gotta get something started for new york they knew i was a high fastball hitter so i heard blanchard yell out get the ball down terry very cautious takes a lot of time getting the signal everybody says to me they say hey blanche what pitch did you call i said the wrong one here comes the pitch and i just put the mitt up and closed my eyes because i knew it was downtown [Applause] i dreamed about hitting a home run like that it is all over in one of the most dramatic finishes on history and when i hit second base i don't think i touched the ground until i got home the only thing going through my mind is we beat him we beat him we beat the great yankees we beat him you can deploy a lot of strip riders and play a lot of money but try and write a better finish to a ball game or a more exciting one [Music] which brings us to the greatest home run ever one that took place during baseball's golden age with the giants dodgers rivalry at a fever pitch and it was never hotter than in the sizzling summer of 51. leonardo's miracle team spotted the dodgers a 13-game advantage in mid-august and overtook them at the finish line the giant's amazing comeback forced a three-game playoff for the bennett and the dodgers were just three outs from victory when the giants stayed still another miraculous rally the giants trailing four to one into the bottom of the ninth quickly score a run chuck dressen pulls nukem they bring in branca ralph franco comes on the scene with one giant run across and two on base i came in the ball game and tonka me did a heck of a job and [Music] said i'd get him i'll get them for you two runners on base one out the giants training four to two bobby thompson up i knew the position i was in i'm telling myself get up there do a good job wait and watch now deroser coaching at third came up to me and said bobby have you ever hit one hit one now and i thought leo you're crazy you're out of your mind i want to get ahead of him so i just threw a fastball right through the middle the next one i was trying to throw a festival up and in i was trying to really set him up this roma breaking ball and i remember just getting a glimpse of it [Applause] they're going i remember setting the home plate and i took one last sleep that's about the most hot dog i have ever done when bobby hit the home run i was the last guy to get the home plate and i'm on deck if you look at a film you don't see me right away you see me a little late on down the [Music] three-run line for bobby thompson that echoes around the world that is the most famous home run justifiably in the history of baseball a home run that will live on forever thanks to six simple words shot her around the shot heard around the world you said that nicely [Music] one parting shot before we end bobby thompson's earth rattling home run off branca earned a nickname that has stood the test of time but did you know that he also hit one off ralph in game one of that three-game playoff of our nine greatest home runs in baseball history four of them ended world series games [Music] [Applause] there have been 14 game ending world series home runs in all the last by scott bassetnick in 2005. what a way to end it and it's also time to end the show thanks for watching that's sauer prime9 what's yours

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Length: 22min 36sec (1356 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 26 2021