Underrated home runs?

Add Wade Boggs to the list then.

 

I was kidding.

 

There have been 14: http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/S7RfU. Henrich, Rhodes, Mathews, Maz, Mantle, Fisk, Gibson, McGwire, Puckett, Carter, Curtis, Jeter, Gonzalez, Podsednik.

I'll admit: I don't have any memory of that Alex Gonzalez homer, and I know I watched every game of that Series. So yeah, that should probably be high on our list here.

(Only 41 walkoff homers in postseason history, by the way: http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/CzEZV)

 

To me, the Justice HR is one that everyone forgets about.

One that comes to mind for me is Tony Fernandez' HR in Game 6 of the 1997 ALCS. 11th inning he hits one into the right field seats and Cleveland wins 1-0 and goes to the World Series.

 

The Magglio Ordonez ALCS walk-off comes to mind for me, though I think the reasons it's not more popular is obvious.

Detroit was up 3 games to 0. By that point, a Detroit win was an inevitability to many. Probably the same reason Chad Curtis' bomb is equally forgettable.

 

Roberto Alomar's game-tying homer off Dennis Eckersley in Game 4 of the 1992 ALCS.

 

I would say no, just because they got bounced in the ALDS.

 

Definitely Carbo's homer in Game 6 in 1975. Fisk's homer is the famous one, but Carbo got it to that point.

I remember watching that game on a little black-and-white TV in my parents' bedroom. For the life of me I can't remember why I was up so late on a school night.

 

Ken Burns' Baseball give Carbo almost as much credit as Fisk.

And heads may spin when I type this, but Reggie Jackson's three swings, three home runs off of three different pitchers is as amazing an athletic accomplishment in a baseball game that a hitter has ever accomplished.

When you add that he took Hooten yard the previous night, you can say that Jackson decided to swing four consecutive times in World Series play and each swing resulted in a home run. Those were also the final four swings he would take in the 1977 season. They were the champions.

And that final swing, with the stands going nuts, he dropped a knuckleball 475 feet away and almost into Queens. That is just sick.

That game just made my list of top 10 games I would have liked to have seen in person.

 

Reggie Jackson never hit an underrated home run.

 

Glad to see Podsednik's homer mentioned. As walk-off home runs go, there have been more memorable ones, but not sure there have been many as unexpected. Guys who hit 0 homers in a regular season don't hit walk-offs in the World Series, right?

 

Robin Ventura's grand slam single in Game 5 of the '99 NLCS. It's not technically a home run since his teammates mobbed him after he touched first and he never completed the trip around the bases, but it holds a pretty quirky place in MLB history.