What’s a Walk-Off and Who Coined the Term?
Ethier, king of the "walk-off"
It was a crazy night in Major League Baseball yesterday with FIVE games ending in walk-off fashion. “Walk-off” is a phrase that became popularized about 10 years ago, thanks to the myriad of highlight shows that attempt to launch their own lingo. Somewhere along the line, “walk-off” stuck and is now prevalent in highlights, radio calls, and newspapers. Yes, newspapers still exist.
The oldest link to the phrase dates back to Dennis Eckersley, although the date is unclear. Some like to cite that Eckersley called Kirk Gibson’s dramatic 1988 World Series home run off of him a “walk-off,” but the most accurate recount I can find still cites Eckersley, but in 1993.1 Even after that, the phrase still wasn’t uttered much until the current decade.
For the non-baseball fans, you’re probably still wondering what the heck a walk-off victory is! Simply, a walk-off victory is any kind of win resulting with the visiting team forced to walk off the field in defeat. Any game winner by the home team in the bottom of the 9th inning (or extra innings) would be considered a walk-off, whether it’s from a hit, walk, hit batsmen, etc.
Get walked with the bases loaded in a tie game in the 11th inning at home? That’s a “walk-off walk.” Hit a 2-run home run in 9th inning to win the game at home? That’s a “walk-off homer.” You get the gist. Some people loathe the phrase and prefer replacing it with “game winning,” but I’ve always considered “game winning” to be more general. For example, a grand slam by a visiting player to put his team ahead 6-5 in the 8th inning would be a game winning grand slam in my book. A “walk-off,” while overused of late, informs the listener/reader exactly what happened in as few words as possible.
If you’re stuck in a baseball conversation and clutch hitting comes up, throw this gem out there: Andre Ethier (“eeth-ee-er”) of the Dodgers already has an unheard of SIX walk-off hits this year. Better yet, four of them were home runs! Think of how rare it is just to have an opportunity to win a game at the end. Then imagine not only having half a dozen chances but actually succeedingthat many times in a single season. It puts Ethier’s achievement into proper perspective and, if anything, gives sports anchors plenty of reason to say “walk-off” a few more times.
Read on:
LATimes.com – Andre Ethier’s walk-off homer wins it for Dodgers in 13th
BaseballAnalysts.com – Walking Off
The Seattle Times – The Mariners’ wild and whacky world of Wak(amatsu)-off wins
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