Leading off a post-season game with a homer
Posted by Andy on September 30, 2009
With the playoffs quickly approaching, I got curious to see the list of players to lead off a post-season game with a home run. This was done using the Post-season Batting Event Finder.
Car# G# Date Series G Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc. +-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+ 1 1 1909-10-13 WS 5 Davy Jones DET @PIT Babe Adams tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF) 2 1 1953-10-04 WS 5 Gene Woodling NYY @BRO Johnny Podres tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep LF) 3 1 1954-09-30 WS 2 Al Smith CLE @NYG Johnny Antonelli tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep LF) 4 1 1968-10-06 WS 4 Lou Brock STL @DET Denny McLain tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF-RF) 5 1 1972-10-20 WS 5 Pete Rose CIN @OAK Catfish Hunter tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF-RF) 6 1 1973-10-07 ALCS 2 Bert Campaneris OAK @BAL Dave McNally tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 - 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (LF-CF) 7 1 1978-10-06 ALCS 3 George Brett KCR @NYY Catfish Hunter tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 1-1 3 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 8 1 1986-10-21 WS 3 Lenny Dykstra NYM @BOS Oil Can Boyd tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 1-1 3 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF Line) 9 1 1989-10-28 WS 4 Rickey Henderson OAK @SFG Don Robinson tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 2-0 3 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF) 10 1 1991-10-12 NLCS 3 Orlando Merced PIT @ATL John Smoltz tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF) 11 1 1995-10-04 NLDS 2 Marquis Grissom ATL @COL Lance Painter tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF) 12 1 2000-10-07 NLDS 3 Fernando Vina STL @ATL Kevin Millwood tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-1 2 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 13 1 2000-10-25 WS 4 Derek Jeter NYY @NYM Bobby Jones tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 14 1 2001-10-17 NLCS 2 Marcus Giles ATL @ARI Miguel Batista tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 15 1 2002-10-04 ALDS 3 Ray Durham OAK @MIN Rick Reed tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 1-1 3 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Inside-the-park Home Run to CF 16 1 2004-10-21 NLCS 7 Craig Biggio HOU @STL Jeff Suppan tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 1-2 4 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 17 1 2004-10-27 WS 4 Johnny Damon BOS @STL Jason Marquis tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 2-1 4 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 18 1 2007-10-04 ALDS 1 Johnny Damon NYY @CLE C.C. Sabathia tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 3-1 5 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 19 1 2007-10-06 NLDS 3 Chris Young ARI @CHC Rich Hill tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 20 1 2007-10-08 ALDS 4 Grady Sizemore CLE @NYY Chien-Ming Wang tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 1-1 3 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run 21 1 2008-10-05 NLDS 4 Jimmy Rollins PHI @MIL Jeff Suppan tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 3-2 6 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF) 22 1 2008-10-15 NLCS 5 Jimmy Rollins PHI @LAD Chad Billingsley tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 3-2 8 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF)
Lots and lots of good players populate this list, both the batters and pitchers.
I checked the record of the teams in these games. Here are the outcomes of the 22 games (from the point of view of the team hitting the leadoff HR) as you read down the column above.
LWLWWWLWWLWWWWWLWLWWWW
So that's a record of 16-6 (.727) in those 22 games. Not too surprising--with run-scoring at a premium in the playoffs, single runs have a bigger impact on the outcome.
A few other tidbits:
- There is one series--the 2007 ALDS--that appears twice here, with the Yankees' Johnny Damon and the Indians' Grady Sizemore both leading off different games in that series with homers. The Indians won both games, as well as the series.
- Just 1 out of these 22 games was Game 1 of its series. That's a little surprising, although so many Game 1's are pitched by aces that it's not too surprising.
- Finally, I would remiss if I didn't mention how much more common the leadoff HR has become, with more than half of these games coming since the 1990s. While there are more playoff games now thanks to the extra layers of playoffs (meaning more total playoff games per year and hence more chances for leadoff HR) the more recent era is over-represented, thanks to the increased overall prevelance of home runs in the game.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:37 am
KC had George Brett leading off??? I always thought he middle of the order guy his whole career. Takin' a look at his 1978 splits now... wow, he started 39 games in the leadoff spot, more than any besides the 3rd spot in the order. I never imagined.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I must confess to being old enough - and already a working adult at that - to remember Pete Rose's lead-off homer on a Friday afternoon game in Oakland in 1972.
It may seem strange now to hear about daytime World Series games, but the first such night game wasn't played until the previous year, 1971. And then, I think it was only one game of what became a 7-game World Series.
But in 1972, I think that all three scheduled weekday games were supposed to be night games. These were games 3, 4, and, if needed, 5, scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since these were going to be played in the American League city, and Oakland was the AL team, the games were probably scheduled to start in the late afternoon there.
Game 3, scheduled to be played in Eastern Time Zone prime time in Oakland, was rained out. Yes, it sometimes rains in Northern California, particularly at that time of year. So, game 5, which did become necessary, with the A's holding a 3-1 lead over Cincinnati at the time, was played on Friday afternoon, probably starting around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.
My boss brought a little black-and-white T.V. to work that day so that he could watch the game. Once it got underway, he called out to the rest of us that Pete Rose had led off the game with a home run. Rose was known for many things, but home run hitting was not one of them. But I guess with his team facing elimination, he came out ready to lead them to victory. And indeed the Reds did stave off elimination that day and the next one, played back home in Cincinnati, before falling in game 7.
I see that Rose's "victim", Catfish Hunter, gave up another such homer later in his career, but as in 1972, his team still won the World Series that year.