In today’s hard-throwing/free-swinging game, fans have come to expect plenty of opportunities to see the long ball. Still, there are certain dingers that create a little extra rush – including those times when your team’s first batter opens a game by going yard or when your last batter closes a contest with a walk-off long ball. And, MLB has tracked those occasions pretty well.
Rickey Henderson holds the career record for leading off his team’s offense with a home run – a start-ling 81 of his 297 home runs (30 percent) were game openers for his squad. Game-ending walk-off blasts are much rarer. Jim Thome holds the career record for walk-off blasts with a lucky 13.
Alfonso Soriano holds the single-season record for game-opening long balls in both the American (13 for the 2003 Yankees) and National (12 for the Cubs) Leagues.
Even rarer are those instances in which a player has launched a game-opening and walk-off home run in the same contest. That has happened only six times in MLB history – and today is the anniversary of the first such occasion (Billy Hamilton, Phillies – May 17, 1893.) Here’s a look at the half dozen players who have pulled off this feat.
Billy Hamilton, LF-Phillies. May 17, 1893
Hamilton – known for speed, rather than power – opened the bottom of the first with a long ball, and then topped off the Phillies 11-9 win over the Washington Senators with a blast in the bottom of the tenth. They were two of just five home runs Hamilton would hit in 1893. Hamilton hit 40 round trippers in a 14-season Hall of Fame MLB career that included a .344 average and 914 stolen bases.
Vic Power, 1B-Athletics, May 7, 1957
Power’s Athletics were playing the Orioles, when he opened the game with his first home run of the young season). He later wrapped up the game – a 3-2 Athletics win – with a solo shot with one out in the bottom of the tenth. The slick fielding first sacker would hit 12 more home runs that season and 126 long balls in his 12-season MLB career.
Vic Power also is one of just eleven players (and the most recent one) to steal home twice in a game. He did it for the Indians on August 14, 1958 – as the tribe topped the Tigers in Cleveland. They were the second and third of the three bases he would swipe all season and the second steal – with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the tenth – gave the Indians a “run-off” win in
Darin Erstad, DH-Angels, June 25, 2000
Photo by Rich Anderson 
Erstad was leading off at DH for the Angels against the Twins, when he opened the bottom of the first with a home run off Minnesota starter Mark Redman and ended it in the bottom of the eleventh with a home run off Twins’ reliever Eddie Guardado. They were Erstad’s 15th and 16th homer runs in a season in which he would hit 25 round trippers and drive in 100 runs (.355 average in 157 games). Erstad ended a 14-season MLB career with a .282 average and 124 home runs. That 2000 season was the only year he would hit 20 or more round trippers.
Reed Johnson, RF-Blue Jays, June 15, 2003
The Blue Jays’ RF Reed Johnson was not exactly a household name when he became the first (and still only) MLB rookie to hit a game-opening and game-closing home run in the same contest. His Blue Jays were taking on the Cubs, when he opened the Toronto offense with a lead-off home run and then ended the game – a 5-4 Toronto win – with a second blast in the bottom of the tenth. They were Johnson’s fifth and sixth home runs of a season in which he would hit just ten dingers. Reed played 13 MLB seasons, hitting .279, with 65 home runs (a high of 12 in 2006) and drive in 408.
Ian Kinsler, 2B-Rangers, July 19, 2009
Photo by Keith Allison
One of two still active players on this list, Kinsler had his lead-off/walk-off day against the Twins – belting a home run to left-center in the bottom of the first and another to left (a two-run shot) in the bottom of the twelfth (giving the Rangers a 5-3 win). They were his 21st and 22nd homer runs in a season in which he would belt 31. (Kinsler has topped 20 home runs in five of his 12 MLB seasons. He is playing this, his 13th MLB season, with the Angels.) As of this posting, Kinsler has a .272 career average, with 236 home runs, 844 RBI and 228 stolen bases.
Chris Young, CF-Diamondbacks, August 7, 2010
Young, playing this season with the Angels, hit his bookend home runs against the Padres. He started the D-backs’ scoring, opening the offense with (of course) a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first. The D-backs built a 5-0 lead over the first four innings, but the Padres came back with three in the sixth and two in the top of the ninth to tie it up. Young ended the suspense, leading off the bottom of the ninth by hitting a 1-2 pitch into the left-field stands. He is the only player to hit lead-off and walk-off home runs in a game that did not go extra innings. They were his 18th and 19th round trippers of the season – a campaign in which he would hit 27 long balls. Young has hit 20 or more home runs in four seasons (he is in his 13th MLB season) and stolen 20 or more bases in threecampaigns.
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