Lead Off Walk Off Home Runs In the Same Game
This is an extremely rare event in baseball history. As of 2022 it has happened just six times in history. The first occurrence came in on May 17, 1893 –Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Billy Hamilton became the first player to have hit both a leadoff and walk-off home run in the same game when he blasted a two-run round-tripper off Al Maul, giving the team an 11-9 victory over Washington at the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds.
Hamilton hit just 40 home runs over his 14-year career, and this was the only occurrence where he hit two in a single game. He was more known for his 914 steals and on base percentage of .455, which was higher than his .432 slugging percentage.
Vic Power becomes the first modern-day player to replicate the feat on May 7, 1957, Power will have four other multi-homerun games. It will be another 43 years until Darren Erstad does it on June 25, 2000, in the 11th inning. Reed Johnson will follow the feat on June 15, 2003, when he goes yard in the 10th inning for the Blue Jays.
Ian Kisner just six years later on July 19, 2009, and Chris Young matched his feat just 13 months later.
Young’s game came on a special day, the Diamondbacks were celebrating Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off hit in the 2001 World Series. The Dbacks played the video a dozen times during the game. Young gave them something else to remember: a highlight of his own; he started and ended the game with homers, book-end shots that gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a too-good-to-be-true 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres. ‘It was the perfect script,’ Young said after becoming the sixth player in history to lead off and end a game with a homer.
After Hamilton, Johnson came in 5th with just 65 career home runs and two multi-homerun games, Erstad had 124 career home runs and seven multi-homerun games, Power hit 126 home runs, Young hit 191 and also was the first Diamondback to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases, and had the first multi-home run game in franchise history in a playoff game in 2011, young also lead this pack with 15 multi homerun game The most prolific of the group was second baseman Ian Kinsler with 257 career home runs, hit over 30 twice, and he tallied 13 multi homerun games.
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