Dennis Eckersley coined the term "walk-off" homerun..

...and then in a cruel twist of fate - had the ultimate walk-off a few months later...

The first use of the term “walk-off” occurred on July 30, 1988, in the Gannett News Service: ”In Dennis Eckersley’s colorful vocabulary, a walkoff piece is a home run that wins the game and the pitcher walks off the mound.”

What’s fascinating about the original usage, of course, is that Eckersley meant for the word to have a negative connotation, not a positive one. It was not about the celebrating team walking off of the field after winning the game, but rather it was about the losing pitcher having to walk off the field knowing that he just blew the game.

In 1988, Dennis Eckersley pitched 72 innings as a reliever but only allowed 5 homeruns all year.

And was the ALS MVP.

Until... LINK

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