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The home run is considered by many baseball fans to be one of the most dramatic plays in the sport. The typical home run's trajectory carries it in the air for a few seconds, and there is often some question as to whether or not the batted ball will clear the outfield fence - by far the most common method for hitting a home run. Additionally, professional baseball possesses a long tradition of being broadcast on the radio, exclusively before and concurrently after the advent of television, leading to baseball announcers' use of colorful language and baseball statistics to keep the listeners informed and verbally "paint the picture" of what is happening in the game. The combination of these two aspects has led to a tradition of signature home run calls for radio and television.
Home run calls go back to the introduction of baseball broadcasting. Different announcers would establish unique ways to describe home runs in order to develop their individual style on the air, and would often incorporate familiar aspects of the players or the ballpark. This practice was adopted by advertisers during baseball broadcasts, who would often pay the team to instruct their announcer to incorporate the advertiser's product into the home run call, such as Mel Allen's call of "That's a Ballantine blast!", an advertisement for Ballantine beer. This practice was largely discontinued in the late 1950s, though teams and sponsors still occasionally attach promotions to the home run; for example, promising free tickets to a fan if a home run is hit during the inning.
In modern Major League Baseball broadcasting, most calls are still specific to the broadcaster, and many are humorous or idiosyncratic. Some are appropriate to the ballpark in which the home run is hit. And finally, there are a few specific home runs in baseball history which merit a list of their own. These categories are each treated separately below.
List of home run calls by broadcaster
Note that names of specific batters, fielders, pitchers, and other details such as the location of the batted ball, are filled in as needed and are not a constant part of the call.
Chris Berman: "Back, back, backbackbackbackback...gone!"
- Berman's call, originally meant as a light-hearted parody of other home run calls, has become famous in and of itself.
Jack Brickhouse: "Hey hey!" or "Whoo, boy! Next time around, bring me back my stomach!"
Rodger Brulotte: "Bonsoir, elle est partie!"
- Brulotte, an announcer for the Montreal Expos, is probably the only one to give his home run call in French.
Harry Caray: "It could be...it might be...it is! A home run!"
Ken Coleman: "They usually show movies on a flight like that!"
Leo Durocher: "Goodbye, Dolly Grey!"
Rob Faulds: "Whattaya think about that?"
Lanny Frattare: "Go, ball, get outta here!"
John Gordon: "Touch 'em all, Lew Ford!"
Wayne Hagan: "Adios!"
Ken "Hawk" Harrelson: "You can put it on the board...yes!"
Harry Hartman: "It's going, going...gone!"
- Hartman was probably the first to use this very common call.
Ernie Harwell: "Long gone!"
Russ Hodges: "Bye-bye, baby!"
- Hodges' more standard home run call, as opposed to the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", described below.
Harry Kalas: "Watch that baby...outta here!"
Michael Kay: "See ya!"
Jeff Kingery: "That ball is going and it ain't coming back!"
Duane Kuiper: "He hits high. He hits it deep. That ball is outta here..."
Frank Messer: "A-B-C-ya-later!"
Jon Miller: "Tell it goodbye!"
Eric Nadel: "That ball is history!"
Dave Neihaus: "Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, 'cause it's 'grand salami time'!"
- Neihaus's call applies to grand slam home runs.
Dan Patrick: "Gone."
- Patrick, who usually reviews sports highlights for ESPN rather than call the games live, deliberately deadpans this call for humorous effect.
Bob Prince: "Kiss it goodbye!" or "Spread some chicken on the Hill!"
- The colorful Prince, also nicknamed "The Gunner", would sometimes use the second phrase to exhort Pittsburgh Pirates players to hit home runs - specifically Willie Stargell, who, in addition to playing for the Pirates, owned a chicken restaurant in the Hill section of Pittsburgh, which gave free servings of chicken to all patrons when Stargell homered. In one game in 1971, when a Stargell home run would have benefitted the Pirates greatly, Prince amended his call to "Spread some chicken on the Hill, and send the Gunner the bill!" Stargell promptly hit a home run, and the restaurant was besieged with requests for free chicken. Prince, true to his word, paid the tab.
Michael Reghi: "A high fly ball hit to deep left. Took it to the track...to the wall... See...you...later!"
Dick Risenhoover: "Goodbye, baseball!"
Phil Rizzuto: "Holy Cow!"
- Harry Caray, listed separately, also made extensive use of this phrase.
Rosey Rowswell: "Open the window, Aunt Minnie, here it comes!"
- At least once, Rowswell's assistant, Bob Prince, broke a water glass in the background. Rowswell, without missing a beat, told his audience, "Aunt Minnie never made it..."
Greg Schulte: "Long drive...way back...warning track...wall...you can touch em' all, Eddie Murray!"
Stuart Scott: "Boo-yah!"
Vin Scully: "Forget it!"
Lon Simmons: "You can tell it goodbye!"
John Sterling: "Swung on and there it goes! That ball is high! It is far! It is........gone!"
Chuck Thompson: "Ain't the beer cold!"
Jerry Trupiano: "...swing and there it goes...light tower power for Manny Ramirez!"
Bob Uecker: "Get up, get outta here! Gone for Richie Sexson!"
List of home run calls by ballpark
Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards has inspired the expression "go yard" to describe hitting a home run there. "Melvin Mora went yard in the second inning off Martinez..." However, this expression is no longer unique to Camden Yards; it has become a generic term for hitting a home run.
Chicago, Illinois: Chicago's Waveland Avenue runs behind the center and right field fences at Wrigley Field, and well-hit home runs frequently end up falling onto the street, resulting in a call of "It's out on Waveland!" Chicago Cubs catcher Barry Foote once hit a home run which broke a window on the other side of Waveland from the stadium.
Kansas City, Missouri: To "go for the fountains" means to hit a deep home run at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium, which has a display of water fountains beyond the outfield fence.
Los Angeles, California: Bob Prince invented "Let's play some screen-o," referring to the left field screen which cordoned off a portion of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum while the Dodgers played there.
New York, New York: Yankee Stadium features a "park" of monuments to former Yankee players beyond the center field fence (originally an area that was in play). Players hitting home runs to center field have been said to "go for the monuments".
List of legendary home run calls in baseball history
| Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World"
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| Date | October 3, 1951
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| Game | Brooklyn Dodgers at New York Giants, 1951 National League Playoff Game
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| Opposing pitcher | Ralph Branca
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| Russ Hodges: "It's a long drive! That's gonna be it, I believe...the Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!...Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left field stands! The Giants win the pennant and they're going crazy! They're going crazy!! Hey, ho!!"
Perhaps the most famous individual home run call of all time, Hodges' jubilant, repetitive, emotional call, which completely dispensed with the broadcast standard that called for a certain amount of detached neutrality, became a catch phrase in American popular culture of the 1950s.
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| Carlton Fisk "waves" home run fair
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| Date | October 21, 1975
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| Game | Cincinnati Reds at Boston Red Sox, 1975 World Series, Game 6
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| Opposing pitcher | Pat Darcy
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| Dick Stockton: "There it goes! It's a long drive...if it stays fair...home run!"
Along with Aaron's home run, this became one of the first home runs to be known as much for its image on television as its call on the radio. Fisk's 12th-inning blast in this see-saw game (considered in many sports polls to be one of the most exciting baseball games of all time) went directly down the left field line at Fenway Park. Television camera operators missed a cue from the producer, so rather than tracking the flight of the ball, they instead stayed focused for a few extra, critical seconds on Fisk, who was only a few steps from home plate, frantically trying to "wave the ball fair". The power and drama of that image led to more "reaction shots" being incorporated into sports coverage.
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| Ozzie Smith puts the Cardinals in the World Series
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| Date | October 14, 1985
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| Game | Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 National League Championship Series, Game 7
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| Opposing pitcher | Tom Niedenfuer
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| Jack Buck: "Smith corks one into right down the line! It may go...! Go crazy, folks!! Go crazy!! It's a home run and the Cardinals have won the game by the score of 3-2 on a home run by the Wizard!"
The light-hitting Smith, who played mainly because of his exceptional skill as a fielder, for which he earned the nickname "The Wizard of Oz", was not expected to hit a home run at any time, much less in the ninth inning of a league championship game. Even more improbably, this was the first homer that the switch-hitting Smith had ever hit left-handed as a major-leaguer. Buck's call reflected the Cardinals' fans delirious disbelief.
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| Kirk Gibson's World Series pinch-hit homer
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| Date | October 15, 1988
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| Game | Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Dodgers, 1988 World Series, Game 1
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| Opposing pitcher | Dennis Eckersley
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| Jack Buck: "Unbelievable! Is this really happening? I don't believe what I just saw!"
Another dramatic and famous call by Buck. Gibson was badly injured in the National League Championship Series that year and was not expected to play at all. The drama of the confrontation - a ninth-inning showdown between the injured slugger and the best reliever in the game, capped with Gibson's limp around the basepaths following his right field blast - etched this moment in baseball history.
Vin Scully, the TV broadcaster for the game, gave an equally famous "call" of the scene by falling completely silent at the time Gibson's bat made contact, and remaining silent until he reached the plate, allowing the sounds and image to carry the impact of the moment.
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| Kirby Puckett's extra-inning walkoff homer
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| Date | October 26, 1991
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| Game | Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins, 1991 World Series, Game 6
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| Opposing pitcher | Charlie Leibrandt
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| Jack Buck: "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"
Yet another dramatic call by Buck. After the Twins won the first two games of the Series at home, the Braves put the Twins on the brink of elimination by sweeping the three games held in Atlanta. The series now returned to the deafening cauldron of the Metrodome.
Puckett turned the game into his personal showcase. In the third inning, he climbed the Plexiglas panel in left-center to rob the Braves' Ron Gant of a sure extra-base hit. Offensively, he sparked the Twins with a single, triple, sacrifice fly, stolen base, two total RBI, and one run scored. Despite his heroics, the game went into extra innings.
His performance during regulation was only a prelude to what would happen in extra innings. As the game entered the bottom of the 11th tied 3-3, Atlanta manager Bobby Cox sent Game 1 starter Charlie Leibrandt to face the heart of the Twins order. Leibrandt would not make it past Puckett, who led off that inning. Puckett hit a drive over the left-field wall to force Game 7, prompting Buck's now-famous call. The Twins went on to win an equally epic Game 7 behind Jack Morris' 10 shutout innings.
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| Mark McGwire breaks the single-season home run record
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| Date | September 8, 1998
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| Game | Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals
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| Opposing pitcher | Steve Trachsel
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| Joe Buck: "Down the left field line - is it enough? There it is, sixty-two! Touch first, Mark! You are the new single-season home run king!"
Oddly, McGwire, who was known for hitting extremely long, high blasts, hit a low line-drive that barely cleared the fence for his 62nd and shortest home run of the year, breaking the record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
In running the bases, McGwire nearly missed first base, accounting for Buck's call.
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External links
See also
References
Whiteford, Mike (1983). How to Talk Baseball. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-934878-21-8 (pbk.)
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