Our favorite time of year is finally here… it's October! Not only do we have the whimsical New York Comic Con at the top of the month, but now that the Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close, postseason play is underway.

Last season provided us with many memorable moments, with none bigger than the Houston Astros bringing the state of Texas its first ever Commissioner's Trophy as World Series Champions. When you take into account the devastation that Hurricane Harvey brought to Houson last year, the Astros' seven-game World Series victory (which featured arguably one of baseball's wildest games in Game 5) is definitely all the more gratifying.

Couple that with the Wild Card-winning Yankees' incredible postseason run (which included knocking off the 102-win Cleveland Indians), and the 104-win LA Dodgers making their first World Series appearance since 1988, and it was, without a doubt, a great October in 2017.

With the 2018 edition of playoff baseball starting, it's always fun to reminisce about postseasons gone by. To recall incredibly memorable moments, and then wonder what's going happen this time around to join the ranks…what could be better? So as we did in 2015 and 2017, let's talk about postseason home runs you may have forgotten.

1. Donn Clendenon, 1969 World Series, Game 2

It's really hard to emphasize just how important Donn Clendenon was to the Mets in the 1969 World Series. And if it weren't for a series of topsy-turvy circumstances, he may have never become a Met in the first place.

A Pittsburgh Pirate from 1961 to 1968, Clendenon was dealt to the expansion Montreal Expos in the winter of '68 as part of the league's expansion draft (with four new teams entering the league in 1969). But before playing a game for Montreal, he was sent to the Houston Astros, where Clendenon refused to play for manager Harry Walker due to his alleged racism. Thus he ended up back in Montreal, until a move sent him to the New York Mets at the June trade deadline.

Anyway, Clendenon was really acquired to platoon with Mets incumbent first baseman Ed Kranepool—thus he never even took an at-bat in the Mets NLCS victory over the Atlanta Braves. That all changed in the World Series. After dropping Game 1 to the Baltimore Orioles, Clendenon gave the Mets an early lead in Game 2 with a 4th inning solo home run. That would end up being monumental as the Mets would win Game 2 by a slim 2-1 margin.

The Mets ended up not losing another game in the series, en route to their first World Series title. Clendenon would end up hitting three home runs in the Series, taking home MVP honors along the way. In all three games in which Clendenon went yard, the Mets won by either one or two runs. That's how vital an acquisition Donn was for the club in 1969.

2. Scott Leius, 1991 World Series, Game 2

Let me start by saying the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins is one of the best of all time. The number of classic moments and heroes in that Series is remarkable, and I wish I could do a whole blog post on that Fall Classic alone. From Kirby Puckett, to Queens-bred Gene Larkin, to Jack Morris, to Chuck Knoblauch's little deke, to Kent Hrbek'… little stunt, the 1991 Series had it all.

But one guy who doesn't get talked about is Scott Leius. Born in Yonkers, Leius played in 109 games for the Minnesota Twins in 1991, but only accrued 235 plate appearances that year, to the tune of a useful .286/.378/.417 slash. However, in the '91 World Series, Leius would pick up his biggest hit of the season (and, who're we kidding, his life).

Leius came to the plate in Game 2 to face Tom Glavine, with the game knotted at 2. Leius drove Glavine's first pitch up over the plexiglass wall in left field to give the Twins a 3-2 lead they would never surrender. The World Series wasn't decided until the 7th and final game, in an extra 10th frame, but without Leius' Game 2 heroics, the Twins may have never reached that classic Game 7. 

3. Mark Bellhorn, 2004 ALCS, Game 6

Similar to the 1991 World Series, the 2004 American League Championship Series was one of those playoff series you never forget. With a seemingly endless list of unforgettable moments and heroes, the series made me feel lucky to have been alive and locked in when it was going down. There was incredible drama everywhere.

Fighting for a spot in the 2004 World Series, The New York Yankees jumped out to a commanding three-games-to-none lead over their nemesis Boston Red Sox. While all seemed lost, Boston pulled out Game 4. Then they pulled out Game 5 in 14 innings (with help of a forgotten moment which, if it had not happened, would have changed history forever). Boston, basically playing with house money, traveled to the Bronx for Game 6 hoping to perform the unthinkable.

Fast forward to the game's 4th inning. Boston has a 1-0 lead with 2 Red Sox on base, for 2nd baseman Mark Bellhorn. Bellhorn tattooed a Jon Lieber offering off the hands of a fan sitting in the first row of the left field bleachers. Initially not ruled a home run, it took a dispute from manager Terry Francona and an umpire huddle-up for the ruling on the field to be righted. It was a gigantic 3-run home run for Bellhorn, the Red Sox would win 4-2, and you know the rest: The unforgettable 2004 Boston Red Sox became the first ballclub to overcome a 3-0 game deficit to win a series, and would go on to break the Curse of the Bambino, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight games. 

4. Mickey Mantle, 1952 World Series, Game 6

Let's take a trip back in time. The 1952 World Series pitted bitter rivals against one another, the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The two teams traded victories through the first five games, with Brooklyn winning an extra-inning affair in Game 5 on the strength of a Duke Snider RBI double. This put the Yankees' backs against the wall, down three games to two.

In Game 6 at Ebbets Field, Mantle came to the plate in the 8th inning with the Yankees hanging on to a 2-1 lead. He clubbed a solo shot over the wall in right off of Vic Raschi, an insurance run to put the Yankees up, 3-1. Brooklyn answered when Snider went yard in the bottom half of the frame, but that would do it for the scoring. The Yankees eked out the 3-2 victory to force a Game 7, in which they broke the see-saw battle and won 4-2. In that Game 7, Mantle collected his 2nd career World Series home run, Billy Martin made a huge play in the infield, and Casey Stengel's squad took home their 4th straight World Series title, and 5th in 6 years. An absolutely dominant stretch for the Bronx Bombers. 

5. Rick Monday, 1981 NLCS, Game 5

Let's conclude this year's list with an absolute classic! It was October 19, 1981, a day forever known in Canada as Blue Monday, all thanks to Rick Monday. Let's review.

1981 was a messy Major League Baseball season, interrupted on June 12th due to a players' strike and then resuming again in August. The owners decided to split the season into two halves; not fair to a couple of teams, but that's a story for another time. (The book Split Season by Jeff Katz is a fantastic summary of exactly how 1981 ended up breaking down.)

For the sake of our blog post, just know the Montreal Expos and LA Dodgers met in that season's National League Championship, especially meaningful to the Expos fan base and city of Montreal, since postseason success had completely eluded the franchise up to this point. But in their 13th season of existence, the Expos found themselves in a winner-take-all Game 5 at Olympic Stadium, with the score tied 1-1 in the top of the 9th. Expos manager Jim Fanning turned to stalwart Steve Rogers to take the mound. Rogers had earned a complete-game victory in Game 3, and would later become the Montreal Expos' all-time winningest pitcher with 158 wins. However on this day, his good fortune would not be present.

Rogers retired the first two batters in that 9th inning before Rick Monday came to the plate. Monday hit a flyball to center that kept carrying and carrying, bringing center fielder Andre Dawson to the wall, until it flew beyond it. That home run was the nail in the coffin for the '81 Expos , as they'd lose, 2-1. It would be the franchise's final postseason appearance until 2012, seven years after they left Montreal for Washington DC, and 31 years after Blue Monday.
 

For more books on the beautiful game of baseball, please check out the NYPL catalog's extensive offerings. Enjoy the playoffs!