At long last, we have reached the end of the 2019 Major League Baseball regular season, and it is time for the playoffs. It's that point on the baseball calendar when players can make the biggest impact not only on their individual careers, but on the history of their franchises—and, in some cases, even the history of the city they're playing in. 

This is the best time of year if you're a baseball fan: each game is under a microscope, and players can quickly become heroes or scapegoats. But because we're a positive-thinking lot here at The New York Public Library (yes,  we have acknolwedged the game's greatest flubs), let's focus on the accomplishments.

We're remembering home runs you may have forgotten or haven't even known about. Let's go back in time and recollect some of the game's most memorable long balls from postseason play.

Jorge Posada, 2001 American League Division Series, Game 3

The Yankees were facing the Oakland A's, on the brink of elimination after losing the first two games of the series at Yankee Stadium. Game 3 is remembered, first and foremost, for Derek Jeter making an amazing throw to Jorge Posada known as  "The Flip", nailing the A's Jeremy Giambi at home plate in the seventh inning, on a play where Giambi didn't bother to slide. It's become an iconic play that kept the Yankees 1-0 lead intact—and that run that came via an earlier home run by Posada off Athletics starter Barry Zito (check out Zito's new biography right here!)

That Posada homer ended up the only run surrendered by Zito over eight innings of work, and the only run scored in the game. 2019 Hall of Fame inductees Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera kept Oakland off the board, and that 1-0 victory was the first of three wins the Yankees would string together, coming back from the dead to bounce the A's from the playoffs. Who knows what happens if Posada doesn't go yard? Perhaps the Yankees don't reach the World Series in a year where the city really needed it (the September 11 terror attacks were a month earlier). It was quite the important home run. 

Roberto Alomar, 1992 American League Championship Series, Game 4

When I think of Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, I generally recall three things in particular: his infamous blown save in the first game of the 1988 World Series (sorry Eck!); the 1990 season, during which he achieved a microscopic 0.61 ERA; and his dominant 1992 season, winning both the American League Cy Young and MVP awards. However, in 1992, Eckersley would blow another crucial save opportunity in the postseason, this time against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. In Game 4, Toronto entered the top of the ninth inning down 6-4 (after having been down 6-1), with Eckersley on to earn the save and tie the series at two games apiece. It did not happen.

Devon White led off the frame with a single, followed by Roberto Alomar clubbing a two-run homer to knot the score at 6. In extra innings, Toronto would scratch across a run in the 11th inning on a Pat Borders sacrifice fly, and Toronto would take a 3-1 game series lead, en route to an ALCS win and a World Series victory, the first in the history of Canada. Alomar would win the ALCS MVP award and Borders would be named World Series MVP.

Bert Campaneris, 1973 American League Championship Series, Game 3

You'd never know it from the way today's bullpen pitchers are utilized but, back in the day, starters used to rack up complete games. In 2019, the complete game is almost extinct. But in Game 3 of the 1973 ALCS, between the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A's, you would find two starters both on their games and refusing to come out of the game! (Oakland has a lot of representation on this year's list, and here are some books that capture their storied history.)

Baltimore starter Mike Cuellar and Oakland starter Ken Holtzman both went above the call of duty, pitching into extra innings after throwing a full nine, with the score locked at 1-1. Holtzman retired the O's 1-2-3 in the top of the 11th inning; your move, Mr. Cuellar. Unfortunately for the lefthander from Cuba, things did not go his way. Up to the plate strode A's shortstop, and Cuellar's countryman, Bert Campaneris. Two pitches later, Campy took Cuellar yard to lift the A's to a 2-1 win, and a 2-1 game lead in the series. Oakland would go on to win the ALCS and their second consecutive World Series championship. (Sadly for us, there is no available footage of Campy's home run.)

Larry Doby, 1948 World Series, Game 4

A few years ago, I read A Summer to Remember and learned so much about the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians. I learned about starting pitcher Gene Bearden, who had an absolutely magical rookie season at age 27, winning 20 ballgames, finishing second to Alvin Dark in the Rookie of the Year voting, pitching 10-2/3 scoreless innings in the World Series, and then totally dropping off for the rest of his career, out of baseball by age 33. I learned about the great 1948 World Series between the Indians and the Boston Braves, especially one notable play in Game 1: Umpire Bill Stewart blew a call on a pickoff try at second base, keeping should-have-been-out Phil Masi on the basepaths for the Braves. Masi would score on a Tommy Holmes RBI single, leading to a 1-0 win for the Braves.

But most important, I learned about Larry Doby, the American League's first African American ballplayer (read more about him here). In the '48 Fall Classic, Doby left his mark on the game of baseball, homering off Johnny Sain in the third inning of Game 4, turning Cleveland's 1-0 lead into a 2-0 lead. It was the first World Series home run ever by an African American ballplayer, and it would be the difference in the ballgame, as Cleveland bested Boston, 2-1. The 1948 Indians would prevail in six games, the last time the Indians have been to the top of baseball valhalla.

Bernie Carbo,  1975 World Series, Game 6

Where do I begin this one? Let's start off by saying the 1975 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox is arguably the greatest World Series ever played. There's Ken Griffey's clutch hit in Game 2 of the series. Crazy Game 3, from Dwight Evans' 9th inning game-tying home run to the Ed Armbrister possible interference incident, leading to Joe Morgan's heroics. But the 1975 World Series featured maybe the greatest game ever played: Game 6, with its defining moment being the famous home run that Sox catcher Carlton Fisk "waved" fair. It's one of the most recognizable and iconic plays of of all time.

However, that home run may have never happened without another huge hit earlier in the ballgame. Like Jeter's flip overshadowing Posada's home run, Fisk's signature moment has done the same for what Bernie Carbo did in Game 6. Carbo came off the bench to pinch hit for Sox reliever Roger Moret in the bottom of the eighth inning, with two runners aboard. The Red Sox were losing by three runs and, down 3 games to 2 in the series, were four outs away from going home for the winter. But Carbo hit a 2-2 pitch from the Reds' Rawly Eastwick way over the Fenway Park centerfield wall to send the Boston faithful into a frenzy, and set the stage for Fisk's 12th inning blast. It's a home run that seems to have been forgotten over time.

Hopefully we have your refreshed your memories, or introduced you to big hits you may never have known about. Enjoy the 2019 postseason! 

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