The Yankees’ 28 greatest home runs of the last 28 years
The Yankees have finished with a winning record in each of the past 28 seasons, and there have been some epic moments along the way.
Most of those came in the form of home runs at Yankee Stadium — plus one very memorable home run in Atlanta — but what were the very best of those home runs?
It was tough to rank all of these, and there were certainly some good ones left out, but here are my 28 favorite home runs of the last 28 years.
28. Gleyber Torres — 2018 regular season game
This May 2018 game was nuts. It was the first start of Domingo German’s career, and he threw six no-hit innings before he was pulled to start the seventh inning with the game tied 0–0. The Indians took a 4–0 lead in the eighth, but the Yankees scored three in the eighth and one in the ninth, bringing Torres to the plate with the score tied 4–4.
Torres, the Yankees biggest prospect in decades, had made his major league debut two weeks earlier and had hit his first home run two days earlier. He could have won the game with a base hit, but instead launched a homer into the bullpen that sent his teammates into a frenzy.
27. Aaron Judge — 2018 AL Wild Card game
Judge has hit 130 home runs for the Yankees (regular season + postseason), and this one is the most memorable. With the Yankees back in the Wild Card Game for the second year in a row and third time in four years, Judge set the tone in the first inning with a two-run bomb off Liam Hendriks. The Yankees went on to win 7–2.
26. Mark Teixeira — 2016 regular season game
This walk-off grand slam was a bright spot in one of the Yankees’ worst seasons in the last 26 years. The Red Sox clinched the division during this game thanks to a Blue Jays loss, and led 3–1 going into the bottom of the ninth. But Teixeira spoiled the Sox’ celebration with this grand slam for the final home run of his career. Quite the way to go out.
25. Jason Giambi — 2002 regular season game
Giambi started slow during his first season with the Yankees, but fans’ perception of the high-paid slugger changed with this walk-off grand slam in the 14th inning. The Twins had scored three runs in the top of the 14th before Giambi came up clutch in the rain with the bases loaded.
24. Alex Rodriguez — 2015 regular season game
A-Rod became the 29th member of the 3,000-hit club with this first-inning home run off Justin Verlander. He also become one of just three players to homer for their 3,000th career hit. This milestone came one year after A-Rod was suspended for the entire 2014 season for using performance-enhancing drugs.
23. Greg Bird — 2017 ALDS Game 3
Remember Greg Bird? He was actually a pretty good player when he was healthy, and he saved the Yankees’ season in Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS when he cranked a home run down the right field line off the unhittable Andrew Miller in the seventh inning. That was the only run of the game for either team, and the Yankees went on to win games 4 and 5 to win the series.
22. Alex Rodriguez — 2010 regular season game
In 2007, A-Rod hit a first inning home to join the 500-home run club. In 2010, he hit another first-inning home run to join an even more illustrious group. He became the seventh player to ever hit 600 career home runs (there are now nine), and he’s still the youngest player to ever reach that milestone.
21. Hideki Matsui — 2003 home opener
Matsui came to the Yankees with incredible hype, and he endeared himself to the fan base almost immediately. The Babe Ruth of Japan came up to bat with the bases loaded in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ home opener, and launched a grand slam for the first home run of his American career. He went on to hit 140 home runs in seven seasons with the Yankees.
20. Hideki Matsui — 2009 World Series Game 6
Matsui’s final home game as a Yankee was even more memorable than his first, as he opened the scoring in Game 6 of the World Series with a home run off longtime Yankees nemesis Pedro Martinez. It was the start of a 3-for-4, 6 RBI performance for Matsui as the Yankees clinched the World Series title and Matsui earned the World Series MVP.
19. Raul Ibanez — 2012 ALDS Game 3
In a tense 2012 ALDS against the Orioles, Ibanez came up huge to put the Yankees up 2–1 in the series. Pinch hitting for a struggling A-Rod with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Ibanez hit a solo home run to tie the game. About an hour later, he led off the 12th inning by hitting the first pitch he saw into the second deck in right field.
18. Didi Gregorius — 2017 AL Wild Card Game
Aside from a 3–0 loss in the 2015 Wild Card Game, the Yankees hadn’t made the playoffs since 2012. This Wild Card game started off terribly, as the Yankees trailed 3–0 after the first half inning. But Didi changed all that with this three-run blast in the bottom of the first that made the stadium shake like it hadn’t shaken in several years. The Yankees went on to win the game, and haven’t missed the playoff since.
17. Alex Rodriguez — 2009 ALDS Game 2
Until this moment, A-Rod was looked at as a great player who always came up small in the postseason. But this two-run home run to tie Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS against the Twins sparked a playoff run in which A-Rod went 19-for-52 with six home runs and 18 RBIs. Matsui was the MVP of the World Series, but A-Rod was the MVP of the Yankees entire playoff run.
16. Mark Teixeira — 2009 ALDS Game 2
A-Rod’s game-tying home run wouldn’t mean much if not for this walk-off homer by Teixeira a couple innings later. Teixeira didn’t have a great 2009 postseason at the plate — though he was tremendous in the field — but this home run set the Yankees on their way to the title.
15. Bernie Williams — 1999 ALCS Game 1
The Yankees dominated during the 1999 postseason, going 11–1 on the way to winning the World Series, and the most dramatic win of that run came in Game 1 of the ALCS. Playing against the rival Red Sox, the Yankees tied the game in the seventh inning before Bernie walked it off in the 10th.
14. Chad Curtis — 1999 World Series Game 3
Speaking of the 1999 team, Curtis pretty much cemented the Yankees as World Series champions with this home run to break a 5–5 tie in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 3 against the Braves. The Yankees had already won the first two games, and ended up sweeping the series the following night.
You know it’s been a great 28 years when a World Series walk-off barely makes the top half of the list.
13. Don Mattingly — 1995 ALDS Game 2
The Yankees did not reach the postseason during the first 13 years of Don Mattingly’s career, but finally made it in his final year. When he hit this home run to put the Yankees ahead of the Mariners in the sixth inning, the fans absolutely lost their minds. “Hang onto the roof!” was one of Phil Rizzuto’s greatest home run calls.
12. Jim Leyritz — 1995 ALDS Game 2
After Mattingly’s home run, Game 2 of the ALDS lasted long into the night until Leyritz finally ended it with a two-run homer in the 15th inning. His dinger sent the Yankees to Seattle with a 2–0 series lead, and even though they lost the series 3–2, this game really put the Yankees back on the map as title contenders.
11. Derek Jeter — 2011 regular season game
Some things could only ever happen to Derek Jeter. This was one of them. Needing two hits to reach 3,000 for his career, Jeter hit a first-inning single, then launched a third-inning home run off David Price to reach the milestone. He ended up going 5-for-5 in the game and came through with the winning hit in the eighth inning.
“History! With an exclamation point!” might be Michael Kay’s best home run call ever.
10. Derek Jeter — 1996 ALCS Game 1
OK, maybe it’s not a “great” home run, but it’s certainly a memorable one. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Jeter hit a long fly ball to right field off Armando Benitez, and Tony Tarasco appeared set to make a catch at the wall. But 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier of Old Tappan, N.J. stuck his glove out to grab it.
The umpires missed the fan interference and — with no instant replay at the time — the hit was ruled a home run, tying the game at 4. Tarasco and manager Davey Johnson went nuts, but there was nothing they could do to change the call.
Maier went on to become a pretty good ball player, breaking the career hits record at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 2006. (His record has since been broken.) If you’re wondering what he’s up to now, check out his recent interview with Sweeney Murti.
9. Bernie Williams — 1996 ALCS Game 1
The Jeffrey Maier Game wouldn’t have become the Jeffrey Maier Game if the Yankees had lost the game. After Jeter’s home run tied the game in the eighth, Bernie won it with this long home run down the left field line in the bottom of the 11th inning. That set the tone for the series, which the Yankees won in five games, their first AL pennant since 1981.
8. Alfonso Soriano — 2001 ALCS Game 4
Despite winning the previous three World Series, the Yankees were the underdogs in the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, which had won a record 116 games during the regular season. But there was something special about this Yankees team, which reached the ALCS by overcoming a 2–0 deficit in the ALDS against the A’s.
In the ALCS, the Yankees won games 1 and 2 in Seattle before being blown out at home in Game 3. A lot hinged on the outcome of this Game 4, which was tied 0–0 after seven innings. Both teams hit solo home runs in the eighth inning (Bret Boone and Bernie Williams), setting up this walk-off two-run shot by Soriano in the bottom of the ninth.
The Yankees went on to clinch the series the following night, winning the AL pennant for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in six years.
7. David Justice — 2000 ALCS Game 6
A year earlier, Justice basically sent the Yankees to the World Series with this moonshot in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Mariners. The Yankees, leading 3–2 in the series, trailed 4–0 early in this game. Justice’s dinger put the Yankees up 6–4, and they tacked on three more runs later that inning en route to a 9–7 win to clinch the series.
Justice was a trade deadline addition for the Yankees, coming to the team in exchange for Jake Westbrook, Zach Day, and Ricky Ledée. The move helped the Yankees get back to the World Series, where they beat the Mets in five games for their third World Series title in a row and fourth in five years.
6. Tino Martinez — 1998 World Series Game 1
No team has ever won more games in a season (regular season + postseason) than the 1998 Yankees, and the trademark of that team was big rallies in the late innings. One of the most epic rallies of the entire season came in the seventh inning of Game 1 of the World Series against the San Diego Padres.
The Yankees trailed 5–2 entering the bottom of the inning, before Chuck Knoblauch hit a three-run home run to tie the game and send the fans into a frenzy. And if you think the stadium got loud after that home run, it was nothing compared to the moment later that inning when Tino launched a grand slam into the upper deck in right field to put the Yankees up 9–5.
The Yankees went on to win the game 9–6 on the way to sweeping the series.
5. Jim Leyritz — 1996 World Series Game 4
It’s the only home run on this last that didn’t happen in Yankee Stadium, but it’s one of the great home runs in Yankees history.
No one expected the Yankees to win the 1996 World Series against the defending champion Atlanta Braves, especially after the Yankees lost games 1 and 2 at home. And no one expected the Yankees to overcome a 6–0 deficit in Game 4, but they scored three runs in the sixth inning before Leyritz hit this three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game up at 6.
The Yankees went on to win the game, 8–6, in 10 innings, then carried that momentum to wins in games 5 and 6 to clinch their first championship since 1981.
4. Tino Martinez — 2001 World Series Game 4
Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim had been dominant in the first two rounds of the postseason, but he didn’t face the Yankees until Game 4 because Arizona won games 1 and 2 handily and the Yankees led the whole way in Game 3.
When he did, he gave up one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history as Tino hit this two-run, game-tying homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. This was just the start of two magical nights at Yankee Stadium.
3. Derek Jeter — 2001 World Series Game 4
Thanks to Tino’s game-tying home run, the Yankees were still playing when the clock struck midnight on Nov. 1 as Jeter walked to the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning.
In the first November plate appearance in World Series history, Jeter worked a nine-pitch at-bat and hit Kim’s final pitch just over the right field. As the Yankees celebrated, a well-prepared fan held up a sign that read “Mr. November,” and the nickname stuck for the rest of Jeter’s career.
2. Aaron Boone — 2003 ALCS Game 7
The 2003 ALCS came at the height of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and featured absolutely everything. There were seven close games (all decided by four runs or fewer), a benches clearing brawl (which included 72-year-old Don Zimmer charging Pedro Martinez), and an epic comeback in Game 7.
After the Yankees scored three runs to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, Boone — the most unlikely hero — hit this walk-off home run to clinch the series in bottom of the 11th. Boone had entered the game as a pinch runner for Ruben Sierra, who pinch hit for Enrique Wilson in the eighth inning.
Boone, who is of course now the Yankees’ manager, hit the walk-off home run with his brother Bret calling the game in the booth.
1. Scott Brosius — 2001 World Series Game 5
The Yankees lost the 2001 World Series, but the three games played at Yankee Stadium were nothing short of magical. And Brosius’ game-tying home run with the Yankees down 2–0 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs was the most magical moment of them all.
The Yankees offense looked dead all night, much like it had the previous night before Tino’s two-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. The fact that the Yankees managed to hit another game-tying, two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, on a second night in a row, was something that could only happen in Yankee Stadium.
Few things in Yankees history top the three home games they won in this series not even two months after the 9/11 attacks. And this home run was the defining moment of those three games. (The Yankees ended up winning the game in the 12th inning on an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano, taking a 3–2 lead in the series.)
