The most clutch performances in World Series history

Millions of children have dreamed of hitting a walk-off home run or pitching a shutout in the World Series, but only a select few have lived the dream. We've gone through hundreds of hours of tape and thousands of box scores to find the five most clutch performances in World Series history.

5. Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run (Game 1, 1988)

One of the indelible images in baseball history is Kirk Gibson pumping his fist as he hobbled around the bases, following his walk-off home run that won the Dodgers Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

 

Due to hamstring and knee injuries, it was the eventual NL MVP’s only at-bat in that fall classic. L.A. went on to win in five games over the A’s.

4. Luis Gonzalez’s game-winning single (Game 7, 2001)

The Yankees took a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning of Game 7 and brought in Mariano Rivera—one of the most clutch postseason performers in baseball history—to shut the door on the upstart Diamondbacks, who were in just their fourth year of existence. He took care of business in the eighth before Arizona began a last-gasp rally.

Rivera surrendered a single and committed a throwing error to quickly put two runners on in the ninth. One out later he allowed a game-tying double to Tony Womack, then hit Craig Counsell to load the bases. Luis Gonzalez came up and delivered a game-winning bloop single over shortstop Derek Jeter to give the Diamondbacks their only World Series title to date.

3. Christy Mathewson’s three complete-game shutouts (1905)

The Giants’ Madison Bumgarner had a memorable 2014 World Series, which included five shutout innings in relief on two days’ rest to win Game 7, but that was not even the best fall classic performance in his franchise’s history.

Christy Mathewson, universally regarded as one of the all-time greats, took the mound three times for the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series and recorded three complete-game shutouts in a span of just six days, an unthinkable feat in the modern age. “The Gentleman’s Hurler” allowed only 13 hits and one walk and struck out 18.

2. Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run (Game 7, 1960)

The Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski delivered arguably the most clutch hit in World Series history when he homered off the Yankees’ Ralph Terry to give Pittsburgh a series-clinching Game 7 victory in the 1960 World Series.

 

Mazeroski was never considered a power-hitter, amassing just 138 homers over 17 seasons, but the humble, defensive-minded second baseman came through when it mattered most.

1. Don Larsen’s perfect game (Game 5, 1956)

There have only been 23 perfect games in MLB history, and the Yankees’ Don Larsen is the only pitcher to throw one in postseason play—in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.

 

He flummoxed a Brooklyn Dodgers lineup that included Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella to give New York a 3-2 series lead going back to Ebbets Field, where they eventually clinched in Game 7.

Honorable Mention: Joe Carter’s walk-off home run (Game 6, 1993)

The Blue Jays trailed the Phillies 6-5 going into the ninth inning of Game 6, and Philadelphia’s closer, Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, was on the mound trying to get his team to Game 7. But Rickey Henderson walked and Paul Molitor singled to bring Joe Carter to the plate with a chance to be a hero.

 

Carter deposited Williams’ 2-2 offering over the left-field wall to become just the second player to ever end the World Series with a walk-off home run.