Baseball is a game full of rare feats. No hitters, perfect games, triple plays; the list goes on. There are events that are seemingly common but have never happened before — a Padres no hitter or a Marlins cycle, for example.
But then there are events which are the opposite: those that seem extremely rare or seemingly have never occurred, but in fact, have.
And one of those events occurred last night, August 28, 2020.
Picture this scene: it is baseball in 2020, which already raises red flags. The Mets are playing two games at Yankee Stadium as part of a doubleheader, due to the previous games being postponed due to Mets’ positive COVID cases. The games are seven innings only, as all doubleheaders in 2020 have been. And the Mets are the home team for the second game, despite being in Yankee Stadium. Add up all these factors, and you get the weirdness that is 2020 baseball.
Now, the Yankees dropped the first game after Chad Green gave up five runs, allowing the Mets to take the lead on three home runs. Now, it is Game Two and the Mets are the home team. The possibility of the Mets walking off on the Yankees in their own ballpark was there, but it was slim.
And of course, it ended up happening. In the bottom of the seventh, the final inning, Aroldis Chapman surrendered a two-run blast that put the Mets up for good, allowing them to walk off on the Yankees… in their own ballpark.
Immediately, I became intrigued about this event: one of the rarest in baseball history, so rare than many had not known it had ever happened until last night. However, it turns out, the wacky event of a team getting walked off upon in their own stadium has, in fact, occurred before.
According to SNY beat writer Anthony DiComo, this rare feat also occurred on May 12, 1899, when Ed McKean for the St. Louis Perfectos walked off on the Cleveland Spiders at their own ballpark. Additionally, it happened on May 21, 1906, when the Philadelphia Phillies walked off on the Cardinals, at Robison Field in St. Louis.
Additionally, according to baseball analytics and stats guru Katie Sharp, the rare feat actually occurred somewhat recently: on July 9, 2009, the Nationals walked off on the Astros in Houston on a walkoff after resuming a suspended game from May 5 at Nationals Park, in which the Nationals were (obviously) the home team.
Thus, the historic achievement of a visiting team walking off on the home team in their own ballpark has occurred not once — last night — but four times total: in 1899, 1906, 2009, and now 2020.
For this feat to occur, the conditions must be so right and so specific that it’s actually quite shocking this has happened before. But given the wild and weird nature of baseball (and sports… and everything in general) in 2020, this is hardly a shocker.
And that’s baseball, Suzyn.
Chris is a writer and publisher who travels America, and loves doing it. He also loves pizza, video games, and sports, and can tell you a thing or two about each. Follow him on Medium to be informed of new articles.
