walk-off

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 11 May 2000, Tom Dalzell wrote:

> Paul Dickson has cites in 1994 and 1995 for the term and variations on
> the term.  He writes that the term was coined by Dennis Eckersley, who
> gave up one of the most famous walk-off home runs in the history of the
> game.

The evidence clearly supports Dickson's theory.  The earliest citation I
can readily find is the following:

1988 _Gannett News Service_ 30 July  In Eckersley's colorful vocabulary, a
walk-off piece is a home run that wins the game and the pitcher walks off
the mound.


Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2