What’s the Most Memorable Home Run in Nationals Franchise History?
‘waiting for Adam’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′
I was reading Craig Calcaterra’s piece on each franchise’s most memorable home runs, and I felt a little disappointed as he blew right through the history of the Nats and the long ball:
Nationals
Whether you include the Expos or just go with the Nats, I’m struggling to think of a single truly memorable home run by this franchise. I looked up every memorable moment in each team’s history and none of them involved home runs. I think Jonah Keri is gonna have to help me out here.
I can think of two that at least deserve mention, but would love to open this one up to the crowds. My two votes:
- Opening Night, 2008 – Ryan Zimmerman walks-off the Braves on the first night of the new Nationals Park on a Sunday night in front of a national audience.
- Father’s Day, 2006 – Zimmerman, again, leads the Nats over the Yankees in a final at-bat homer at RFK.
Any other votes?
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9 Responses to “What’s the Most Memorable Home Run in Nationals Franchise History?”
May 19th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
I go with either:
1) Zim’s walkoff in the home opener at Nats Park
2) Zim’s walkoff on July 31, 2010 against the Phillies in a 7-5 win in front of 38,000 fans (too many of them from Philly). That was one of my most memorable moments as a Nats fan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/31/AR2010073103251.html
May 19th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
What about Wil Nieves?
May 19th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
@WFY: Who?
May 19th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Mudflap: That Phillies game was a hell of a time! I was in the stadium for that, and it was oh so sweet to rag on the Phillie fans on the way out.
And I would say the Zimmerman Nats Park home opener is the most memorable dinger.
May 19th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
I certainly wouldn’t say that this is _the_ most memorable one in franchise history, but one HR that has always stuck with me was a 2005 12th inning go-ahead shot by Brian Schneider at Wrigley. It was a Sunday afternoon game shortly before the All Star break, and was the Nats’ 6th win in a row — I remember Mel Proctor and Ron Darling absolutely flipping out about it.
The Nats got to 50-31 with that win, and led the division by 3 or 4 games, I think. Anyway, the success ended up being mostly smoke and mirrors, of course, but that was a really, really exciting time to be a Nats fan. Great memories.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200507030.shtml
May 19th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
When you enter the ballpark from the CF gate, there’s a huge photo of Z-man, getting the high fives.
Is that the Yankees one?
Also, iirc, Ian Desmond hit a walk off grand slam late Sep 2009?, the final home game of the season, to beat the Mets.
May 19th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
@Jay – That was Olney, Md. native Justin Maxwell (since DFA’d and picked up by the Yankees system). IIRC correctly, 3 out of the first 4 times he came up with the bases loaded, he homered. Too bad he didn’t get it together.
I’m still kicking myself for not attending that season ender
May 20th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Thanks WFY.
Also, on the Yankees game, someone said Spike Lee was in attendance and said an expletive when Z-man hit the homer!
May 22nd, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Calcaterra obviously put ZERO effort into his research.
The 2008 home opener walk-off and the R.F.K. walk-off by Zim against the Yankees (note: at the time, the largest crowd to attend a baseball game in Washington, D.C., the media reported) were both spectacular, high-drama moments; no Nats fan who attended either game will ever forget those sweet moments.