'Gibby, meet Freddie!' Two hobbled Dodgers, two iconic walk-off home runs
Brent Maguire
@bmags94The parallels between Freddie Freeman¡¯s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series and Kirk Gibson¡¯s walk-off two-run homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series are uncanny.
For starters, both Dodgers stars were not playing at 100% when they hit their pivotal walk-off home runs in the first game of their respective World Series at Dodger Stadium. In Freeman¡¯s case, it¡¯s a right ankle sprain that¡¯s hobbled him for weeks and forced him out of the starting lineup multiple times during the NLCS. And for Gibson, he had a severely injured left hamstring and right knee that kept him out of the ¡®88 Fall Classic outside of that lone pinch-hit home run.
The comparisons don¡¯t stop there. Both of them were hit into a very similar part of the right-field stands, both came with two outs in the inning, and in both cases the rally got started with a walk. There have been only three World Series walk-off home runs for a team that was trailing: Freeman¡¯s, Gibson¡¯s and Joe Carter¡¯s for the Blue Jays in 1993.
As Freeman¡¯s ball left the yard at Chavez Ravine on Friday, FOX Sports MLB and Dodgers¡¯ lead play-by-play broadcaster Joe Davis paid homage to another legendary announcer and the longtime Dodgers voice he succeeded in 2017.
¡°She is gone,¡± Davis said, a call back to Vin Scully¡¯s same exclamation for Gibson¡¯s home run in ¡®88. ¡°Gibby, meet Freddie!¡±
You might remember the rest of Scully's iconic call: "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."
Well, the impossible just happened again, 36 years later. How can you not be romantic about baseball?