In the mid 80's in a baseball game that was either tied in the bottom of the 9th or in extra innings, a pitcher gave up a game winning home run. After the game while talking to reporters, the pitcher was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "as soon as I let go of the pitch I just walked off the mound". Obviously in reference to the fact that he knew the pitch was served on a platter to the hitter and the game was over. ESPN got a hold of this quote and did what they do to most other things they touch, they destroyed it. Game winning home runs became a thing of the past, they simply did not exist anymore. They were replaced by walk off home runs. ESPN turned a pitcher walking off the mound into the team walking off the field. They weren't done however, walk off home runs wasn't warping the quote enough. Next on their list was the removal of game winning hits, which of course became walk off hits. This just confuses the casual fan. Game winning home run and game wining hit are simple, direct, they tell the story. A home run or a hit that won the baseball game. To somebody who is not a big fan of the game or is trying to learn the game, the term walk off home run or walk off hit tells them nothing. What the heck is a walk off home run? What the heck is a walk off hit? ESPN is under the impression that the world of sports revolves around their station, and that everybody is familiar with phrases their anchors use.
It's also getting worse. I literally heard an ESPN anchor use the phrase "walk off walk". Incredible ! It's just a matter of time before we start hearing about walk off balks, walk off reached on errors, walk off stolen bases, walk off games called due to rain, or in the case of a recent game involving Cleveland's Shin-Soo Choo, walk off ball hit off a seagull. Please, please, bring back the game winning home run and game winning hit.
