Going, Going, Gone Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kirby Puckett

It was game 6 of the 1991 National League Championship Series, Puckett's Twins were trailing 3-2 in the series and facing elimination. With the game tied in the 11th inning, Puckett blasted a home run to send the series to a game 7, or extending the series to "tomorrow night" as it's known in baseball circles.

Answer: Barry Bonds

The name of this one relates to the significance. Bonds blasted No. 756 to move past Hank Aaron as baseball's all-time home run king on August 7, 2007.
Before he became a home run machine, Bonds was a stolen base king. As he got older, he bulked up and started hitting for power.

Answer: Joe Carter

This was the first walk-off home run in MLB history to bring a team that was trailing to the World Series championship.

Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Blue Jays put Ricky Henderson on first with a walk, a Paul Molitor single brought Joe Carter to the plate. One swing of the bat later and the Blue Jays won the series, four games to two.

That home run gave Toronto back-to-back World Series championships.

Answer: Carlton Fisk

Another World Series home run for the ages here, Carlton Fisk blasted the "Wave it Fair" homer in the 12th inning of game 6 in 1975. After hitting the ball, the camera operator failed to follow the ball as he was distracted and instead stayed focused on Fisk as he watched the ball fly out of the park. The Reds ended up winning game seven and defeated Fisk's Red Sox anyway.

Answer: Kirk Gibson

Gibson, the Dodgers star, was too injured to start the game. He had injuries to both legs and could barely walk. But trailing 4-3 with two outs in the 9th inning, the Dodgers rolled the dice and sent their star to the plate. On a 3-2 pitch, Gibson blasted a two-run homer to win the game. The homer is named after Jack Buck's call on national radio.

It would be Gibson's only plate appearance of the series. The Dodgers beat the A's four games to one in the series.

Answer: Hank Aaron

The official call was "There's a new home run champion of all-time, and it's Henry Aaron." That was from Milo Hamilton.

Aaron was never the machine that previous King Babe Ruth was, never hitting more than 44 dingers in a season. But he hit 30 or more 15 times and was consistent. This homer was hit in the third game of the 1974 season as he hit No. 715 to pass Ruth. Aaron retired with 755.

Answer: Bobby Thompson

This was the first baseball game ever nationally televised. It was game 3 of a playoff between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. The Giants had trailed the Dodgers by 13 games in August that season and fought back to tie the standings on the last day of the season, setting up the 3-game playoff. They split the first two games.

Thompson's homer lifted the Giants to the improbable comeback and put them into the World Series against the Yankees. The Yankees won the series in six games.

Answer: Mark McGwire

Would it be Sammy Sosa or Mark McGwire, that's the question that rang throughout the baseball world in the summer of 1998. In the end McGwire passed Maris' record of 61 dingers in a season first, but both he and Sosa broke the record. McGwire ended the season with 70, Sosa had 66 and in what normally would have been enough to win a home run crown, Ken Griffey Jr. hit 56 (7th best all-time at that point.) Three years later Barry Bonds blasted 73 in a season to break the record again.

Answer: Roger Maris

In the summer of 1961, Roger Maris, wearing a Yankees uniform, broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record. MLB Commissioner Ford Frick was so upset that Ruth's record was broken that they considered it a separate achievement since Ruth's record was in a shorter season. The separate records stood until 1991 when MLB decided the length of the season didn't matter.

Answer: Bill Mazeroski

Bill Mazeroski became the first man to hit a game-winning home run in game 7 of the World Series when his Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Yankees in the 1960 World Series. The game was tied when he blasted his homer in the bottom of the 9th inning. It's arguable if his or Joe Carter's series winning homer is more impressive, but Carter's bomb in in 1993 was in game 6, not game seven when everything is on the line. Carter's Blue Jays could still have rebounded to win a game 7 had he not hit his homer.