Chambliss’ Big Shot : Former Yankee Recalls His Memorable Pennant-Winning Home Run of 1976

It was one of those rare moments in baseball that even a Hollywood script writer couldn’t improve upon.

Bottom of the ninth inning, the score tied at 6, the pennant on the line in the deciding game of the American League playoffs.

A towering home run in Yankee Stadium. Bedlam.

It all happened to Chris Chambliss a decade ago. His homer off Kansas City’s Mark Littell powered the 1976 Bronx Bombers into their first World Series in 12 years.

“Yes, when I do watch it--someone gave me a videotape of it--it gives me some thrills,” says Chambliss, now a veteran first baseman with the Atlanta Braves. “I don’t remember all that much about it. I remember the Yankee years in general and all the fun that I had playing, and winning with that club.”

Chambliss, who had homered earlier in the five-game series and wound up hitting .524, said he didn’t initially realize the significance of his dramatic hit.

” . . . I didn’t look at it in that perspective at the time,” he said. “You know I was doing a day to day thing on the field. The results were just a product of all the work.”

Unlike many other major leaguers who know instantly when they have belted one out of the park, Chambliss wasn’t sure his pennant-winning home run would make it.

“I knew I hit it good. It wasn’t a long run homer. It just made it over the fence,” he said. “Actually, for a moment, it looked like the outfielder was going to catch it. I knew if it didn’t make it at least it was going to be extra bases.

“Let’s see, it was as I went toward second base,” Chambliss said. “There’s a shot of me with my arms up at that point so I knew it was gone.”

When Chambliss went up to bat, he was thinking “hit”--not about a home run that would put an end to the Kansas City season and send the Yanks into the World Series.

“I was trying to get a hit in the ninth. A tied score and I was the first hitter so I was looking just for a hit,” he said. “I’m not a home run hitter. I’m not a classic power hitter. I hit home runs when I’m not thinking about them. In that case, I wasn’t thinking about them.”

The massive fan reaction and the reaction of his teammates is a memory that has stayed with Chambliss.

“The reaction was unbelievable,” Chambliss said.