What is a 'Sayonara Home Run' in English? | Baseball English
The bottom of the ninth inning, or an extra inning, while tied or trailing.
The moment the winning run is scored, the game ends.
This is a walk-off game.
The moment the winning run is scored, both the field and the stands erupt in joy.
It becomes a huge celebration, as if they had just won the championship.
Only the home team batting in the bottom half of the inning can experience this walk-off win.
There is a special joy there that is unique to the home stadium.
If that hit is a home run, it is a walk-off home run.
The batter who hit it is undoubtedly the hero of the day.
So, what do you call this 'Sayonara home run' in English?
In English, it is a 'walk-off home run'.
When watching an MLB broadcast,
'Gone!'
'Good-bye!'
You might hear commentary like this.
However, these simply mean 'a home run was hit!',
and do not refer to the 'walk-off home run' itself.
In English, you say,
👉 a walk-off home run
.
'Walk-off' is a surprisingly new term.
Regarding this 'walk-off' expression, there is an interesting article in The New York Times.
'The term’s first published citation was in July 1988 …'
In other words, this term first appeared in print in 1988.
You might find it surprising, but
"walk-off" is not a very old term,
👉 it is a relatively new expression.
The origin of "walk-off"
According to articles, it is said to have been first used when Dennis Eckersley, who was active as the absolute closer for the Oakland Athletics, gave up a come-from-behind home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 1988 World Series.
The moment a game-ending home run is hit,
the pitcher on the losing side leaves the mound and walks away to the bench.
From there,
👉 walk-off (walking away)
is said to be the expression that was born.
It has been used in Japan for a long time
So, what about in Japan?
In 1959, Shigeo Nagashima hit a so-called "Tenran-jiai" (Imperial-watched game) walk-off home run.
The newspapers at the time already wrote it like this:
👉 "Sayonara Homer"
(screenshot)
In other words, in Japan, at least by this point,
👉 a hit that ends the game = Sayonara home run
was already an established expression.
Actually, Japan is older
To summarize what we have covered so far,
Japan: "Sayonara home run" -> Used in 1959
English: "walk-off home run" → Appeared around 1988
👉 In other words,
It is highly likely that Japan verbalized the term for a game-winning hit in the bottom of the 9th or extra innings before the English-speaking world did.
Studying grammar with authentic English sentences
Finally, let's look at a sentence from the article introduced this time.
Unknown as recently as the 1970s and 1980s, the term walk-off for a game-ending hit has become as comfortable a part of the baseball lexicon as balls and strikes.
I will introduce this sentence because it is packed with important grammar.
✔ Unknown (Participle construction)
👉 As it was unknown
→ "Although it was unknown"
A participle construction is a structure that simplifies an adverbial clause using a participle.
✔ as recently as ~ (Emphasis)
👉 "As recently as the 1970s and 1980s"
The comparative 'as ~ as' emphasizes the degree of the following word. In this case, it emphasizes that the 1970s and 80s were quite recent.
✔ game-ending hit
👉 "A hit that ends the game"
Try freely combining nouns + hyphens + participles to modify nouns.
It makes for lively expressions.
"Breath-taking" is a famous example.
✔ as comfortable a part of the baseball lexicon as ~
👉 This is a variation of 'as ~ as...' meaning 'as ~ as...'.
The 'a + adjective + noun' structure is inserted into the '~' part, but the point to note is the position of the article 'a'. The adjective 'comfortable' is pulled by 'as', and 'a' is pulled by the noun phrase 'part ~ lexicon', resulting in this word order.
The meaning of 'comfortable' here is
👉 something as common as a ball or a strike
It is used with a meaning similar to that.
If we translate it,
👉
It wasn't common until the 1970s and 80s, but now it has become as common a baseball term as a ball or a strike.
Conclusion
Even a single play like a 'Sayonara home run,' when you trace its roots,
differences in language
differences in culture
the mechanics of English
are all packed inside.
Learning through 'living English' makes the language much more interesting.