'Once in 1,000 Games': An Chi-hong Recalls the Thrilling Memory of a Walk-off Grand Slam Home Run

*This content was translated by AI.

Kiwoom Heroes' An Chi-hong (36) has evoked a memory with a 0.1% probability.

On the 10th, An hit a home run to the left-field wall off Samsung pitcher Kim Min-su (34) in the bottom of the 9th inning with one out and bases loaded, during a home game against KT Wiz at Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome that was tied 1-1. The walk-off home run, which was also a grand slam, brought even greater excitement to Kiwoom.

Since the KBO League was founded in 1982, there have been only 25 walk-off grand slam home runs, including An's. With a total of 23,761 regular-season games played over 45 years up to this day, the probability is 0.105%. Fans who visited Gocheok Dome on this day witnessed a rare scene that occurs once in every 1,000 games.

Although the frequency is low, the start was early. In the opening game of the inaugural season on March 27, 1982, at Seoul Dongdaemun Stadium, MBC (now LG)'s Lee Jong-do hit a grand slam home run off Samsung's Lee Sun-hee in the bottom of the 10th extra inning with the score tied 7-7, leaving a strong impression on fans of the beginning of professional baseball.

Since then, one walk-off grand slam home run occurred each year until 1984. It was not until 1992, eight years later, that LG's Kim Young-jik became the fourth person in history to hit one against Taeyang. There was a six-year gap between the 12th overall Samsung's Lee Seung-yuop (2003) and the 13th LG's Petanjie (2009). An Chi-hong's record comes 1 year and 10 months after Lotte's Ray Reyes on July 17, 2024.

The "Hall of Fame" for walk-off grand slam home runs is LG Twins. Including their predecessor MBC Cheongryong, starting with Lee Jong-do, they have accumulated the most with six: Kim Young-jik, Choi Hun-jae, Petanjie, Ramos, and most recently, Koo Bon-hyuk in 2024. Next are Samsung with five and KIA with four.

In terms of home runs allowed, Samsung leads with five, followed by Lotte with four. KT has yet to allow one and has given up only three.

An Chi-hong's home run came when the score was tied 1-1. It would have been even more dramatic if the home run had been hit while trailing to secure a comeback victory.

There have been a total of eight "comeback walk-off grand slam home runs." Among them, only two instances occurred where a grand slam turned a three-run deficit into a one-run victory in an instant: Samsung's Lee Dong-soo in 1995 and Lotte's Kim Eung-guk in 2002.

There have also been cases where a pinch hitter hit a walk-off grand slam home run. This happened twice: Doosan's Song Won-guk in 2001 and Nexen's Lee Taek-geun in 2017. Only Lee Taek-geun has achieved the combination of 'pinch hitter' and 'comeback'.

All 25 batters who hit walk-off grand slam home runs are different. However, there are pitchers who have allowed two. LG's Shin Yun-ho gave up one to Lotte's Jo Kyung-hwan in 1998 and to Samsung's Kang Dong-woo in 2001. Jung Woo-ram allowed one to KIA's Kim Won-seop during his time with SK in 2009 and again to Lee Taek-geun after moving to Hanwha in 2017. Kim Min-su, who gave up the home run to An Chi-hong this time, had allowed his second career home run to Ramos in 2020.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.