Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas hit the biggest home run of his life in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday night. His solo home run in the top of the ninth inning helped save the Dodgers’ season, sending the game to extra innings where they would defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5–4 in 11 innings to win their second consecutive World Series championship.
That home run, and the way the game played out, could make Rojas this generation’s Hal Smith — an unsung hero who hit one of the greatest home runs in World Series history, only to be overshadowed by a more remarkable home run later in the game. In Smith’s case, it was Bill Mazeroski. In Rojas’ case, it will be Will Smith for his 11th inning home run.
Miguel Rojas and Hal Smith are unsung heroes who came through when it mattered most
Even if you’re a longtime baseball fan, you probably don’t know the name Hal Smith. And that’s okay, because he mostly became a footnote in baseball history. Between 1955 and 1964, he spent ten mostly unspectacular years in the major leagues, bouncing around the league as a backup catcher and corner infielder.
But on October 13, 1960, as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he delivered one of the most game-changing, season-changing and legacy-changing home runs in baseball. His three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees gave the Pirates a 9-7 lead, capping a wild five-run inning in which they erased a 7-4 deficit.
In terms of win probability swings, it was one of the most impactful at-bats in the history of the sport, especially in the context of winning a championship. When Smith entered the batter’s box, the Pirates’ chance of winning was only 30 percent.
As he crossed home plate after hitting his home run trot, their chance of winning rose to no less than 93 percent. It was a 63 percent swing in the odds of winning in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. If that had been the winning hit, Smith would have a statue in Pittsburgh.
But as the Yankees fought back with two runs in the top of the ninth, it set the stage for Mazeroski to hit his walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Mazeroski became the hero with the statue, and Smith was largely forgotten.
Smith had only appeared in three of the seven games in that World Series and didn’t even start Game 7. He only entered the game after starting catcher Smoky Burgess was removed for a pinch-runner. His home run was his only at-bat of the game.
It’s not that different from what happened to Rojas on Saturday. Rojas has spent his career as an unsung middle infielder, appearing in only a handful of the Dodgers’ playoff games. When he came into the game on Saturday, he literally hadn’t had a hit in a month. He wasn’t the player anyone had portrayed as a game-changing hero.
But he delivered a swing that nearly matched Smith’s in terms of improbability in a winner-take-all game in the World Series. When Rojas entered the batter’s box in the ninth inning, the Dodgers’ odds of winning had dropped to just 9 percent.
When he crossed home plate, it was jumped all the way to 44 percent, which amounts to a 35 percent swing. It’s not quite on the level of Smith’s home run in magnitude, but it was still just as important and improbable.
But when Dodgers fans think back to this game 30 or 40 years from now, they’ll probably remember Will Smith’s 11th-inning home run. Or Yoshinobu Yamamoto for coming out of the bullpen and winning his third game of the World Series. As important as all that was, none of it happened without Rojas.
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