By Bill Chuck

Special to the Sun-Times

Since there is an award season for just about everything, I’m surprised that there are no awards presented for one of the most memorable game event: the walkoff.

The deciding event affects both teams and the picture of a walkoff becomes indelibly etched in our minds. I mean when you talk great moments in baseball history you can’t help but think of Bobby Thomson, Bill Mazeroski, Joe Carter, and Kirk Gibson.

So with that in mind, here (without description) are the leaders in the First Annual “Walkoffs, Last Licks and Final Outs*” Walkoff Award winners.

Walkoff Homers

There were 69 walkoff homers hit in 2014. No team hit more than the Cleveland Indians who hit seven and no team allowed more than the Rockies and the A’s with six apiece.

There were 64 batters who hit walkoff homers but none more than Josh Donaldson who hit three. Mike Trout, Michael Brantley, and Anthony Rizzo each hit two.

There were 61 pitchers who allowed walkoff homers with Glen Perkins, Tony Sipp,Ernesto Frieri, Boone Logan, Luke Gregerson, Zach Britton, Dan Jennings, and J.J. Hoover each allowing two.

There were 31 walkoff homers hit in extra-innings with the latest one being Albert Pujolsgoing long against Brandon Workman in the 19th inning.

Walkoff Triples

The walkoff triple is a rare beast but there were three hit this season: Starling Marte hit one off Tim Hudson, A.J. Pierzynski hit one off Juan Carlos Oviedo, and Brandon Barneshit one off Chris Perez.

Walkoff Doubles

There were 20 walkoff doubles hit in 2014 with 20 hitters doubling off 20 different pitchers. The Orioles had three walkoff doubles, the most of any team, they were hit by Steve Clevenger off Paul Clemens, Jimmy Paredes off Adam Warren, and Kelly Johnson offDavid Robertson.

Walkoff Singles

There were 97 walkoff singles hit in 2014 with the Padres who won 77 games overall winning eight of their 48 home wins via a walkoff single. The Red Sox and the Marlins each won six games with walkoff singles. The Reds, Braves, and White Sox each allowed seven walkoff singles.

There were 90 different batters who had walkoff singles with Ryan Howard, Anthony Rendon, Aaron Hicks, Christian Yelich, Will Venable, Ruben Tejada, and Freddie Freeman each hitting two.

There were 79 pitchers who allowed walkoff singles with Jenrry Mejia and Ronald Belisario each permitting three.

Walkoff Sac Flies

There were 12 batters who came through with a sacrifice fly when one was needed:

A.J. Ellis, Starlin Castro, Marcell Ozuna, J.D. Martinez, Scott Hairston, Wilmer Flores, Curtis Granderson, Gaby Sanchez, Howie Kendrick, Denard Span, Casey McGehee, and Everth Cabrera.

There were 12 pitchers who couldn’t keep the ball in the infield and allowed the walkoff sac fly: Tyler Matzek, Kevin Quackenbush, LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, Casey Fien, David Carpenter, Ryan Cook, Brandon Cumpton, Jared Hughes, Kenley Jansen, Seth Maness, and Gus Schlosser

Walkoff Walks

The walkoff walk is an event that simply has you shaking your head. It happened four times in 2014:

Adam Dunnwalked off Sam Deduno

Shin-Soo Choowalked off Jonathan Papelbon

Russell Martinwalked off Tony Cingrani

Adam Rosaleswalked off Cesar Ramos

Walkoff HBP

Talk about an aggravating moment, the walkoff hit by a pitch is a simply more annoying way to lose than it is a satisfying way to win.

There were three hits by pitches that ended games with Jeurys Familia hitting Hank Conger, Justin Grimm hitting Greg Garcia, and J.J. Hoover hitting another J.J – John Jay.

Walkoff Errors

Ugh! Oof! Feh!

The Diamondbacks and the Red Sox each committed a pair of game-ending errors while the Rangers, Angels,Yankees and Blue Jays each erred once to a loss.

Perhaps the most interesting was the one in which Melky Cabrera bunted off Adam Warren and when third baseman Yangervis Solarte threw the ball away, Melky picked up a sac bunt walkoff.

Walkoff Groundouts

Yeah, you go for the DP and you fall short and the winning run crosses the plate. Austin Jackson, Trevor Plouffe, and Andy Marte each hit a grounder that ended up as a force out walkoff.

Walkoff RBI

There were 189 walkoff hits with 175 different batters who had walkoff RBI off 154 different pitchers. The A’s and the Indian each had 10 walkoff hits. There were 95 9th inning hits and 94 extra-inning hits.

Casey Fein, J.J. Hoover, and Ronald Belisario were the pitchers who each allowed four walkoff RBI. Belisario was the only pitcher to allow four walkoff hits. Reds pitchers allowed 11 walkoff hits, the most in the majors.

Josh Donaldson, Ryan Howard, and Anthony Rizzo were the 2014 batters who had three walkoff hits and RBI.

*If you would like a copy of Walkoffs Last Licks, and Final Outs, published in 2008 by ACTA SPORTS, and autographed and personalized by yours truly, contact me at: walkoffs@gmail.com. Copies are just $10 each (including S+H, US orders only).

Tampa’s managerial candidates (and their former managers)

November 7, 2014 by Bill Chuck 0 Comments (Edit)

The Tampa Bay Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman and his staff, with input from some of the Rays’ players, have put together a list of candidates to succeed the now-departed Joe Maddon.

The candidates

With more candidates to be added, Silverman shared the first eight on the list:

Dave Martinez, who has been Joe Maddon’s bench coach

Charlie Montoyo, has been the Rays Triple A manager since 1997 and is the winningest manager in Durham Bulls history.

Manny Acta, the former manager of the Nationals and Indians has a career record of 372-518 (.418); he currently works for ESPN.

Don Wakamatsu, the former catcher briefly managed the Mariners and had a record of 127-147 (.464).

Ron Wotus, the World Champion Giants bench coach has spent the last 26 seasons in the San Francisco organization, 16 with the major league club.

Kevin Cash, the Tampa native was a big league catcher for the RedSox, BlueJays, Astros, Devil Rays, and Yankees from 2002-2010 and is currently Terry Francona‘s bullpen coach in Cleveland.

Raul Ibanez, the last time we checked, Raul, one of the most popular players in baseball, was still active for the AL Champion KC Royals but was not on their 25-man postseason roster.

Craig Counsell, this 16-year MLB vet has been Special Assistant to General Manager Doug Melvin in Milwaukee since 2012.

Larry Rothschild the first Tampa manager was hired on November 7, 1997

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 11/7/2014.