Certain home runs end up as nothing more than a line in the box score. However, others become part of how we remember a season, a city, a player, or a franchise.
Baseball has provided plenty of iconic home runs since the turn of the century. Some came from future Hall of Famers, while others came from guys who’d been designated for assignment just a few months earlier.
I do want to note that this list is entirely subjective and not at all exhaustive. They’re listed in date order, and I mostly steered away from milestone moments. That’s why you won’t see certain taters from guys like Aaron Judge or Barry Bonds.
Here are 13 of the most iconic home runs of this century, and the reasons behind why they’re living rent-free in my mind. Which ones would you add to this list?
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13 Iconic Home Runs Since the 2000 Season
Mike Piazza, New York Mets
Date: September 21, 2001
Ten days after the September 11 attacks, baseball returned to New York, and nobody knew what that first game back was supposed to feel like. Shea Stadium was packed with first responders, American flags, and a city still in shock.
I remember watching the game on TV, feeling worried and wondering if something was going to happen to all those people gathered in one place. Something did happen, but it was a moment on the field that nobody will ever forget.
Mike Piazza stepped up to the plate with the Mets down by a run to the Braves in the bottom of the eighth. By the time he was done, New York had a lead, and Shea absolutely erupted.
Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
Date: November 1, 2001
Piazza gave New Yorkers a reason to smile and believe again just a few days after 9/11, but the Mets didn’t make the playoffs that year. So, it was up to the Yankees to keep everyone in the city smiling. They did a pretty good job of that, as they nearly won their fourth straight championship.
World Series Game 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks looked lost until Tino Martinez tied things up with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth. Shortly after, the clock struck midnight, marking the first time postseason baseball spilled over into November.
Derek Jeter took it from there, earning the “Mr. November” nickname after walking it off in the 10th against Byung-Hyun Kim with a home run.
Aaron Boone, New York Yankees
Date: October 16, 2003
ALCS Game 7 was tied and went into extra innings. Aaron Boone, a midseason trade acquisition, stepped into the batter’s box to face Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th.
And with one swing of the bat, Boone sent the Yankees back to the World Series. Boone’s entire Yankees legacy is essentially built on this single home run. I bet some are even wondering if he would’ve even become the Bombers’ manager without this claim to fame.
David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox
Date: October 17, 2004
The Red Sox were down 3-0 in the ALCS to the Yankees, finding themselves on the verge of getting sent home by their archrivals for the second straight October. Getting swept would’ve made it a little worse, too.
That’s just when everything started getting interesting, though.
David Ortiz stepped up in the 12th inning of Game 4 and ended it with a walk-off, keeping Boston’s season alive by the thinnest possible margin. It was the first domino in what’s currently the only 3-0 comeback in postseason history.
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Date: October 17, 2005
Most of the home runs listed here include a crowd going nuts. But a few – including this one – involve a crowd getting silenced.
When I think of iconic home runs from this century, this blast from Albert Pujols is the first one that comes to mind. The Astros were one strike away from winning the National League pennant, but it wasn’t meant to be that night. David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds both reached base, which set the scene for The Machine.
He launched a three-run bomb off Brad Lidge that still may be in orbit. Did it take the reliever a while to shake that dinger off? He was an All-Star in 2005 and posted a 2.29 ERA in the regular season for the Astros. But in 2006, his ERA rose to 5.28 across 75 innings.
Lidge eventually found his All-Star form again in 2008 as part of the Phillies’ World Series-winning squad, but you can’t tell me that Pujols’ NLCS moonshot had no impact.
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
Date: September 28, 2011
Junior Caminero clinched a Rays playoff berth in 2026 with a walk-off tater. That was dramatic, but for me, it’s hard to top this one from Evan Longoria in 2011.
The Yankees built an early 7-0 lead on Tampa Bay, but the Rays started battling back in the eighth, scoring six in that frame and another one in the ninth to force extra innings.
In the 12th, Evan Longoria came through in the most clutch way possible. And almost simultaneously, the Red Sox were completing a historic collapse in Baltimore. Two things happened in the same handful of minutes that night, and Longoria’s swing is the one that decided which team clinched the American League’s final postseason spot.
David Freese, St. Louis Cardinals
Date: October 27, 2011
The Cardinals were one strike away from losing the World Series. Twice! And in the same game!
Down to their last out in the ninth against the Rangers, David Freese tripled to tie it. Down to their last out again in the 10th, Lance Berkman’s single tied it once more.
Then, Freese sent one over the center field wall in the 11th to force a Game 7. There was some symmetry in that moment, as St. Louis went on to win their 11th World Series title after getting past the Rangers.
Travis Ishikawa, San Francisco Giants
Date: October 16, 2014
Not every pennant-winning homer comes from a superstar, ya know. Travis Ishikawa’s 2014 season began with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he was only with them for 15 games before getting designated for assignment. He landed with the Giants and appeared in 47 regular-season games before he etched his name in San Francisco postseason lore.
Down one in the bottom of the eighth inning, Michael Morse tied things up at Oracle with a solo home run. That was followed by Ishikawa sending the Giants back to their third World Series since 2010 after he blasted a three-run homer off Michael Wacha to walk things off in the ninth.
José Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
Date: October 14, 2015
In a winner-take-all game between the Blue Jays and Rangers in the ALDS, the seventh inning became one of the more chaotic frames in recent postseason memory.
It was punctuated by José Bautista’s go-ahead blast and bat flip, which will be talked about in Toronto until the end of time.
The Rangers obviously took issue with it, and the ramifications poured over into the 2016 season. Just ask Rougned Odor! But even with that being part of the story, this tater will always be a part of MLB’s postseason lore.
Howie Kendrick, Washington Nationals
Date: October 30, 2019
Does it get more dramatic than literally doing anything during Game 7 of the World Series? I don’t think so.
The Astros had a 2-0 lead in the seventh and were looking to pile up outs to clinch their second title in three years. But then Anthony Rendon (yes, he did actually play sometimes!) got the Nats on the board with a solo home run.
The inning eventually led to Howie Kendrick coming up with a man on and Washington down one. By the time he was done, the Nats had a 3-2 lead and would tack on three more runs for insurance to secure the organization’s first title.
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
Date: September 30, 2022
Entering the 2022 season, the Mariners were riding a 21-year postseason drought. An entire generation of fans had grown up never seeing it happen. But that’s when Cal Raleigh stepped up to the plate to end it with one swing.
With Seattle and the A’s tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, Big Dumper unleashed a walk-off homer to send the Mariners to October for the first time in over two decades.
Between the fans at T-Mobile Park going nuts, Raleigh getting mobbed at home plate, and the call in the booth, this is just perfection.
This blast didn’t win a World Series, but it didn’t need to be. Sometimes, home runs matter because of everything that led up to that specific moment.
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
Date: October 23, 2022
How could “Bedlam at the Bank” not be on here, right?
The Phillies were looking for their first NL Pennant since 2009, and Bryce Harper was the one to make it happen. The San Diego Padres had a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning when the left-handed slugger went oppo to put Philly ahead for good.
That was a signature moment for a player built to make it happen. If the Phillies had gotten past the Houston Astros in the World Series, there’d probably already be a statue to commemorate this.
Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Date: October 25, 2024
You’d have to imagine that MLB loved the idea of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series matchup in 2024 from the perspective of ratings. It turns out the Dodgers really liked it too, since they needed only five games to eliminate the Bombers.
The tone was set in Game 1.
New York had a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 10th, and while they were one out away from securing a victory, Los Angeles also had the bases loaded. Even with a bum ankle, Freddie Freeman ended the contest on a happy note for the Dodgers with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
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