Longoria bat going to Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
ST PETERSBURG, FL - SEPTEMBER 28: Evan Longoria #3 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the twelfth inning against the New York Yankees during the game at Tropicana Field on September 28, 2011 in St. Petersburg, …
Photographer: J. Meric/Getty Images
Copyright Getty Images
Posted: 09/29/2011
TAMPA - Officials at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., requested the bat Evan Longoria was using when he hit the game-winning home run off the New York Yankees last night, propelling the Tampa Bay Rays to the American League Wild Card.
The team said Jeff Idelson, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, called to request the bat. Longoria agreed to donate it.
Longoria's game-winning home run was only the second walkoff home run in major league baseball history that came in the final game of the regular season and clinched a playoff berth.
The only other home run that met that criteria was Bobby Thomson's famous home run in 1951, helping the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. That blast was nicknamed "The Shot Heard Round The World."
The Rays are also just the fifth team in history to clinch a playoff berth with a walkoff win in the final game of the regular season.
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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