Game-Ending Hits

Before 1920 when a team won the game by scoring in the bottom of the last inning, the rules stated that they could not win by more than one run. A player hitting a home run to end the game might have been given credit for a lesser hit depending on the number of bases advanced by the runner who scored the winning run. The hit was a homer if the batter's run was the game-winner. However, if a runner already on base at the time of the game-ending hit scored the winning run, the hit was not a home run according to the rule. Thus no one actually “lost” a homer. The following is the list of known instances of these game-winning hits.