The biggest hit of Chris Chambliss' career also produced the biggest celebratory freakout in baseball history.
It was on this day in 1976 that Chambliss won the AL pennant for the Yankees with a walk-off homer in Game 5 of the ALCS against the Royals. But that's just the first half of the story. Let's look back:
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Walk-off homers to win the pennant are rare enough, but the response to Chambliss' homer pretty much stands alone in terms of unique insanity. Of the 56,821 fans who attended the game, it seems like 56,820 swarmed onto the field, presumably to thank Chambliss personally. One guy tried to steal his helmet.
It made for an unexpectedly tense (and probably dangerous) situation,
Chambliss, at that point just trying to make it off the field alive, made a human-obstacle-filled beeline to the dugout.
"I went into the clubhouse and everyone asked that famous question: Did you touch home plate?" Chambliss told MLB.com in 2013. "And I said, 'There was no way I could touch home plate.'"
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A little while later, Chambliss went back onto the field — still flooded with humanity — with a security escort to touch home plate and make the winning run official.
"We walked up to home plate, looked down and it was stolen, it was gone," he said. "But I put my foot there and stepped on it."
The homer sent the Yankees to the first of three straight World Series appearances, and most everyone associated with that team describes it as an all-time-great life moment.
Just imagine a scene like that today, all those excited, well-hydrated fans storming the field at once and leaving security helpless. It's hard to decide whether it would be awesome or awful.
Anyway, here's Chambliss discussing the craziness in more detail.
