Joe Carter talks clutch hitting on 25th anniversary of World Series walk-off home run
Twenty-five years ago today, I was one of the thousands of incredibly fortunate Blue Jays fans to take in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series live at the SkyDome.
I was only 10 years old at the time, and while I don’t remember a lot from that night, I’ll certainly never forget the moment Joe Carter became a legend in Toronto.
Carter’s big shot against the Philadelphia Phillies is considered one of the greatest displays of clutch hitting in MLB history. The Jays were down 6-5 when he stepped up to the plate with Ricky Henderson at second base and Paul Molitor at first. With a 2-2 count, Carter pounced all over a Mitch Williams offering, sending the ball over the left-field wall — and the city of Toronto into a frenzy!
The big shot allowed Carter to join Bill Mazeroski as one of the only two players to clinch a World Series title with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
He certainly had a knack for the big hit, but as Carter explains in the video above, there’s a certain mindset that is required in order to develop a reputation as a clutch hitter. This apparently includes accepting your fair share of failure.
“You’re going to fail seven, eight out of ten times, but all that matters is that one or two times that you do come through, that you can be labelled clutch,” Carter shared with Yahoo Canada Sports in the video above.
“I came through quite a bit. That’s what I live for, and I try to tell hitters this. The pressure is not on you. The pressure is on the pitcher, because he’s supposed to get you out seven out of 10 times.”
Carter also touches on another Blue Jay who came through with an incredible clutch hit.
As a guest on the Digging In with J.P. Arencibia podcast, Jose Bautista explained how he had an idea of the pitch coming his way before he mashed a Sam Dyson offering over to left field in the 2015 ALDS. Bautista believes pitchers are creatures of habit, and Carter agreed, using a conversation he once had with Willie Mays to support Bautista’s claim.
“I say (to Willie), ‘ok, what did you look for in certain situations?’ He said, ‘whoever the pitcher was, I looked for his best pitch, and he was going to throw it to you at least twice.’ So Willie would look for those pitches, and that’s how I kinda learned how to hit also.”
There isn’t a better day to crawl into the mind of a clutch hitter than the 25th anniversary of the day Joe Carter touched ’em all.
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