Baseball term used to describe the home team winning the
game in its final at bat forcing the loosing team to ‘walkoff’ the field. Most prominently and dramatically used along with homeruns but can be used along with any event(homerun, double, single, walk, balk…) that concludes the
game.
David Ortiz hit a walkoff homerun in the
bottom of the 12th inning to beat the Yankees in
game 4 of the ALCS, and the rest was history.
History: Apparently the term was first coined by Dennis Eckersley after giving up a “walk off piece” to Kirk Gibson in
game one of the 1988 World Series. While the initial usage was considered negatively toward the loosing team (especially the pitcher) it is more prominently used in a celebratory fashion for the hitter.