1982 NLCS Game 7 Darrell Porter Home Run

Lore & Background

Porter won both the 1982 National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award and the 1982 World Series MVP Award. At the time, he was only the second player in baseball history to win both awards in a single postseason.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Busch Stadium felt heavy, charged with the static of two thousand fans holding their breath. The rain had stopped hours ago, leaving the grass glistening under the floodlights as Darrell Porter adjusted his batting gloves. He could hear the muffled roar of the crowd over the crack of the bat from the previous batter. In the silence between pitches, he visualized the flight path, the arc needed to clear the fence in left field. As Hooton wound up and released, time seemed to suspend. The connection was pure—a sharp *crack* that echoed off the brick walls. Porter rounded first base, then second, his eyes locked on the ball as it sailed past the outstretched glove of the outfielder. He crossed home plate not with a sprint, but with the weight of an entire city's hope lifted onto his shoulders.

Reader's Guide

In the 1982 NLCS, Porter did not hit a home run in Game 7. He went 0-for-3 with a walk. The decisive hit in that game was a two-run double by George Hendrick.

Did You Know?

• Porter caught two no-hitters during his career—Jim Colborn in 1977 and Bob Forsch's second career no-hitter in 1983.
• He was one of the few Major League catchers of his time to wear eyeglasses behind the plate.
• Porter wrote an autobiography titled Snap Me Perfect! in 1984.