James Joseph Leyritz

James Joseph Leyritz (born December 27, 1963 in Lakewood, Ohio) is a former catcher and infielder in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees (1990-1996, 1999-2000), with whom he debuted on June 8, 1990. He also played for the Anaheim Angels (1997), Texas Rangers (1997), Boston Red Sox (1998), San Diego Padres (1998) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2000), pinch-hitting more extensively toward the end of his career. He batted and threw right-handed exclusively in the majors, but was known to switch-hit in the minor leagues. He was best known for his 3-run home run off Atlanta Braves closer Mark Wohlers in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series. That homer was significant, as the momentum shifted towards the Yankees from then on. "The King" is also known for hitting the last home run of the 1990s in Game 4 of the 1999 World Series. He attended Turpin High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and the University of Kentucky.

Leyritz was known for using an awkward stance which involved keeping his front leg (left leg) straight and stiff while his back leg (right leg) behind him considerably bent at the knee. He did this while circling his bat around behind his head while waiting for the pitch. After each pitch that Jim did not put into play or strike out on, Leyritz would grab the bat by its center and twirl it at his hip almost like a baton.

Despite being a mediocre hitter throughout his career, Leyritz was known for hitting numerous postseason home runs that either won, tied, or changed the momentum of several series.

In Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium, Leyritz hit an opposite field two-run home run to right-center into the rain in the 15th inning to win that game 7–5 for the Yankees and provided them with an ample 2–0 series lead in the best-of-five series. The home run came off of Mariners pitcher Tim Belcher, who was famously involved in a profanity-laced and threatening incident with a cameraman covering him walking through the Yankee Stadium tunnel after giving up the home run. The Yankees would eventually squander the series lead by losing the following three games in Seattle's Kingdome, the final two of which were decided in highly dramatic fashion. (The Mariners won Game 5 by a score of 6–5 with two runs in the bottom of the 11th inning.) As a result, this home run is not as well known because it ultimately did not change the series outcome.

The best known of Leyritz's playoff heroics occurred in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Yankees had lost the first two games of the series at home, and narrowly won Game 3 in Atlanta. Game 4 appeared to be going to the Braves; the score was 6–0 after the 5th inning. A Braves victory would have given Atlanta a commanding 3–1 series advantage. The Yankees scored three times in the 6th inning, and in the 8th inning, Leyritz hit a three-run home run to left field to tie the game and cap the improbable Yankee comeback. The home run was hit against Atlanta closer Mark Wohlers and the Yankees eventually won the game 8–6 in 10 innings. Wade Boggs’s two-out bases loaded walk against pitcher Steve Avery would score the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run in the top of the 10th. New York would win two more hotly-contested one-run games to clinch the series over the heavily favored Braves in six games. Leyritz's Game 4 home run remains the most recognizable moment of that series and of his career.

In 1998, Leyritz had since left the Yankees and caught on with the San Diego Padres, who made the playoffs that year as winners of the National League West. Leyritz hit a number of unlikely playoff home runs and clutch hits, the most dramatic of which was an opposite field home run to right off the foul pole in the top of the 9th inning in the Astrodome that tied Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Houston Astros. However, the Astros would later win the game in the bottom of the ninth. In game 3, Leyritz hit the eventually game-winning home run in the bottom of the 7th inning that broke a 1–1 tie. Overall, Leyritz batted .400 with three home runs and five RBIs in that Division Series. Ironically, Leyritz's Padres would go up against his former team, the Yankees in the World Series. The Padres were swept in four games by a 114-win Yankee team widely considered to be one of the greatest teams of all-time, and Leyritz did not record a home run or RBI in any game.

In 1999, Leyritz had rejoined the Yankees and hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 4 of the World Series, another Yankees sweep, this time in a rematch with Atlanta. The homer made the score 4–1 to give the Yankees some extra breathing room going into the 9th inning. NBC commentator Bob Costas remarked incredulously about Leyritz after the home run:

“ You could send this guy to a resort in the spring and summer,
as long as he comes back for October. ”

This was the home run known as the last of the 1990s since it was the final Major League Baseball game of the 1999 postseason.