MLB history: The 10 greatest games of Hall of Famer Fred McGriff

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Fred McGriff, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023, had an impressive 19-season career with seven MLB teams.

So much in demand was McGriff that he was twice a trade deadline acquisition by a contender. McGriff played in five postseasons, and starred for the Atlanta Braves in both the 1995 and 1996 World Series.

He was a career .303 postseason hitter with 10 home runs, four of them coming in the World Series.

This is a look back at the 10 most exceptional games in the Hall of Fame career of Fred McGriff

Our standard of measurement for regular season games is Win Probability Added. That calculates the individual’s role in influencing the game’s outcome.

McGriff played in nearly 3,000 regular season and postseason games, so there’s a lot to choose from. Here are his 10 greatest.

10. April 21, 1996, Padres 2, Braves 1. This 15-inning marathon began as a tremendous pitching duel between Atlanta’s Steve Avery and San Diego’s Fernando Valenzuela. But, by the ninth, both starters had turned over the double shutout to their respective bullpens. McGriff, whose previous contributions included a second-inning double, came up in the bottom of the ninth with two out and Chipper Jones, who had walked, at first.

The Braves trailed 1-0 because Steve Finley had driven in the game’s first run in the top of the ninth with a line single. McGriff offset that, lining a double to the wall in center that allowed Jones to cross the plate with the tying run.

Issued a two-out walk in the 11th, McGriff watched as Finley untied the game with a 15th-inning sacrifice fly scoring Rickey Henderson, who had singled to start the inning, then taken second and third on successive throwing errors by reliever Tom Thobe. With two out in the bottom of the 15th and Mark Lemke at second base, Padre reliever Doug Bochtler opted to intentionally walk McGriff and pitch to Thobe, the Braves having used all their bench players. Thobe grounded out to end the game. Win Probability Added: +.508.

CHICAGO – 1997: Fred McGriff of the Atlanta Braves bats during an MLB game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois during the 1997 season. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

9. Sept. 20, 1998, Blue Jays, 7, Devil Rays 5. McGriff was the DH for the expansion Devil Rays, having been purchased from the Braves the previous November. This game also went extra innings (12 of them) and again McGriff’s team lost through no fault of his. After drawing a first-inning walk, McGriff drove in Tampa Bay’s first run with a third-inning base hit off Roy Halladay.

He walked again in the fifth and singled in the seventh, both leading to no damage. But McGriff did plenty of damage in the bottom of the ninth, when his leadoff home run off Robert Person tied the game 5-5 and sent it into extra innings. Win Probability Added: +0.521.

8. July 16, 1994, Braves 7, Marlins 5.The Braves and Montreal Expos were deadlocked atop the NL East in the pennant race that never ended. Atlanta trailed 4-3 when Tony Tarasco opened the bottom of the seventh with a two-base hit and Roberto Kelly followed with a single. Two outs later, McGriff came to the plate facing left-handed reliever Yorkis Perez.

He worked the count to 2-2 before unloading on a pitch and sending it deep into the right-center field seats at Turner Field. The three run home run put Atlanta ahead 6-4, a margin that relievers Mike Stanton, Steve Bedrosian and Greg McMichael would protect through the final six outs. Win Probability Added: +0.550.

7. April 22, 2000, Tampa Bay 11, Anaheim 9. McGriff saved two of his best efforts for the 2000 Angels, the first of those a 10-inning thriller coming in mid-April at Tropicana. Stationed at first base, McGriff followed Greg Vaughn’s fourth-inning walk with a home run over the center field wall, tying the game 3-3.

The game was still tied, this time at 6-6, when McGriff came up in the home half of the seventh. His second home run, a three-run shot, cleared the right field wall. But Anaheim fought back to tie the game 9-9 and send it into extra innings. McGriff led off the bottom of the 10th with a line single, setting up Bubba Trammell’s walk-off home run. Win Probability Added: +0.632.

22 Jul 1999: Fred McGriff #29 of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays swings the bat during the game against the New York Yankees at the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees defeated the Devil Rays 5-4. /

6. July 9, 1995, Braves 3, Giants 2. Terry Mulholland and Kent Mercker matched zeroes before Mulholland left after the sixth inning. The Giants broke through for two runs against reliever Greg McMichael in the eighth, and called on closer Rod Beck to wrap it up in the ninth.

But Beck walked Jeff Blauser and surrendered a line drive single to Chipper Jones. That gave McGriff a chance to come to the plate as the potential winning run. Potential became reality when McGriff drove a 1-2 Beck offering into the right field seats. Win Probability Added: +0.628.

5. June 11, 2000, Devil Rays 3, Angels 2. Less than two months after his April 22 destruction of Anaheim, McGriff tortured the Angels again in a second meeting at the Trop. This time, the Angels and starter Brian Cooper carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, Cooper having scattered just five hits.

Manager Mike Scioscia turned the ninth inning over to closer Troy Percival, but this was one of the rare occasions when Percival was not up to the task. Jose Guillen greeted Percival with a fly ball that cleared the right field wall, making the score 2-1. After Greg Vaughn singled, McGriff came up next. The count was 1-2 when McGriff rocketed a game-winning home run of his own into those same right field seats. Win Probability Added: +0.632

4. May 25, 1993, Dodgers 10, Padres 9. Three of McGriff’s 10 greatest games ended in an extra-inning defeat, this being the third. At Dodger Stadium, his first-inning hit set up a run, and his fifth-inning single set up two more that pulled the Padres within 5-4.

McGriff’s third hit, a seventh-inning single, set up San Diego’s fifth run, although they still trailed 7-5. The Padres had tied the game 7-7 by the time McGriff came up a fourth time, and his two-run home run put them ahead 9-7.

Unfortunately for McGriff’s efforts, San Diego’s bullpen allowed the two tying runs to score in the bottom of the eighth and gave up the walk-off winner in the 10th. McGriff had to console himself with a 4-for-6 day, two RBI and a home run. Win Probability Added: +0.644.

4 APR 1993: ATLANTA BRAVES FIRST BASEMAN FRED MCGRIFF DURING THE BRAVES VERSUS SAN DIEGO PADRES GAME AT JACK MURPHY STADIUM IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. MANDATORY CREDIT: STEPHEN DUNN/ALLSPORT /

3. May 20, 1993, Padres 5, Rockies 4. Five days before the disappointment in Los Angeles, McGriff turned in an even more impressive performance, this time in a victory. The Colorado Rockies were the opponent at Jack Murphy Stadium, and McGriff’s first contribution came in the form of a first-inning walk. He scored on Phil Plantier’s double, which tied the game 2-2.

McGriff walked again and scored again in the fourth, this time tying the game 3-3. From there the game proceeded scoreless into the 11th inning when Rockies star Dante Bichette homered off Gene Harris to put Colorado ahead.

The Rockies called on closer Darren Holmes to seal the win, but he wasn’t up to coping with McGriff. After Gary Sheffield produced a leadoff base hit, McGriff sent a 1-0 fastball over the right field wall for a game-winning two-run home run. Win Probability Added: +0.704.

2. Sept. 15, 1997, Braves 5, Giants 4. The visiting Giants were locked in a heated race with the Dodgers for the NL West lead when they came to Atlanta. They scored twice in the first and led 4-1 when manager Dusty Baker turned the game over to trusted closer Rod Beck to start the ninth.

Beck got the first batter on an easy fly … and that’s when things turned. Michael Tucker and Kenny Lofton singled, and Jeff Blauser followed with a ground single scoring Tucker to make it a 4-2 game. A groundout narrowed the margin to one run but left McGriff as the last hope, batting with a runner at first.

With a 1-1 count, Beck threw a pitch low and toward the outside part of the plate, away (he thought) from McGriff’s power. Wrong. McGriff sent it on an arching trajectory into the seats in deep left-center, an unlikely game-winning opposite field blast. Win Probability Added: +0.912.

1. Aug. 24, 1996, Braves 6, Cubs 5. It’s almost impossible to do more to bring victory than McGriff did against the Cubs this day. It began harmlessly enough with an unproductive first-inning single, and continued with a fourth-inning home run that cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1.

McGriff’s third at-bat, in the fifth, resulted in a weakly hit infield single. With Chicago leading 5-1, he came up a fourth time in the eighth and doubled into the right-center field gap, setting up his team’s second run.

That still left the Braves trailing 5-2 entering the ninth. After Turk Wendell retired the first two batters harmlessly, Marquis Grissom popped a fly ball that fell in front of Sammy Sosa in short right. Wendell walked Terry Pendleton, and Chipper Jones singled off reliever Larry Casian, scoring Grissom.

That brought up McGriff to face the left-handed Casian, with Pendleton and Jones representing the tying runs on base. You can probably guess the rest; McGriff sent a careless 1-2 pitch into the right-center field seats for a walk-off three-run blast, completing a 5-for-5, four-RBI day. Win Probability Added: +1.004.

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