In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will not have an opportunity to score any more runs, there is no need to finish the inning and the teams can walk off the field immediately. The winning runs must still be counted at home plate. History and usage of the term Although the concept of a game-ending home run is as old as baseball, the adjective "walk-off" attained widespread use only in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The first known usage of the word in print appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21, 1988, Section D, Page 1. Chronicle writer Lowell Cohn wrote an article headlined "What the Eck?" about Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley's unusual way of speaking: "For a translation, I go in search of Eckersley. I also want to know why he calls short home runs 'street pieces,' and home runs that come in the last at-bat of a game 'walkoff pieces' ..." Although the term originally was coined with a negative connotation, in reference to the pitcher (who must "walk off" the field with his head hung in shame), it has come to acquire a more celebratory connotation, for the batter who circles the bases with pride and with the adulation of the home crowd. Other types of "walk-off" wins Sportscasters have applied the term "walk-off hit" to any kind of hit that drives in the winning run to end the game. It is an expansion of the term to call a hit a walk-off when what ends the game is not the hit, but the defense's failure to make a play. The terms "walk-off hit by pitch", "walk-off walk" (a base on balls with the bases loaded), "walk-off wild pitch", "walk-off reach-on-error", "walk-off steal of home", "walk-off passed ball", and "walk-off balk" have been also applied, with the latter dubbed a "balk-off". The day after Eric Bruntlett executed a game-ending unassisted triple play for the Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Mets on August 23, 2009, the Philadelphia Daily News used the term "walk-off triple play" in a subheadline describing the moment, although it was not a true walk-off. Walk-off grand slam A