October 14, 1985: Ozzie Smith’s walk-off home run in NLCS makes Cardinals fans ‘Go Crazy!’

“Smith corks one into right, down the line! It may go! Go crazy, folks! Go crazy! It’s a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game by the score of 3 to 2 on a home run by the Wizard! Go crazy!” — Jack Buck, KMOX-AM, October 14, 1985

The 1985 National League Championship Series was tied at two games each, as the Los Angeles Dodgers took the first two games of the series at Dodger Stadium while the Cardinals won Games Three and Four at Busch Stadium. St. Louis suffered a significant blow before its 12-2 win in Game Four, when Vince Coleman, who led the majors with 110 stolen bases on his way to being named NL Rookie of the Year, got his left leg rolled up over an automatic tarp machine during a pregame rain shower and was out for the rest of the playoffs. As a result, Tito Landrum – who had four hits and three RBIs in Coleman’s place in Game Four – started Game Five in left field.1

On the mound for the Cardinals in the Monday afternoon game was 12-year veteran right-hander Bob Forsch, who went 9-6 in the regular season while splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. This was Forsch’s first postseason start since Game Five of the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, nearly three years to the day earlier, in which he pitched seven innings and allowed four runs in a 6-4 loss at Milwaukee County Stadium.  

Fernando Valenzuela got his second start of this championship series. The 24-year-old southpaw, a 17-game winner in 1985, had started Game One on October 9. He pitched 6⅓ innings, struck out six, and allowed one earned run in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win.  

Unlike Game One, the Cardinals struck first against Valenzuela. NL MVP-bound Willie McGee, normally St. Louis’ number-two hitter, led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Ozzie Smith, up from his regular eight-spot, followed with another walk.

Tommy Herr had driven in 110 regular-season runs and three more thus far in the NLCS. On a one-strike pitch, he connected with a Valenzuela screwball and hit it down the left-field line. McGee scored easily from second. Smith ran through third-base coach Hal Lanier’s stop sign as Mariano Duncan’s relay sailed over catcher Mike Scioscia; Smith scored standing up for a 2-0 St. Louis lead.

With Jack Clark at the plate and Herr at second, Valenzuela had Herr picked off, but his throw went into center field, and Herr reached third base. But Clark lined out to Bill Madlock at third base, César Cedeño struck out swinging2, and Landrum flied out to center to end the inning.

The Cardinals held that lead until the top of the fourth. Ken Landreaux led off with a single. Pedro Guerrero flied out to center, but Madlock, who hit .360 after coming to the Dodgers in a late-August trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, homered to deep left field to tie the game at two runs each.

The Dodgers kept threatening as Mike Marshall walked to bring up Scioscia. On a 1-and-0 pitch, Scioscia offered at a pitchout, then pointed at catcher Darrell Porter, urging home plate umpire Paul Runge to call catcher’s interference. Upon Runge’s call of interference, Porter and manager Whitey Herzog argued the call, but to no avail.  

With two Dodgers on base, Herzog summoned left-handed reliever Ken Dayley to pitch to Greg Brock. Lasorda countered by pinch-hitting Enos Cabell.3 Cabell bounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the fifth inning, Los Angeles second baseman Steve Sax struck out swinging. Water had pooled on top of the visitors’ dugout, and Sax, returning to the dugout, was hit by a spray of water, thrown by a fan. Sax – who said after the game that “something made my eyes burn” 4 – attempted to climb into the stands to confront the fan but was restrained by stadium security.5  

Both teams threatened to take the lead in the seventh. Scioscia walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on Cabell’s single. Herzog called for right-handed rookie Todd Worrell. Worrell struck out Sax, then got Valenzuela to ground out to first. With runners now on second and third, Duncan popped out to Porter.  

In the bottom of the inning, McGee drew a walk and moved to second on Smith’s sacrifice. Herr grounded out to short, advancing McGee to third. Lasorda intentionally walked Clark to pitch to Cedeño, who flied out to center.

The Cardinals made one last attempt to break the tie against Valenzuela in the bottom of the eighth. Landrum walked to lead off. Porter struck out, but Landrum stole second. Herzog sent up Brian Harper to hit for Worrell. Harper flew out to left.

After right-handed reliever Jeff Lahti retired the Dodgers in order, Lasorda called on right-hander Tom Niedenfuer, who had a career-high 19 saves in 1985, to face the top of the order in the bottom of the ninth.

McGee popped out to third, bringing up Smith. Two straight foul balls put Smith, batting left-handed, in a 0-and-2 hole.

Even though Smith had hit six regular-season home runs in 1985, he had just 13 career homers in nearly 4,900 plate appearances to that point. All were as a right-handed hitter. On the network TV broadcast, NBC flashed a graphic: “Ozzie Smith has not homered batting lefty in 2,967 career at-bats.”6

Smith took a ball. Niedenfuer threw an inside fastball, and Smith drove a long fly ball down the right-field line. It bounced off a concrete pillar behind the fence for a game-winning home run.

Smith lifted his fist in the air, rounding second base as the Cardinals rushed from the dugout to mob their star shortstop.  

After the game, Smith said he was not trying to hit a home run. “That’s not really what I was trying to do. I was trying to get an extra-base hit and get into scoring position. Fortunately, I was able to get the ball up.”7

Niedenfuer, while disappointed with the outcome, gave Smith credit for what he did. “I thought it would be on the warning track. It’s just one of those things. I have to put it out of my mind and look ahead to the future. Let’s give Ozzie some credit, too. He’s really improved left-handed, and he got around on my fastball today.”8

Two days later, the Cardinals clinched their 14th NL pennant with a dramatic 7-5 win at Dodger Stadium. Once again, Niedenfuer was snakebitten by a ninth-inning home run, this one by Clark. In the 1985 World Series, the Cardinals, despite holding a three games to one lead over the Kansas City Royals, fell in seven games. That World Series remains controversial because of umpire Don Denkinger’s missed call during the Royals’ game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth of Game Six.  

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath. 

Photo credit: Ozzie Smith, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Sports-Reference.com for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also consulted player biographies in the SABR BioProject and watched a recording of this game on Apple TV.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198510140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B10140SLN1985.htm

https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/ZZKrk

Notes

1 It was possible Landrum might have started over Coleman in Game Four, as Coleman was 1-for-12 against Valenzuela in 1985. Rick Hummel, “Even-Up! Cards Blast Dodgers.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 14, 1985: 1.

2 The Cardinals acquired Cedeño in a late August trade with the Cincinnati Reds after Clark went on the disabled list earlier that month.

3 Joseph Durso (N.Y. Times News Service), “Smith’s Homer Puts Cards Up 3-2.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, October 15, 1985: 4C.

4 As of 2026, Valenzuela’s eight walks thrown remain an NLCS record. Gordon Edes, “Valenzuela’s 8 Walks Are a Record.” Los Angeles Times, October 15, 1985: Part III, 7.

5 Retrosheet also credits manager Lasorda and trainer Charlie Strasser with preventing Sax from entering the stands.

6 “Ozzie Smith’s 1985 LCS Game 5 HR,” Directed by MLB Network. October 14, 2020, https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/video/ozzie-smith-s-1985-lcs-game-5-hr.

7 Rick Hummel, “Longshot Ozzie Pays Off.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 1985: B1.

8 Hummel.