A history of Giants walk-off wins in home openers

The San Francisco Giants walked off in their home opener again. They’ve played 5,159 home games that aren’t a home opener since moving to San Francisco, and they’ve walked off in 492 of them, or 3.2 percent. They’ve played 66 home openers, and they’ve walked off in 11 of them — 16.7 percent. When there’s bunting around the perimeter of the ballpark, the Giants are at their most dramatic.

Is it a fluke or is it the excitement of being in front of your fans for the first time that season? Maybe it’s the jets doing a flyover before the game. They go super fast, and everyone gets excited because look at those fast airplanes! Vroooom.

Either way, here’s a brief history of the other 10 walk-off wins in Giants home openers.

You get excited that you get to start the season against the comically terrible Mets, but whoops, here’s Tom Seaver. The future Hall of Famer pitched into the ninth inning with a 4-2 lead, but Willie Mays led off with a single, Jim Ray Hart singled him home, and Jesús Alou — who received some of the biggest cheers in the In Memoriam part of Friday’s pregame ceremonies — doubled him home for a rare come-from-behind walk-off win.

Quotable: “You have to get 27 outs, and I didn’t quite do it.” — Tom Seaver, before bullpens were invented

If Alou got some of the biggest cheers in the In Memoriam segment before Friday’s home opener, Vida Blue might have gotten the biggest. Not that it’s a competition. And it’s a little weird that people cheer at all, now that you mention it.

Anyway, Blue threw a complete game for the Giants’ home opener, outdueling the Padres’ combo of Gaylord Perry (!) and John D’Acquisto (!!), and John Tamargo won the game with a pinch hit home run. The Padres had three future Hall of Famers in their starting lineup — Perry, Dave Winfield and Ozzie Smith — but they screwed it all up because they were the Padres.

Quotable: “I know it was a crazy thing to do because I might have popped a muscle or something, but I was so happy for John.” — Vida Blue, after literally carrying Tamargo off the field like a newlywed

The Giants won 62 games in 1985, but 15 of them were walk-off wins. I’m not about to go through every team to see if that’s the highest walk-off-to-win ratio in baseball history, but I’ll assume it’s close. They were awful, but they sure knew how to treat their fans.

The Padres, on the other hand, were coming off their first pennant in franchise history. They had reigning Cy Young winner LaMarr Hoyt on the mound. They were trending upward. Sky’s the limit. But Chris Brown spoiled it all by singling Jeffrey Leonard home with one out in the ninth. Blue pitched to one batter in the top of the ninth and ended up with his first win since 1982.

Quotable: “I think (the 1985 Giants) are an improved team. They make contact, have guys who can hit the ball and play good defense.’” — Steve Garvey, a person who can’t possibly be trusted if he…