Giants' Patrick Bailey's walk-off inside-the-park home run makes MLB history not seen in 99 years

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Billy Heyen
Giants' Patrick Bailey's walk-off inside-the-park home run makes MLB history not seen in 99 years image

Catchers aren't often described as fast. San Francisco Giants backstop Patrick Bailey certainly has catcher wheels.

But on Tuesday night, when he blasted a ball deep to right-center and got a fortuitous misdirection bounce off the wall, Bailey got to show that he's plenty fast enough to make MLB history.

Bailey stepped to the plate down two runs in the bottom of the ninth with two on. And by the time the baseball was retrieved from a very different part of the outfield than where it had been tracking off the bat, Bailey was sprinting through home with a walk-off, inside-the-park home run.

It's been 99 years since the last time a catcher hit an inside-the-park walk-off homer. Bennie Tate did it on Aug. 11, 1926.

MORE: Cal Raleigh breaks Ken Griffey Jr.'s incredible Mariners record

Tuesday was quite the day for inside-the-park homers.

For the Athletics, Lawrence Butler hit a leadoff inside-the-parker.

Bailey's stole the final headlines, though. 

It was an unlucky bounce for the Phillies, to be sure. There wasn't much that could be done about such a fluky play.

But it was all bliss for the Giants, a chance to sprint around the bases and hold a party at home plate after one of the rarest plays in baseball history.

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