The term 'walk-off' has an Eck-tomology

If it feels like you've been hearing the phrase "walk-off" more this season, that's because you have.

The term has gained such prominence that there seems to be no other acceptable way to describe a home team winning in its final at-bat. The feat is also happening more this season than at any time since 1987 -- 193 walk-off wins going into Sunday night.

And it's not just walk-off homers that are getting their due.

Announcers and writers and "SportsCenter" anchors have also gotten to use the following phrases this season, for better or worse:

Walk-off grand slam;

Walk-off single, walk-off double;

Walk-off sacrifice fly;

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Walk-off walk;

Walk-off hit by pitch;

Walk-off error;

Walk-off balk;

And in the case of the recent game in which Curtis Granderson was caught by the pitcher trying to steal second base to end a Yankees' loss, "walk-off pickoff" (although we're pretty sure that was somebody being facetious since it was officially scored a caught stealing).

It's enough to make a purist want to walk off. Or at least turn off (their TV sets).

"It's quick, it's easy, it's prefab. It's instant oatmeal," Mets radio announcer Howie Rose said. "There might have been one or two times when I've lazily said it or started to say it. I go, 'C'mon, you can do better than that.' "

Where did it come from? USA Today, in a story this week noting that about 10 percent of games this season have ended in walk-off fashion, cited Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley as the term's coiner and placed its origin as 1993.

So we called Eckersley, now a TBS MLB analyst, to see if he wanted to take credit for the phrase or remembered when he first uttered it.

"I tell you honestly, I can't tell you when it was said," he said. "It's not like I said it all the time. I don't remember thinking at the time that I was making this new thing. It's flattering that there's a saying that's said after you, but it's not a positive thing."

That's the funny part: If he did say it first, Eckersley was referring to the sad act of walking off the mound after surrendering a game-losing homer. His most famous example of that was giving up hobbling Kirk Gibson's dramatic blast to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers against the Athletics.

Jack Buck's famous TV call of that iconic game-ender -- "I don't believe what I just saw!" -- did not include the phrase "walk-off."

Today, the term is more associated with the winning, not the losing. And the winning team in a walk-off doesn't walk off the field. They jump and run around like little kids and pound each other's helmets. Sometimes there's pie.

"It's fun, it's exciting," said Brewers outfielder Mark Kotsay, who has two walk-off hits this season and 10 in his career. "We celebrate. If you're the last one to get the last hit, I think it's almost a similar sensation a closer feels when he throws that last pitch. It's a team accomplishment as well as a personal one."

Is there a better way to describe it? For 100 years of baseball, apparently there was. But now that game's over, too.

"Everything's not the king's English," Rose said. "That's where you have to allow for those who embrace 'walk-off.' Good for them. I don't deride them for doing it. I just feel it happened too fast. It was too much, too soon and I wasn't getting on that trolley. That doesn't mean I won't some day."