Danielle Solzman
In Going, Going, Gone: The Magic of the Home Run, Roy Wood Jr. explores legendary blasts with MLB stars in this fun, star-packed baseball doc on Roku.
The 48-minute documentary special’s release is appropriately timed with the 2025 Home Run Derby taking place in just over a week. Some of the most iconic home runs and calls in MLB history are included—among them, Jack Buck’s famous 1985 NLCS Game 5 call as Ozzie Smith “corked it into deep right” and sent St. Louis into a frenzy with a walk-off win.
To set the tone, the filmmakers open with a bit from Wood Jr.’s stand-up set about baseball and the home run. From there, his journey takes him to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, where Ford Frick Award winner Bob Costas is (hilariously) manning the information booth and ends up giving a personal tour. Is this what Frick Award winners do after retiring from the broadcast booth? I kid, I kid.
The story of the home run, as Costas explains, starts with Babe Ruth—but the legend of the long ball goes well beyond the sport’s power hitters. While many of baseball’s greatest sluggers—steroids era included—have plaques in Cooperstown, some of the most unforgettable postseason homers came off the bats of players who aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Among Costas’s top picks:
- Derek Jeter – 2001 World Series Game 4
- Bernie Carbo – 1975 World Series Game 6
- Ozzie Smith – 1985 NLCS Game 5
- Bucky Dent – 1978 AL East Tiebreaker
- Bill Mazeroski – 1960 World Series Game 7
- Aaron Boone – 2003 ALCS Game 7
- Kirk Gibson – 1988 World Series Game 1
- Joe Carter – 1993 World Series Game 6
No look at the home run is complete without the 1961 chase between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Maris set the single-season record with 61, while Mantle finished with 54. Aaron Judge broke Maris’s mark in 2022 with 62, and many—taking the steroid era into account—consider that the “true” Major League record. The 1998 chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa helped bring fans back to baseball, but the truth about performance-enhancing drugs can’t be ignored. The same goes for Barry Bonds.
And then there’s Hank Aaron. His 715th home run broke Babe Ruth’s all-time record and transcended the game itself, happening amid the Civil Rights movement and intense racial hostility. When two white fans ran onto the field to celebrate with him, they were arrested—Aaron later bailed them out. That was the kind of man he was.
Back on his journey, Wood Jr. visits longtime ESPN voice Chris Berman, whose enthusiastic calls helped define the Home Run Derby for a generation. Ken Griffey Jr. helped elevate the Derby in the 1990s, and the 1999 edition at Fenway Park was especially memorable—not just because of Griffey and McGwire, but because MLB honored its All-Century Team nominees during the All-Star Game that week. Fun fact: Berman never rehearsed his home run calls.
Berman also revisits more recent Derby magic, including Josh Hamilton’s legendary (but ultimately losing) performance at Yankee Stadium in 2008, where he ran out of gas and Justin Morneau walked away with the trophy. During this stretch, Wood Jr. begins testing out his own home run call. It needs work, but he’s clearly having fun.
Next, Going, Going, Gone: The Magic of the Home Run heads west, where Wood Jr. meets a trio of Los Angeles Dodgers stars: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernandez. The timing here is uncanny—Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam in last year’s World Series, drawing comparisons to Kirk Gibson’s 1988 classic. The Dodgers trio reflect on Derby memories and help Wood Jr. practice his home run swing.
Then it’s back east to check in with Jazz Chisholm and Pete Alonso—looks like their spring training facility. Alonso, a two-time Derby champ, holds the all-time record for most home runs in Derby history. He calls the event a “super exciting part of All-Star weekend,” and he’s not wrong. It’s one of the best parts of the festivities because the players are looser and having fun in ways we rarely see during the season. Wood Jr. even pitches the idea of letting a retired player into the Derby.
To find out whether he can hit one out himself, Wood Jr. stops by MLB Network and takes some hacks off a tee. It’s here—finally—that Albert Pujols makes his appearance. About time! Pujols reflects on his 700th home run, calling it his most memorable, though he also points to his three-homer game in the 2011 World Series and his bomb off Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS. That last one silenced the Houston crowd and helped extend the Cardinals’ postseason run.
No conversation about home run greatness is complete without Pujols. He was the greatest hitter of his generation. Say what you will about the latter half of his career, but his first decade with the Cardinals is the stuff of legend. Had he not left in free agency, he might have broken every team record—but as it stands, his 469 home runs as a Cardinal still trail only Stan Musial’s 475. His return to St. Louis in 2022 wasn’t about numbers, but his 24 home runs were just enough to join the 700 Home Run Club.
At just 48 minutes, Going, Going, Gone: The Magic of the Home Run feels like it ends too soon. There’s more that could have been explored—Negro Leagues history, international legends, and the home run’s changing role in analytics-driven baseball—but what’s here is charming, nostalgic, and fun. It may not break new ground for the genre, but it’s a breezy, star-studded celebration of the long ball—perfect for fans looking to gear up for the Derby.
DIRECTOR: Andrew Brenner
HOST/NARRATOR: Roy Wood Jr.
FEATURING: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Jazz Chisholm, Pete Alonso, Teoscar Hernandez, Albert Pujols, Chris Berman, Bob Costas
The Roku Channel released Going, Going, Gone: The Magic of the Home Run on July 6, 2025. Grade: 3.5/5
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