It was a home run so historic that Dontrelle Willis says he'll remember it even after he's dead.

Willis was in the Pro Player Stadium bullpen on Oct. 22, 2003, watching nervously as his Marlins, needing to win Game 4 of the World Series to pull even at two games apiece, batted against the Yankees in the 12th inning of a tie game.

Willis had already seen victory slip out of his team's hands once that night. Up 3-1 entering the ninth, the Marlins called on Ugueth Urbina, a midseason acquisition who had converted 35 of his 42 save opportunities that year, to close the door on New York. Instead, pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra kicked it wide open when he ripped a two-out, two-run triple into the right-field corner to tie the game.

The Yankees kept charging in extra innings, but couldn't deliver the knockout blow, stranding a runner at second base in the 10th and the bases loaded in the 11th.

Then, in the bottom of the 12th, a low line drive jumped off the bat of one of Willis' teammates and chugged its way toward the left-field fence. Willis -- and thousands more at Pro Player Stadium and millions more in front of televisions across the country -- followed the ball through the sky and wondered the same thing:

Does it have enough?

But Willis' trance was quickly interrupted when teammate Braden Looper ran in front of him, grabbed his glove and headed for the bullpen exit.

"I guess he knew it was gone," Willis said.

This wasn't supposed to be how the story went.

The Yankees, who tied for the league's best record that year, had been heavy favorites to win the World Series since Spring Training. The Marlins had started the season 19-29, dismissed their manager, then needed a monumental run just to earn the National League Wild Card.

The Yankees' payroll that season was $164 million. The Marlins' was $54 million.

The Yankees' starting pitcher for Game 4 was Roger Clemens, a future Hall of Famer who was supposed to be making his final big-league appearance. The Marlins' starting pitcher was Carl Pavano, a hurler who had a losing record (12-13) in the regular season.

American League

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And yet, here were the Marlins, defying all odds as they watched a line drive from their No. 8 hitter descend toward the left-field corner.

Aaron Boone, New York's third baseman, had as good a view of the ball as anybody. Surveying its flight, he leaned his body to the left and tried to coax it foul.

It didn't work. David's slingshot had launched the ball just out of Goliath's reach.

Alex Gonzalez was in euphoria when he saw his shot clear the fence, making him only the 13th player to end a World Series game with a walk-off home run.

Wait a minute, did you just say Alex Gonzalez? The same Alex Gonzalez who was 5-for-53 in the postseason to that point, including one hit in his first 13 World Series at-bats? The same Alex Gonzalez who, dating back to the regular season, had one home run in his last 111 plate appearances? The same Alex Gonzalez whom Yankees pitcher Jeff Weaver said afterward he was just trying not to walk?

Yes, that Alex Gonzalez. The Marlins shortstop had been one of the club's most indispensable players all season, hitting .256 with 18 home runs and playing stellar defense. But Gonzalez's postseason struggles had become so pronounced that Florida manager Jack McKeon was facing mounting public pressure to pull him from the lineup.

But McKeon stuck with Gonzalez, who rewarded him a hundred times over when he sent a 3-2 pitch from Weaver -- a demoted starter who was making his first appearance in 28 days -- a few inches over the 330-foot sign and into the history books.

"I just wanted him to put the ball in play," Weaver said after the game. "He did a little more than that."

Willis raced after Looper, heading for home plate to join the party.

"That sprint from the bullpen was a blur," Willis said. "I was holding my glove like a baby so I wouldn't lose my stuff."

Gonzalez sprinted through his home run trot, pumping his right fist and screaming. Many of Gonzalez's friends and family had come from Venezuela to attend the game, and he later called it "the best feeling in the world."

"You don't know what you did when you're running the bases," Gonzalez, now with the Cincinnati Reds, said recently. "You just scream and wait for the moment when you get to home plate and have that celebration there."

Gonzalez was mobbed as soon as he reached the plate, as the Marlins huddled and hollered and hugged in triumph.

"I think I had Mike Lowell around the neck," Willis said. "We were jumping so much, I couldn't breathe. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true when something like that happens."

The Marlins went on to win the next two games, taking the series in six games and capturing the second World Series championship in the franchise's first 11 seasons.

And to think, it likely never would have happened if not for the shortstop whose first and only postseason home run was the biggest of his life.

"That's why you love the game," Willis said. "That's why you play the game, because you never know when it might be your day."

Other memorable Marlins home runs:

Oct. 3, 1997, Candlestick Park -- Devon White's sixth-inning grand slam off Wilson Alvarez lifts the Marlins to a 6-2 win over the Giants and a three-game sweep in their first National League Division Series.

Oct. 22, 2003, Pro Player Stadium -- Just moments after being brushed back with a high fastball, 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera hits a two-run homer off Clemens in the first inning of Game 4 of the World Series.

Aug. 31, 2005, Dolphin Stadium -- Jeremy Hermida becomes the first and only player in history to hit a pinch-hit grand slam in his first Major League at-bat.