Bobby Thomson, Giants player who hit 'the shot heard round the world,' dies at 86
For many New Yorkers out there, Bobby Thomson was an unsung hero. A man who averaged .270 with 260 home runs and 1,026 Running Bat Ins through out his adventurous career from 1946 to 1960 with several teams, the story couldn’t be more intriguing than it already is.
Bobby was an ordinary slugger who barely reached the high ranking tables in his tenure as a professional infielder and outfielder. He only led the league in hitting, just once, and that too was for triples. So what was the 3 time All Star player so famous for? Well, if someone ever gets to highlight the most memorable moment of the playoffs leading to the World Series match up in 1951, Thomson would be the leading star to come across the annuls.
Immortalized for his ‘shot heard ‘round the world’ in 1951, Thomson completely altered the 1951 season pennant playoff with one glorified moment entrenched in Baseball’s fabled records. Playing for the New York Giants, Bobby was responsible for translating a game set completely by its head with just one hit. That hit was none other than a 3 run driven home run smashed through the ball park, in the bottom 9th, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Giants and the Dodgers were bitter rivals during the 40s’ and the 50s’. Originating from the same state, both were on a quest to better the other and quell their third immediate nemesis, the New York Yankees. All three teams had a bitter rivalry and the World Series of 1951 pitted these three against each other.
The Yankees were already in the final, while the Dodgers and the Giants were locked in a 3 games set playoff for the final spot to meet the other team. The first game between the two teams was decided by an eerie preview, as Thomson smashed a home run winner off Ralph Branca’s pitching.
The second game went to the Dodgers who simply routed the Giants for a clean win. That tied the teams 1 – 1 and left the last match for a decider as the teams moved into the fixture, a day before the World Series. Yogi Berra, a Yankee legend, dictated that fixture well as he and some of his team members were present in the ball game for the match up. A man who coined the phrase, ‘it ain’t over till it’s over’ left the Polo Grounds after the Brooklyn side went 4 – 1, only to miss one of history’s most exciting moments and come backs ever seen.
The game belonged to the Dodgers, before the bottom 9th. The Giants were on the batting bag and Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe was on the pitching mound. The score was 4 – 1 and the Giants had one last chance to strike back to get a chance for the World Series. The squad rallied when Whitey Lockman boomed a RBI double. This got Alvin Dark through the last base and brought the score deficit down to 2 runs.
That marked the time when things changed in the favour for the Giants. The Brooklyn side brought on Ralph Branca and the relieve pitcher came face to face against Thomson. With Lockman positioned on the second base and Clint Hartung on the third, Booby was now facing the weight of the game on him as the quest of the World Series now rested on his shoulders. As the reliever pitched his second ball to the hitter, Thomson connected and smashed the throw for a home run winner, guiding the team to a 5 – 4 victory over the Dodgers.
Though the Giants lost their bid for the World Series title against the New York Yankees, fans were still boosting about the events that led up to the final playoffs. The moment of excellence proved too monumental for the local fans. From the taxi drivers to the local shop owners, Bobby became an icon of New York’s precious identity. One of the things that every baseball historian would know is that Thomson created and famed the fabled chant, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant”. So the question to ask now is, how well do you know baseball if you don’t know Bobby Thomson?
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