Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard Round the World
On October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to win the pennant. Fifty years later, the 1951 Giants confirmed they had been stealing signs all season.
Bobby Thomson portrait (1951).
Photo credit: United Press via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
On October 3, 1951, the New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning of the third and final game of a playoff for the National League pennant. The Giants had been 13 games behind the Dodgers on August 11. They had won 39 of their last 47 games to force the playoff. None of it would matter if they couldn't score three runs in the ninth against Don Newcombe.
They scored one on an RBI single by Al Dark and another on an RBI double by Whitey Lockman. Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen pulled Newcombe and brought in Ralph Branca. Bobby Thomson stepped to the plate with runners on second and third.
Branca's first pitch was a fastball for strike one. His second pitch was another fastball. Thomson swung and hit a line drive to left field. The ball sailed into the lower deck of the left field stands.
Russ Hodges, calling the game on WMCA radio, screamed, "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! I don't believe it! I don't believe it! I will not believe it!" His call survived only because a Brooklyn resident named Lawrence Goldberg had asked his mother to tape-record the broadcast while he was at work. Goldberg was a Giants fan. He wanted to hear the moment again.
The game was the first major sporting event broadcast live on coast-to-coast television. Millions more heard it on radio, including American servicemen in Korea. A marine later wrote to Thomson. "I was in a bunker in the front line with my buddy listening to the radio. He never made it home, and I promised him if I ever got back I'd write and tell you about the happiest moment of his life."
Fifty years later, the story acquired a complication. In 2001, surviving members of the 1951 Giants confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the team had stolen signs during the second half of the season using a telescope in the center field clubhouse and a buzzer wired to the bullpen. Coach Herman Franks spied on catchers' signals through the telescope. One buzz meant fastball. Two meant off-speed. Backup catcher Sal Yvars relayed the signs to the batter.
Thomson always insisted he did not take the sign on the final pitch. Yvars said he relayed it. Branca, who carried the loss for the rest of his life, eventually said, "Even if Bobby knew what was coming, he had to hit it. Knowing the pitch doesn't always help."
Thomson died on August 16, 2010. Branca died on November 23, 2016. They had appeared together at events, signed memorabilia side by side, and become friends across the span of the most famous pitch in baseball history.