50 years later Shot still echoing

by Michael Canan
Scripps Howard News Service

Oct. 3, 1951.

Sometimes it seems like another lifetime to Bobby Thomson.

But he still remembers how one swing of the bat at 3:57 p.m. sent a baseball over the left field wall at the Polo Grounds and etched his name in baseball folklore forever. And he is not the only one.

“It is remembered by so many people,” said Thomson’s teammate Alvin Dark, the 1951 New York Giants captain. “There are so many that their grandfathers and their fathers or someone told them about it. But any time your grandparents tell you something you know it’s important. When they pass it on to (the younger generation), they remember it.”

The home run, dubbed the “shot heard round the world,” has become a dog-eared page in many fans’ memories, said Thomson, the Giants third baseman in 1951.

“People always seem to remember where they were,” he said. “They always want to tell me their story.”

Not only is the home run still remembered, but also on its 50th anniversary it is growing in mystique.

“I think it’s being magnified all the time,” said Dark, a shortstop. “It’s becoming more and more important to the history of baseball. That game everybody knows everything. That’s what’s so amazing to me."

The publicity surrounding the shot increased further when the Wall Street Journal published an article in January detailing a complex scheme involving a telescope and buzzer system the Giants used to steal pitching signs in 1951.

But sign stealing is only a part of the story behind Thomson’s shot.

The Giants struggled early in the 1951 season. On Aug. 11 New York found themselves 13 1/2 games behind the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. Then the Giants began their comeback with a 16-game winning streak.

The Dodgers watched as the Giants erased their lead by winning 37 of 44. After winning its final seven games, New York tied the Dodgers on the last day of the season, forcing a three-game playoff.

“It was a long season, and we were leading all the way until the last day,” Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine said. “Then we go on to lose in one of bitterest losses I think you can describe in sports.”

The Giants and Dodgers split the first two games and headed into a deciding third game.

Pitchers Don Newcombe and Sal Maglie were entrenched in a duel that finally ended when Maglie surrendered three runs in the eighth to give Brooklyn a 4-1 lead.

“Well, at the end of the eighth inning (we had no chance),” Giants pitcher Al Corwin said. “Newcombe was just awesome, and we were three runs down. We had a miracle couple of months, so there was always a slim glimmer of hope. But down deep I felt we’d had it. He was just blowing us away.”

Thomson said he too thought the Giants miracle comeback might fall short.

“I’d never felt worse in my life,” he said. “We’d come this far, and we’re not going to be able to make that last step.”

But there was still the ninth inning.

Dark and outfielder Don Mueller started the ninth with singles. First baseman Whitey Lockman doubled to score Dark and end Newcombe’s day.

In the Brooklyn bullpen, Ralph Branca and Erskine were warming up. The bullpen phone rang and Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen summoned Branca.

“I never felt pangs of disappointment or that he picked the wrong guy,” Erskine said. “They might have brought Cy Young back from grave and (Thomson) would have still hit it. It was like destiny.”

Branca made the long journey from the bullpen, but he said nervousness was not a factor.

“I was a seasoned veteran by then,” he said. “I had confidence. I walked forever before I made it to the infield and I talked to Pee Wee (Reese) and Jackie (Robinson). I told Newcombe I’d take care of it for him.”

Meanwhile, Mueller had broken his ankle sliding into third. Thomson said his teammate's injury took his mind off the task at hand.

“(Giants manager Leo) Durocher came over and put his arm around me and said, ‘Bobby if you ever hit one, hit one now.’ I thought, ‘Leo you’re out of your mind.’ I didn’t even answer him, I just walked away from him,” Thomson said.

Thomson then spent the next few strides to home plate psyching himself up, something he’d never done before. He said he was so focused he didn’t realize the Dodgers had brought in Branca.

Thomson took Branca’s first pitch, a fastball over the plate. The second pitch sailed high and inside, the spot where the Dodgers wanted to pitch Thomson, Erskine said. But Thomson got his hands around and hit a drive to left.

“I knew it was out,” Branca said. “The Polo Grounds was so short down the line. They said it was 279 (feet), but they never let you measure it.”

The ball cleared the left field wall to give the Giants a 5-4 win.

“On my way to first there was excitement that I’ve never experienced before,” Thomson said. “As I ran around the bases I was hyperventilating.”

The Giants were jubilant.

“Everyone jumped up and ran towards home plate,” Dark said. “I’d never run toward home plate like that in my life. We were jumping up and down like a bunch of kids.”

The crowd spilled onto the field, forcing the Giants to head for the clubhouse.

“We were starting to carry Bobby across the field when we said, 'Hey let's drop him and get the heck out of here,'” said Larry Jansen, the game’s winning pitcher. “People were running all across the field.”

The dejected Dodgers had to fight past the Giants fans and players to their clubhouse.

“It was a long walk from dugout to clubhouse,” Dodgers outfielder Don Thompson said. “We had to walk right by Durocher and (Giants second baseman Eddie) Stanky, who were just rolling on the ground. It was a tough game to lose. It just crushed all of us.”

Erskine and the bullpen crew were the first to reach the clubhouse, where television cameras and champagne had been set up in anticipation of a Brooklyn win. Workers frantically were moving them to the Giants clubhouse.

“Our side was like a tomb,” Erskine said. “Outside just bedlam was going on. The team began to straggle in. I watched our guys come in and really kind of sensed that this was some moment in sports.

“(Dodgers first baseman Gil) Hodges quietly put his glove in his locker. Jackie (Robinson) was fired up. He slammed his glove inside his locker. Dressen ripped his shirt off. Branca came in and plopped down on the steps inside the clubhouse. I was never superstitious, but it seemed like the big No. 13 on Ralph’s back was just jumping out at you.”

After the game Thomson, who hit 264 career home runs, did not realize the significance of the one that would be remembered for years to come.

“I didn’t think it was anything that special at the time being,” he said. “It just meant we beat the Dodgers, and we would play the Yankees in the series (which the Giants lost in six games).”

Branca said he thought the memory of the game would be short-lived.

But Thomson and Branca couldn’t have been more wrong. The duo became household names, and 50 years later a parade and celebrations in New York will honor them.

“The one thing I find is it gave me notoriety,” Branca said. “It made me infamous.

"It’s fine by me. I was a part of baseball’s most memorable moment. It doesn’t really bother me because I know in my heart I made a good pitch."

Thomson is remembered in a much more admiring light. He still receives fan mail talking about the home run. But Thomson said he isn’t worried about that one at-bat defining his 15-year career.

“Without the home run I don’t think you would have been hearing that much about Thomson,” he admitted.