The New York Giants, the Polo Grounds, and now Bobby Thomson are gone – but that shot continues to be heard ‘round the world.
Thomson, who died Monday at 86, used to say he couldn’t understand why people made such a fuss over one swing of the bat.
But the ball he clobbered over the left field fence and into the history books on October 3rd, 1951, as delirious sportscaster Russ Hodges screamed “the Giants win the pennant,” remains the game’s most famous home run.
“I have always felt that I received more attention than I deserved for hitting one home run,” Thomson said of his mighty wallop.
Thomson’s dinger capped off a stunning comeback for the Giants, who had trailed the Dodgers by 13 1/2 games in late August, and ended the season in a tie, forcing a best-of-three playoff series.
The teams split the first two games and the Dodgers were leading 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning when Thomson came up against pitcher Ralph Branca.
“If you ever hit one, hit one now,” manager Leo Durocher, said to him before he came to bat.
Branca, who later became close friends with Thomson, said the hitter “never lauded it over me or anything.”
“Naturally, we never talked about it,” he said. “He was a good man, a class act, a good family man.”
Even the admission by Thomson’s teammates 50 years later that the team had set up an elaborate sign-stealing scheme did not diminish the friendship, Branca insisted.
“It was something that we really didn’t discuss,” he said.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1923, Thomson move to America at age 3 when his family settled in Staten Island.
The center fielder joined the Giants in 1946, and was described by his teammates as soft-spoken, hard-working, and supportive.
Pitcher George Spencer, 84, said that when he debuted at the Polo Grounds against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Gene Hermanski smashed a home run well over the center field fence.
“Bobby ran up to me in the dugout after the inning and said I didn’t get a good jump on the ball – that it should have been caught,” he said.
“He was a good guy, a great guy,” Spencer said. “He was also probably one of the fastest runners in the National League at the time. He hit an inside the park home run one day – I remember marveling how few strides it took him — it seemed like he was in the air for 10, 12 feet with each stride.”
As for the shot off Branca, Spencer said it looked like a home run off the bat, but then seemed until the final second like it would fall short.
Afterwards the frenzy wasn’t limited to the fans, he said.
“The day before the end of the season we had heard the Brooklyn Dodger wives had all already purchased their fur coats with the money they were going to have from the World Series,” Spencer said.
“So after Bobby’s home run, when the field was flooded with fans and we were all scrambling to get back to the clubhouse in centerfield I ran past Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges and said “I guess the wives will be returning those fur coats. We were all caught up in the moment.”
Willie Mays, who was a 20-year-old rookie at the time was on deck when Thomson hit the shot.
“I was the last one to realize it was a home run,” he told the Post.
“Bobby was a great guy – he was the center fielder until I got there and when he was moved to third base he told me, ‘hey, this is what baseball is all about,’” Mays said.
“He wouldn’t say he was gracious about it, but he never held it against me.”
The Polo Grounds became a public housing complex in 1968, although a plaque marks the location of home plate. Residents there said Thomson’s shot is still heard throughout the towers.
“It’s sad to hear this legend has ceased to live,” said James Adams, 78, a Dodger fan who listened to the game on his radio from Fort Totten in Queens. “But his legend will always be around. When I think about Bobby Thomson, I think about what he did and how it affected us in those years.”
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