Baseball Legend Bobby Thomson, Who Hit 'Shot Heard 'Round the World,' Dies

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Baseball Legend Bobby Thomson, Who Hit 'Shot Heard 'Round the World,' Dies

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/08/17/baseball-legend-bobby-thomson-hit-shot-heard-round-world-dies/?test=latestnews

Published August 17, 2010 | NYPost.com



This Oct. 3, 1951, file photo shows member of the New York Giants baseball team greeting teammate Bobby Thomson, center rear with hand raised, after Thomson's ninth-inning homerun against the Brooklyn Dodgers, to give his team a 5-4 victory and a trip to the World Series, at the Polo Grounds in New York.

Baseball legend Bobby Thomson, whose "shot heard 'round the world" capped a miracle comeback to win the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants over the rival Brooklyn Dodgers, has died. He was 86.

Thomson, an outfielder, died on Monday at his home in Savannah, Georgia after years of declining health, his family announced this afternoon, according to the Staten Island Advance.

Nicknamed the "Staten Island Scot" because he was born in Glasgow but moved to Richmond County as a child, Thomson played for the Giants from 1946 to 1953. He also played for the team during the 1957 season.

Thomson would also go on to play for the Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.

A .270 career hitter, he became a legend for smacking the game-winning homer off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca in the playoffs to win the 1951 NL pennant.

Thomson and Branca later became good friends and would often make appearances together at baseball card shows.

The home run -- dubbed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" -- is considered one of the most famous in baseball history.

The death comes a month after right-handed pitcher Clint Hartung, who scored as a pinch-runner on Thomson's homer, died at age 87.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Sad news...but what a great life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Branca

He is perhaps best remembered for one infamous relief appearance in a 1951 playoff game against the crosstown rival New York Giants. Branca entered the game in the ninth inning and surrendered a walk-off home run known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" to the late Bobby Thomson, giving the Giants the National League pennant.

Branca later learned from Detroit Tiger Ted Gray that the Giants had stolen the signs to the two pitches he threw Thomson. That rumor was confirmed in The Wall Street Journal in 2001, when Giant Sal Yvars admitted that he relayed to Thomson the stolen signs for Branca's fastballs.<1> Joshua Prager detailed the revelations in a book entitled The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and The Shot Heard Round the World. Thomson acknowledged to Prager that the Giants had stolen signs in 1951 but denied that he had foreknowledge of the pitch he hit off Branca for the pennant-winning home run.

Prior to facing Thomson, Branca had been warming up in the bullpen with Carl Erskine. Dodger coach Clyde Sukeforth noticed that Erskine was bouncing several curveballs in the dirt and instructed manager Charlie Dressen to call on Branca—this despite Thomson having homered off Branca in Game 1. (The Dodgers fired Sukeforth shortly thereafter.)

Branca did not express bitterness over the gopher ball, but begin a friendship with Thomson that lasted into each man's old age, including many joint television appearances.

In his final spring training appearance, Branca was relieved by Sandy Koufax, whose first major league strikeout was Thomson.

Branca's daughter married Bobby Valentine, Dodger player and later Mets Manager

[Elwood P Dowd]

2. There is Willie Mays, number 24.

I saw him play in person many times when I was attending Atlanta Braves games back in the 1960s. He was the best all-round baseball player I've ever seen. He could beat you hitting, hitting with power, fielding, or running the bases. He could do it all when he was in his prime. Sad that he he kept playing 3-4 years after his skills had seriously deteriorated, but then many of the greats did that.