It was one of the great and still-most-talked about moments in baseball history, and it happened 55 years ago today.
Oct. 3, 1951. Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants hit the "shot heard 'round the world," the dramatic three-run homer in the bottom half of the ninth inning off Ralph Branca that gave the New York Giants the 5-4 win and the National League pennant over their hated rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
I was only 3 years old during that 1951 pennant race, but I've read so much on the subject that I feel like I was there for it all.
Growing up in the 1950s, I was a huge Dodger fan. How much so that I cried in 1957 when I heard the Dodgers were moving to Los Angeles. I was 9 years old. I loved them all from Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese to Duke Snider and Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella.
The 1950s was the golden age of baseball, and it was all centered in New York. It was Willie, Mickey and the Duke, and I wanted to be the Duke. Most wanted to wear the Mantle No. 7 on their small fry jersey. I wanted Snider's No. 4.
The Dodgers led that 1951 pennant race by 13 1/2 games in mid-August. It should have been over, but the Giants somehow got it together, winning 37 of the final 44 games. As the Giants got closer and closer, the Dodgers got tighter and tighter. For them, it was like the car wreck that you see coming but can do nothing about.
All that huge Brooklyn lead disappeared. On the final day of the regular season, the Giants won at Boston. The Dodgers had to win in Philadelphia to even force a playoff. Brooklyn was in trouble early but battled back to finally win in extra innings. The stage was set for a moment that will be talked about forever.
The Giants won Game 1 at Ebbets Field while the Dodgers took Game 2 at the Polo Grounds. It all came down to just one game.
Just like the season, Brooklyn jumped to the lead. They led it 4-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, but then again, just like the season, here came the Giants. It was 4-2 when Bobby Thomson stepped in with two on against Ralph Branca, who had just relieved Don Newcombe.
Even now, when I see the old film of that moment and hear the famous call of Giants announcer Russ Hodges, I get chills, just as if I were there:
"The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left field stands. The Giants win the pennant, and they're going crazy!"The only reason that famous call is still with us is due to a Dodger fan who turned to the Hodges radio broadcast in the ninth inning to record it on an old tape recorder. He just knew that Brooklyn was going to win and wanted to gloat while hearing the gloom of the Giants broadcast.
It happened 55 years ago today at the Polo Grounds in New York City.
The Major League Baseball playoffs start today. They will be exciting, to be sure. Stories will be written, and maybe, legends will be born, and maybe people will remember, like I remember the "shot heard 'round the world."
