Shot Heard 'Round the World: Bobby Thomson's Iconic Home Run

October third, nineteen fifty one, New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thompson takes a pitch from the Brooklyn Dodgers and hits it out of the park and it is a walk off, three run shot to end the game and give the Giants the pennant, giving them the opportunity to go to the World Series after a dramatic comeback during the season, in a moment that is now known as the Shot Heard round the World. And we're going to dive into this iconic moment in sports history and everything that surrounds it today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history and increase your sports knowledge. And today's trivic question to listen out for is what war was the Shot around the World poem? Talking about now? Baseball was very different in nineteen fifty one. For one, there's only sixteen teams and they didn't have a traditional playoff like we have today. There was no Wildcards, there was no Championship Series. There was just whoever won the American League and whoever won the National League would play in the World Series. In the farthest Western team at the time was in Saint Louis. So what made this game so iconic and how did it get the name the shot Heard rout in the world, because this is not the only shot heard around the world. See. The shot Heard around the World is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the Battle of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolutionary War, and it originates from the open stanza of a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem called the Concord Hymn, and it comes from the phrase from the poem that goes by the rude bridge that arked the flood flag to April's breeze unfurled. Here once the embattled farmer stood and fired the shot heard round the world, And this makes reference in the poem to changing the world by firing his gun. And that's where they took this term for baseball. And the reason why this is known as the shot Heard around the world is because that is what the newspaper said on the front page with the headline of shot heard round the world, but an important home run that it is known as the shot Heard around the world, and not all the other walk offs are all the other big moments in baseball history. Well, it's because it was a long time to get to it. See, the National League had three main competitors in the nineteen fifty one season, the New York Giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers, in the Philadelphia Phillies. Now, the Dodgers really pulled ahead and the Phillies and Giants really fell back. And on August eleventh, with a little bit more than a month to go in the season, the Dodgers had a thirteen and a half game lead over the Giants in second place. And at the time, whoever won the National League, meaning they had the most wins, would go with the World Series. So many didn't think the Giants even had a shot at this point, But the Giants went on a sixteen game winning streak as the Dodgers kind of faltered down the end of the stretch, and it ended up that the two of the teams ended up tied at the end of the regular season. So the Giants made this huge comeback to force a tiebreaker. Now, at the time, the tiebreaker was a three game playoff for the pennant, and to determine the playoff schedule, they would flip a coin and the Dodgers won the flip and got to determine how they played, and they elected to play the first game at home and the second game at home, and they would play the third if needed, at the Giants Stadium. Now, they chose this mainly because they thought they would win the first two games and go to the World Series, but this may have been their downfall. In Game one, the Giants defeated the Dodgers three to one thanks to home runs by Bobby Thompson and Monte Irving, and in Game two, the Dodgers were able to tie the series, winning ten to zero with home runs from Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges and Rube Walker. So with the series tied, they went to play at the Giants home stadium, the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York. Larry Jensen now to start the game. Sal Magley was pitching for New York and Brooklyn had Don Newcombe and Brooklyn actually took the lead in the first inning and held onto this lead all the way into the seventh inning, where the New York Giants were able to get a run by a bunt and a sacrifice fly, so this game was tied heading into the eighth inning due to some errors in a wild pitch, Brooklyn was able to score three runs and take the lead four to one, and held the lead all the way until the ninth inning, and it was the bottom of the ninth. But in the bottom of the ninth the Dodgers were able to score one run and left two on base when Bobby Thompson came to the plate, making Bobby the go ahead run. The first pitch was a strike on the inside corner, the second a fastball hide in inside, and the next pitch was a breaking ball down and away. Thompson was able to connect to it and drive the ball down the left field line. As the ball just barely made it over the fence, it was a three run home run. It was a three run walk off home run, giving the Giants the pennant and they were headed to the World Series. We'll play a clip for you at the end of this episode of the call of this event, as I cannot do it justice. But it was a huge moment for the Giants as they had been challenging to win the World Series for years and then they got the chance to face off against the New York Yankees in the World Series and we all remember the shot heard around the world, but we often forget that they actually lost to the Yankees in the World Series four to two. But that moment was so special it has lived on more than most moments in baseball history. Now, there was some controversy around this, as many say in nineteen fifty one, the Giants were able to come back so well that they were actually sign stealing throughout the entire season, as their bullpen was in center field and they could see the catcher and they could possibly steal signs and send a signal back to the dugout so that players would know what was coming, whether it was a fastball or breaking ball. And it seems like this was actually the case, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a great moment in baseball history. And maybe we'll dive into this whole sign stealing debacle as it's been something that happened more recently with the Houston Astros, and it might be a good episode for us to cover in the future. And if you want another and if you want to learn, and if you want to dive into more about the Giants now that they're in San Francisco, check out Giants and Cocktails podcasts If you love cocktails, they give you the recipe and have unique cocktails throughout the season, and also talk about all things giants. We'll leave a link in the description below for you to check them out, and if you enjoy today's episode, make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss a single episode. And we'll be back tomorrow for more daily sports history and the answer to today's trivia question, what war was the shot Heard around the world? Poem talking about Ralph waldos Emerson's Concord Hymn was about the American Revolutionary War, and they took the phrase the shot heard around the world. Think Think