Thomson's dramatic homer not only capped the New York Giants' 5-4 win in a decisive playoff game over the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants had won 37 of 44 games to erase their 13-game deficit to the Dodgers in the standings, and force the best-of-3 playoff.
Bobby Thomson (hand raised) about to reach home plate and his happy Giants' teammates after slugging his famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World" home run.New York -- Bobby Thomson, who hit the famed "Shot Heard 'Round the World" that won the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants, has died. He was 86.
Thomson's death was confirmed Tuesday by the funeral home in Savannah, Ga., that is handling the arrangements. He had been in failing health for several years and died at home nearby Monday night, funeral director Joe Wall said.
Thomson connected off Brooklyn ace Ralph Branca for a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning at Polo Grounds in the decisive game of a best-of-three playoff.
The homer and broadcaster Russ Hodges' ecstatic call of "The Giants win the pennant!" remain one of the signature moments in major league history.
A three-time All-Star as an infielder and outfielder, Thomson hit .270 with 264 career home runs and 1,026 RBIs from 1946-60 with several teams.
Thomson's famous homer that Oct. 3 capped the Giants' four-run, ninth-inning rally for the 5-4 win. Not only that, but it was the defining moment in New York's remarkable late-season surge. The Giants (now of San Francisco) were 59-51 and trailed the Dodgers (now of Los Angeles) by 13 games on Aug. 11. The Giants, though, went 37-7 the rest of the way to finish 96-58 and force a best-of-three playoff between teams that formed what some experts consider baseball's greatest rivalry.
The Giants won Game 1, 3-1, at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field on Oct. 1. The Dodgers tied the series the next day, with a 10-0 rout at the Polo Grounds.
Trailing, 4-1, in the decisive third game, New York's Alvin Dark singled leading off the bottom of the ninth against Dodgers ace Don Newcombe. Don Mueller singled, too, before Newcombe retired Monte Irvin on a foul pop.
Whitey Lockman, though, doubled, driving in Dark and sending Mueller to third, trimming the Brooklyn lead to 4-2.
Brooklyn manager Chuck Dressen then replaced Newcombe with Branca, a former 21-game winner. Thomson had been 4-for-12 with a triple and two homers off Branca during that 1951 season. One of Thomson's homers off Branca had been two days before, in the first playoff game, giving New York a 2-1 lead in its 3-1 win.
In a less significant move, Giants manager Leo Durocher had Clint Hartung pinch-run for Mueller.
Thomson took Branca's first pitch for a strike. He drove the right-hander's next delivery over the left-field wall, a no-doubter, three-run home run that set off a wild celebration.
In the course of baseball history, it mattered little that the Giants went on to lose the World Series, 4 games to 2, to the dynastic New York Yankees.
From Baseball-Reference.com, the box scores and play-by-plays for Game 1 of the Giants-Dodgers series; Game 2; and Game 3. And, the World Series.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report