In baseball, the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" was a walk-off home run hit by New York Giants outfielder and third baseman Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds in New York City on October 3, 1951, to win the National League (NL) pennant. Thomson's dramatic three-run homer came in the ninth inning of the decisive third game of a three-game playoff for the pennant in which the Giants trailed 4–1 entering the ninth and 4–2 with two runners on base at the time of Thomson's at-bat.
The game was seen by millions of viewers across America and heard on radio by millions more, including thousands of American servicemen stationed in Korea listening on Armed Forces Radio. The dramatic victory to secure a pennant was intensified by the cross-town rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers and by a remarkable string of victories in the last weeks of the regular season by the Giants, who won 37 of their last 44 games to catch the first-place Dodgers and force a playoff series to decide the NL champion. The Giants' late-season rally and 2-to-1-game playoff victory, capped by Thomson's moment of triumph, are collectively known in baseball lore as "The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff", a descriptor coined by the legendary sports columnist Red Smith.
The phrase "shot heard round the world" is from the 1837 poem "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, about the first clash of the American Revolutionary War, and has been popularly applied to several dramatic historical moments.Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson. poetryfoundation.org archive. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
Background
The principal National League (NL) contenders in 1951 were the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers quickly pulled into first place and widened their lead as the season progressed. On August 11, with a -game lead over the second-place Giants, they appeared certain to face the New York Yankees in the World Series. "Unless [the Dodgers] completely fold in their last 50 games," wrote an Associated Press writer, "they're in." The Phillies, games back, faded from contention, but the Giants won 16 straight games from August 12 to August 27, cutting the Dodgers' lead to six games. By September 20, they had pulled to within games, still a prohibitive margin with only ten days remaining in the season, but the Giants won all of their final seven games while the Dodgers lost six of their last ten. The two teams concluded the regular season deadlocked with records.
The NL used a three-game playoff at that time to break ties for the pennant. The Dodgers won the coin toss to determine the playoff schedule; they elected to play the first game at home and the second (and third if needed) at the Polo Grounds, reasoning that after a likely win in Brooklyn, they would need to win only one of two at the Giants' park. Nevertheless, in Game One at Ebbets Field, the Giants, with Jim Hearn on the mound, defeated the Dodgers' Ralph Branca 3–1 thanks to home runs by Bobby Thomson and Monte Irvin. In Game Two at the Polo Grounds, with the Yankees team in attendance as spectators (another version has the Yankees at Game Three but leaving before the fateful home run to beat the traffic), the Dodgers tied the series, winning 10–0 on home runs by Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Andy Pafko, and Rube Walker, who was catching in place of an injured Roy Campanella. Clem Labine pitched a six-hit shutout against Sheldon Jones. The 1–1 deadlock set up the deciding third game at the Polo Grounds on October 3.
The game
For Game Three, Sal Maglie was on the mound for New York while Brooklyn called on Don Newcombe. In the first inning, Robinson singled in Pee Wee Reese for the game's first run. A Giants rally in the second inning, initiated by Whitey Lockman's single, fizzled when Thomson, trying to stretch a single into a double, failed to notice that Lockman had not advanced to third base and was tagged out by Robinson.Smith, R. "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff". New York Herald Tribune, October 4, 1951, p.1. The score remained 1–0 through the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Irvin led off with a double for the Giants. He was bunted over to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Thomson, tying the score at one run each.
In the top of the eighth, the Dodgers came back with three runs. With Reese and Duke Snider on third and first after back-to-back singles, a Maglie wild pitch allowed Reese to score and Snider to advance to second. Robinson was walked intentionally to set up a double play, but Pafko's ground ball to third bounced off the heel of Thomson's glove; Snider scored and Robinson took third. Billy Cox added another single to score Robinson, making the score 4–1 in favor of the Dodgers. Newcombe set down the Giants in order in the bottom of the eighth while Larry Jansen did the same in relief of Maglie in the top of the ninth.
Newcombe had pitched a complete game on September 29, four days earlier, in Philadelphia, followed by innings in relief the following day during the last game of the regular season. According to some accounts, after eight innings on only two days' rest, he attempted to take himself out of the game, but Robinson demanded that he continue: "You go out there and pitch until your arm falls off!" Newcombe himself insisted that he never asked to be relieved, a version corroborated by Snider and Pafko.Goldblatt, A. The Giants and the Dodgers: Four Cities, Two Teams, One Rivalry. McFarland (2003), pp. 110–12.
Giants shortstop Alvin Dark singled off Newcombe to start the bottom-of-the-ninth rally. At that point, the Dodgers made a crucial defensive mistake: with no outs, a runner on first, and a three-run lead, the normal strategy would be to position the infield for a possible double play, but first baseman Gil Hodges played behind Dark — apparently guarding against a highly unlikely steal attempt — leaving a large gap on the right side of the infield. Don Mueller, batting left-handed, hit a single through that gap, advancing Dark from first to third. Instead of a rally-killing double play, the Dodgers found themselves facing the potential tying run at the plate with two runners on base, nobody out, and Irvin, with 121 regular-season RBIs, at bat; however, Newcombe got Irvin to chase an outside pitch and foul out to Hodges. (Sportswriter Bud Greenspan and others have argued that, had the Dodgers' infield played Mueller at double-play depth, Irvin's pop-up would in all likelihood have been the season-ending third out.Greenspan, B. Play It Again, Bud! New York, Ballantine Books (1974), pp. 78–83. )
Lockman followed with a double down the left field line, driving in Dark and advancing Mueller to third. Mueller slid awkwardly into the base, injuring his ankle, and was replaced by pinch runner Clint Hartung. With Thomson coming up, Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen finally pulled the exhausted Newcombe. In the bullpen, where Branca and Carl Erskine were warming up, coach Clyde Sukeforth noticed that Erskine, who had been troubled by arm problems all season, was bouncing his curve balls short of the plate (it also didn't help matters that Rube Walker was starting as catcher for this game after Roy Campanella was injured, and Walker was not a particularly fast runner), and Sukeforth advised Dressen to go with Branca. That decision has been continually second-guessed by fans, sportswriters, and baseball historians: Branca had lost six of his last seven decisions and given up a game-winning home run to Thomson in the first playoff game. Dressen's options, however, were severely limited: the only other available pitchers with crucial-situation experience were right-hander Clyde King, who was sidelined with biceps tendonitis; left-hander Preacher Roe, who was not a strategic option to pitch to the right-handed Thomson; and right-hander Labine, who had pitched a complete game the day before. Nevertheless, it was the second questionable decision by Dressen that inning.Goldblatt (2003), p. 114.
Thomson was now at bat with first base open and Willie Mays (soon to be named the NL Rookie of the Year) on deck. Mays had gone 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Branca in the first playoff game, but Dressen was unwilling to put the winning run on base and worried that a veteran pinch hitter might be brought in to bat for Mays if he did so. In a third controversial decision, Dressen elected to pitch to Thomson rather than walk him intentionally.Goldblatt (2003), p. 115. Thomson later recalled that as he left the on-deck circle, Giants manager Leo Durocher turned to him and said, "If you ever hit one, hit it now."Regan, B. (August 9, 2007). No. 756 takes Giants back to 1951. MLB.com archive. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
Branca's first pitch was a called strike on the inside corner. His second was a fastball high and inside, intended as a setup for his next, a breaking ball down and away, but Thomson connected strongly, driving the ball down the left field line. The ball landed in the lower-deck stands near the left field foul line for a game-ending, three-run home run. Thomson ran the bases then disappeared into a mob of jubilant teammates gathered at home plate. The stunned Dodgers players began the long walk toward the visitors' clubhouse under the center field bleachers; Robinson turned to watch Thomson, making certain that he touched every base, before following his teammates off the field.Fimrite, R. Side By Side. Sports Illustrated, September 16, 1991.
Later, after the celebrations had calmed down, a delegation of Dodgers—Reese, Snider, Roe, and Robinson—visited the Giants' locker room to offer their congratulations. "I just want you to know that we didn't lose the pennant," Robinson told them. "You guys won it."
Thomson's role in the game Before hitting the game-winning home run, Thomson was involved in several crucial plays throughout the game in all three facets: hitting, fielding, and base running.
At the plate, he went 3-for-3 and batted in four of the Giants' five runs. He erased both Dodgers' leads in the game, tying it at 1–1 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and, of course, winning it with his home run in the ninth.
Thomson was also involved in several plays that hurt the Giants. His base running error in the second inning ended a potential rally for the Giants, who were trailing 1–0 at the time. Gordon McLendon, who was broadcasting the game on the Liberty radio network, drew comparisons between Thomson's mistake and Merkle's Boner, which cost the Giants the pennant in 1908,Liberty Broadcasting System, radio broadcast, October 3, 1951: "We may have had a famous repetition of the incident here today." and Red Smith structured his game report around that play.Smith, Red. "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" New York Herald Tribune, October 4, 1951. Retrieved May 23, 2020: "Maybe this is the way to tell it: Bobby Thomson ... delivered a timely hit ... Or perhaps this is better: 'Well,' said Whitey Lockman, standing on second base in the second inning ... 'Ah, there,' said Bobby Thomson, pulling into the same station after hitting a ball to left field."
After Thomson tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Dodgers scored three runs in the top of the eighth to go ahead 4–1. Two of the Dodgers' runs scored on balls hit towards Thomson, one deflecting off his glove into foul territory, and the other passing him into left field.Liberty Broadcasting System, radio broadcast, October 3, 1951 Red Smith commented on the latter hit by asking—and answering—the rhetorical question, "Where does [Billy Cox's] hit go? Where else? Through Thomson at third."Smith, Red. "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" New York Herald Tribune, October 4, 1951. Retrieved May 23, 2020