1951, Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Giants in a best of 3 series to see who is going to the World Series. Bottom of the 9th, winning run at the plate. Before we go any further, lets see how each team got here.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Dodgers were the favorite going into the season to win the pennant. Back then, it was the best record from each league played in the World Series, no playoffs, straight to business. They were up 13 games on the Giants halfway through August, and showed no signs of stopping. With a Lineup containing Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges, it was easy to see why they were the favorites to win the NL.
On the other hand, the Giants were no slouch either, led by Hall of Famer Monte Irvin and with a Rookie Willie mays, they were getting ready to make a real run at the Pennant and take down the cross town rivals. They made a miraculous comeback in the second half of the season. Winning 16 straight games in August, but it only cut the deficit from 13 games to 12 games back. With 2 weeks left, the Giants were back 4 games, with 7 left to play, they won them all and tied up the standings.
Also, something to note for my fellow Phillies fans out there, this was the Whiz Kids era and after getting swept in the 1950 World Series, they were heavy favorites to go back and win it this time. They finished below .500, and did not make it back in the Fall Classic until 1980 when they finally won it all. Classic Phillies.
The stage is set, the Giants won the coin toss for home field advantage, which is awesome that a coin toss had a major factor in something this big. The Giants won game 1, 3-1 on a masterful performance by starting pitcher Jim Hearn as he went all the way throwing a 1 run, 5 hit complete game. Monte Irvin showed why he is a Hall of Famer with a huge insurance home run in the 8th inning.
Game 2 was what some like to call, a shit pumping by the Dodgers. 10-0 on the Giants dome. The game was postponed after 6 innings when it was 5-0 and played the next day, when the Giants let up 5 more runs, and got no hits. The Giants also had 5 errors, which I think took this game from an ass kicking to a shit pumping.
Here we are, it all comes down to game 3. Loser go home, winner gets to play the Yankees for a chance at a World Series. The Dodgers scored in the 1st from a Jackie Robinson single. The Giants led off the second inning with a single, and then Bobby Thomson hit a single, and tried to stretch it into a double, but did not realize that Whitney Lockman did not go to 3rd. Thomson was thrown out and everyone immediately compared him to the unforgettable Merkle's Boner that costed the Giants the 1908 Pennant. The game remained 1-0 all the way until the 7th inning, when Monte Irvin smoked a double and was moved to 3rd on a bunt, and then a sac fly by Bobby Thomson scored him. Every coaches wet dream right there. 1-1 going into the 8th, when the Dodgers put up 3 runs with a couple hits, a walk, and a wild pitch made it a 4-1 game. Bobby Thomson misplayed 2 balls in this inning, which certainly did not help as they turned singles into multiple bases and was even receiving some boo's from the home town crowd.
Bottom of the 9th, down by 3, Giants need to finish their historic comeback season now, or never. Back to back singles, followed by a double from Whitey Lockman scored one, and moved Don Mueller to 3rd. When Mueller slid into 3rd however, he sprained his ankle and had to be taken out of the game. Talk about building some suspense. Then, building even more suspense, the Dodgers pulled their starter, Don Newcombe, to put in Ralph Branca, who started game 1 and threw 135 pitches in 8 innings, 2 days ago. Bobby Thomson comes to the plate, after receiving boos just an inning ago, with the fate of the world, on his shoulders. Let's just sit back and watch this one together.
I mean, I never cared for the Giants as a team, but this is just so god damn awesome. A cool thing note about the call by broadcasting legend Russ Hodges, is that until his death, he would replay the call whenever he felt sad, or was not in a good mood. I do the same with Bryce Harper's Bedlam at the Bank. Also, rookie of the year Willie Mays was on deck when Thomson won the pennant. Nothing else really happened in Bobby Thomson's career. He was traded to the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 when he broke his ankle in spring training, which allowed a 20 year old rookie with 2 first names, I think it was like Henry or Hank Aaron. No way he breaks the record for most career home runs and is an all time great player.
And then there was the sing stealing scandal. No not the Astros of the late 2010's. The Giants were way ahead of their time. When the Giants played home games, they had a two man crew in centerfield of the Polo Grounds. One guy had binoculars, and the other had a baseball. The guy with binoculars would tell the guy with the baseball fastball, or off speed based off of the catcher's sign. The guy with the ball would then hold the ball for a fastball or throw the ball in the air for a breaking ball. The Giants implemented this system at the end of July, right before they went on a 16 game winning streak. The Dodgers discovered this in a game in early September, but their findings came inconclusive as the umpires took away the binoculars from the Dodgers bench and accused the Dodgers of cheating.
Bobby Thomson denies that he knew what pitch was coming until the day he died. One thing that I found interesting is that before July 20th, when the Giants implemented this system, Thomson was hitting .241, after July 20th, he hit .346. I personally am a fan of sign stealing, and greatly benefited from knowing what pitch was coming probably my entire senior year of high school baseball. I know sign stealing when I see it. The Giants also went 24-6 at home after July 20th. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. This scandal did not come out until 2001 in an article in the Wall Street Journal.
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