On this day in New York · October 3, 1951
The Shot Heard 'Round the World
One swing at the Polo Grounds settled a tied pennant race and gave New York the most replayed home run in its history.
The facts
- Date
- October 3, 1951
- Location
- Polo Grounds, Manhattan
- Final score
- Giants 5, Dodgers 4
- The moment
- Bottom of the 9th, two on base, one out, Thomson off Ralph Branca
The Giants and the Dodgers had finished the 1951 season deadlocked atop the National League, forcing a three game playoff for the pennant. It went the distance. On October 3, 1951, at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, the Giants trailed Brooklyn 4 to 2 in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game when Bobby Thomson came to the plate against Dodgers reliever Ralph Branca with two runners on and one out. Thomson drove the ball into the lower deck of the left field stands for a three run home run that won the pennant on the spot. Giants radio announcer Russ Hodges came unglued on the call, and the next morning's newspapers struggled to find language equal to what the city had just watched.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!
Russ Hodges, calling the home run live on WMCA radio, October 3, 1951
Source: Wikipedia -
Now it is done. Now the story ends. And there is no way to tell it.
Red Smith, opening line of his column in the New York Herald Tribune, October 4, 1951
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The homer sent the Giants into a Subway Series against the Yankees, but its real legacy is the moment itself: one pitch at Coogan's Bluff that turned into the standard every other New York sports miracle still gets measured against.
Sources
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