VIDEO: Bobby Thomson’s ‘Shot Heard ‘Round The World’

Giants legend Bobby Thomson passed away on Tuesday, and we call him a legend because of this moment: a walk-off, pennant-winning home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers that still stands as one of the very most memorable homers in the history of baseball. Here’s video of Thomson’s “shot heard ‘round the world.”

It was October 3, 1951, and the then-New York Giants, who hadn’t placed higher than third in the National League in thirteen years, found themselves in the third and final game of a tie-breaking playoff series with the cross-town Brooklyn Dodgers. The winner was to face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

The Giants entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 4-1, setting the stage for one of the most dramatic comebacks baseball has ever seen. After Alvin Dark and Don Mueller hit back-to-back singles, Monte Irvin flied out. Whitey Lockman then doubled to drive in Dark, and Bobby Thomson stepped to the plate.

The Dodgers brought pitcher Don Newcombe out of the game and sent in Ralph Branca, a man whose legacy would soon be inseparable from Thomson’s. After a called first strike, Thomson drilled the second pitch into the seats, sending the Giants to the World Series.

Thomson later recalled his reaction:

“Right away after I hit it I thought it was a home run,” Thomson said. “Going around the bases, I could hardly breathe. I was starting to hyperventilate.”

It was such a moment that the Giants’ eventual loss to the Yankees in the World Series did not diminish it.

The story, though, was not quite over. Thomson and Branca were friendly to each other for decades after the fact, until Sal Yvars, the Giants’ backup catcher in 1951, claimed that the Giants were able to steal the Dodgers’ signs.

The story, which was later incorporated into a book, essentially credited the Giants’ historic comeback - and by extension Thomson’s home run - to their ability to steal the opposing teams’ signs. Branca took that as his exoneration while Thomson insisted he didn’t know what pitch was coming.

We will likely never know whether this story is true; regardless, the moment is unforgettable, thanks in part to announcer Russ Hodges’ dramatic home run call.

For more on Thomson’s career, read on.