I am sad to learn that Bobby passed away.
I’m nowhere near old enough to remember Bobby, but the Giants were the team of my father and thus I consider them the team of my ancestors, and when I look at the NY logo on their cap I feel a bind with them. (My dad once said he was at that game, I am not sure I believe it.)
My buddy Osh41 tells me people were talking about the Giants for a change today. Thats a good thing.
People will write far more and far better about Bobby than I can, so I thought I’d take the time to write about the franchise itself.
They didn’t win it all in 1951. They did win in ’54 which you never hear about. For all the blah blah whine whine Dodger crap you hear, nobody seems to care that the Giants won the year before. 10 pennants in New York City in half a century. Compare that to three by their replacements, granted in a bigger league, but without that bigger league you lose the ’73 pennant in exchange for one in 1988.
Hard to imagine a team going to the World Series twice in 4 years and then being another city 4 years later.
Hopefully the New York Nationals will take a moment of silence when they return.
Russ Hodges’ call of the Shot Heard Round The World is basically Sterlingesque (that’s nit a compliment John) but it is somehow iconic.
For more about Bobby (and not the same old stuff) check out Baseball during wartime and I am sure that Centerfield Maz will be writing about him. Maz does a good job with Giants stuff and let’s me borrow complete posts from time to time.
Finally, if you own a team and insist on wearing black caps, this is the way to do it.
I’m younger than you are, but I still had a good Bobby Thompson story.
http://rememberingshea.blogspot.com/2010/08/giants-win-pennant.html
P.S. the Mets really should be honoring both the Dodgers and Giants at Citi Field, but don’t get me started on that.
Fully agree with you p.s. (which is why I have no problem with black being added to the official team colors for the past 12 years).
Great post. Next year the Mets need to dedicate a plaque to Bobby Thompson and “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” It’s an important part of National League baseball history in New York.
Dude cheated, pure and simple.
Did he not hear that confession is good for the soul.
That the Giants cheated by stealing signs has become an accepted fact. Whether Thomson, himself, cheated cannot be proven, and shouldn’t, in my opinion, tarnish his legacy.
Interesting piece on the sign-stealing issue:
http://www.tnr.com/article/77112/bobby-thomson-1923-2010
A very sad day for me. Not only was a I rabid Giants fan (I was even at the time and actually watched the game on my twelve-inch Dumont TV set!), but it inspired me to write my second novel, ONCE UPON A FASTBALL. Anyone who loves baseball would, I think, enjoy this novel, available at Amazon.com. I also have learned to admire Ralph Branca in terms of the way he has handled this gaffe his whole life. The greatest moment in sports history, in by humble opinion. –Bob Mitchell