Bobby Thomson Larry Jansen Don Mueller auto photo 1951 Giants signed

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This is an awesome item for any Giants fan!! This 4x6 photo was personally signed by Bobby Thomson (dec 2010), Don Mueller (dec 2011) and Larry Jansen (dec 2009). The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" Main article: Shot Heard 'Round the World (baseball) Thomson became a celebrity for his dramatic walk-off home run off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run, nicknamed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" , was even more dramatic than it may seem to the modern sports observer as, until 1969, league pennants were only decided by playoff when the teams involved finished the regular season in a tie. Prior to 1951 playoffs had only been necessary in 1946 (NL) and 1948 (AL). [citation needed ] Thomson hits the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' Thomson's three-run shot was the exclamation point on a dramatic season for the Giants. Although in mid-August they were 13½ games behind the league-leading Dodgers, they won 37 of their final 44 games to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the regular season, forcing a three-game playoff . The Giants won the first game 3–1 as a result of a two-run home run by Thomson (off Branca). Brooklyn’s Clem Labine shut out the Giants in the second game, 10–0. The decisive contest, played on October 3 at the Polo Grounds , was the first major sporting event televised coast-to-coast in the United States. [5] The Dodgers took a 4–1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning; but Giants shortstop Alvin Dark singled, advanced to third on a single by Don Mueller , and scored on a double by Whitey Lockman . With Lockman on second and pinch-runner Clint Hartung at third, Thomson's walk-off home run turned looming defeat into a 5–4 victory. The moment was immortalized by Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges 's excited multiple repetitions: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"Waiting in the on-deck circle to hit behind Thomson was rookie Willie Mays . The Giants' miracle season ended, however, at the 1951 World Series ; the Yankees swept the last three games to win the best-of-seven series, 4 games to 2. Thomson batted .238 in the Series with no home runs.The bat from the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" is in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York . The uniform worn by Thomson on that historic day is apparently a part of a large private collection owned by Dan Scheinman, a member of the San Francisco Giants ownership group. [6] The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" is said to have inspired a famous scene in the 1984 film The Natural , in which Roy Hobbs ( Robert Redford ), a middle-aged outfielder who plays for the fictional New York Knights, hits a walk-off home run to win the National League pennant. Despite similarities between this and Thomson's home run, as well as the events that led to their respective climaxes, most of the film is set in 1939, preceding the Giants' miracle run by twelve years. [edit ]Controversy Rumors that the 1951 Giants secretly learned opponents' finger signals were confirmed in 2001 when several players told the Wall Street Journal that beginning on July 20, the team used a telescope and buzzer wire to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers careless enough to leave their signs unprotected. [7] Joshua Prager detailed the revelations in a book titled The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and The Shot Heard Round the World . Giants catcher Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed to Thomson the stolen sign for Branca's fastball.Thomson always insisted that he had no foreknowledge of Branca's pitch. Branca had been aware of the rumors and was skeptical of Thomson's denial, but later told The New York Times , "I didn't want to diminish a legendary moment in baseball. And even if Bobby knew what was coming, he had to hit it.... Knowing the pitch doesn't always help." [8] Whether the telescope-and-buzzer system contributed significantly to the Giants' late-season 37–7 win streak remains a subjec... read more

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