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Ralph Branca, pitcher who gave up historic home run, dies at 90
Washington Post ^ | November 23, 2016 | Paul Duggan

Posted on 11/23/2016 8:09:16 AM PST by ConservativeStatement

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1 posted on 11/23/2016 8:09:16 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
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To: ConservativeStatement

Poor Branca, he became famous after the Giants cheated to win.


2 posted on 11/23/2016 8:17:23 AM PST by Emergencyawesome
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To: ConservativeStatement

Too young to remember, but as a youth baseball lover, Bobby Thompson’s HR was one for the ages.

RIP


3 posted on 11/23/2016 8:18:13 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat ("Liberalism is a mental disorder" On FULL Display NOW BOYCOTT PepsiCO)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Thus that immortal recording; “The Giants win the Pennant, the Giants win the Pennant!”


4 posted on 11/23/2016 8:19:18 AM PST by SES1066 (Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Watched the game on TV as a teenager


5 posted on 11/23/2016 8:21:07 AM PST by uncbob
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To: ConservativeStatement
I was only 4 y/o at the time, but my father (a Giants fan) never stopped talking about it for years.
RIP ...
6 posted on 11/23/2016 8:21:40 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

... my father was a Dodgers fan, he h8d the Yankees. He is one of only about two million people who recall going to Polo Grounds, and listening to game from the elevated train station.


7 posted on 11/23/2016 8:25:06 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (The Democratic Party supports full civil rights for Necro-Americans!)
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To: Emergencyawesome

How did they cheat?


8 posted on 11/23/2016 8:25:43 AM PST by GoldenPup
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To: ConservativeStatement

Biggest cheaters in baseball history.

This could also be called the worst cheaters because the best cheaters are the ones we don’t know about who still haven’t been caught.

1. New York Giants (1951)
Bobby Thomson
Bobby Thomson is mobbed by his Giants’ teammates after hitting the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
Last year, the Giants admitted they had an elaborate sign-stealing system in place at the Polo Grounds in 1951. Did it help them erase the 13½-game lead the Dodgers had in August?

Did Bobby Thomson know what Ralph Branca was throwing when he hit his “Shot heard around the world?” Those questions are unanswerable, even by Thomson, who exhibited Clintonesque qualities when questioned by the Wall Street Journal. “I’d have to say more no than yes,” he said, then equivocated some more before finally saying that no, he didn’t steal the sign for that pitch.

But there’s no doubt that the Giants cheated. Coach Herman Franks would sit in the Giants clubhouse, conveniently located past center field, and use a telescope to read the catcher’s signs. He’d then set off a bell or buzzer in the Giants bullpen that would identify the next pitch, and a relay man would signal it in to the hitter.


9 posted on 11/23/2016 8:26:51 AM PST by Emergencyawesome
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To: GoldenPup

See post 9


10 posted on 11/23/2016 8:27:20 AM PST by Emergencyawesome
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To: ConservativeStatement

Bobby Valentine’s father in law.


11 posted on 11/23/2016 8:30:01 AM PST by usafa92 (Trump 2016 - Destroying the GOPe while Making America Great Again!)
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To: Emergencyawesome
Last year, the Giants admitted ...
Who specifically admitted it?
12 posted on 11/23/2016 8:30:21 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
He is one of only about two million people who recall going to Polo Grounds
Same thing Maris' 61st HR at Yankee Stadium. I had friends who I knew weren't at the game describe how they were. Amazing.
13 posted on 11/23/2016 8:33:16 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

In 2001, many of the 21 Giants players still alive at the time, and one surviving coach, told the Wall Street Journal that beginning on July 20, the team used a telescope in the Giants clubhouse behind center field, manned by infielder Hank Schenz and later by coach Herman Franks, to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers.

Stolen signs were relayed via a buzzer wire connected from the clubhouse to telephones in the Giants dugout and bullpen—one buzz for a fastball, two for an off-speed pitch. “Every hitter knew what was coming,” said pitcher Al Gettel.
“Made a big difference.”[41] Joshua Prager, the author of the Journal article, outlined the evidence in greater detail in a 2008 book.[42]

Although backup catcher Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed Rube Walker’s fastball sign to Thomson from the bullpen, Thomson repeatedly insisted that he was concentrating on the situation, and did not take the sign.

[43] Branca made no public comment at the time. “I made a decision not to speak about it,” he said. “I didn’t want to look like I was crying over spilled milk.”[41] Later he 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.”[44] In another interview, Branca pointed out that luck and circumstance were involved as well; had the coin toss gone the other way, Thomson’s Shot would not have been a home run at Ebbets Field—nor would the game-winner he hit in the first playoff game have been a homer at the Polo Grounds.[9]


14 posted on 11/23/2016 8:33:19 AM PST by Emergencyawesome
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To: Emergencyawesome

Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson discuss “sneaking a peek”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww-miB7QFxw


15 posted on 11/23/2016 8:35:36 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you really want to irritate someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
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To: AppyPappy

“Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson discuss “sneaking a peek””

Reggie didn’t need a telescope and a buzzer, If Bob Gibson caught you taking a peek he would bounce one off your head


16 posted on 11/23/2016 8:38:58 AM PST by Emergencyawesome
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To: oh8eleven

In my father’s account, he didn’t get in, he listened from the train station. We lived in Manhattan at the time, and I don’t think my mother would have approved of him playing hooky.


17 posted on 11/23/2016 8:43:22 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (The Democratic Party supports full civil rights for Necro-Americans!)
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To: Emergencyawesome

Where are you getting this “cut and paste” from?


18 posted on 11/23/2016 8:54:59 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: ConservativeStatement

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

Then the Yankees beat them in 6.


19 posted on 11/23/2016 8:55:32 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
We lived in Manhattan at the time
I was about 18 miles east on LI. As kids we'd do bike/bus/subway to get to Yankee Stadium.
20 posted on 11/23/2016 8:59:29 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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