Posted on 11/23/2016 8:09:16 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
If not for one unforgettable fastball, hurled Oct. 3, 1951, pitcher Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers might have faded from baseball memory. In a dozen big-league seasons, he won 88 games and lost 68, a workmanlike record, a ticket to obscurity.
But for an autumn afternoon long ago.
Facing the New York Giants with a 4-2 lead and the National League championship at stake, he threw a high fastball in the ninth inning to the Giants’ Bobby Thomson, a dangerous hitter.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
He was broken hearted when he found out the truth. He had believed Thompson all those years until the solid proof came out that the Giants cheated.
My mother grew up in Brooklyn, and the family were rabid Dodgers fans. She was in the car with my grandfather, listening to the game, when Thompson came to bat. She said, “He’s going to hit a homer.” Grampa said, “If he does, you walk home.” Well, he did stop the car, glared at her, and said, “You HAD to say it, didn’t you?” They drove off, but she still laughs about it - even while still being upset that the Dodgers lost.
Of course, when the Dodgers betrayed their fans by moving to El Lay, all of them became Dodgers haters. They ended up rooting for the Mets, and I got introduced to baseball as they were winning the Series in ‘69. Definitely one of her happier moments.
RIP. Too bad he had to live the rest of his life - 65 years! - thinking about this one pitch. The whole rest of his career was as nothing, even the rest of his life - because of one pitch. Sad, but that’s how modern society works.
Sympathies to his family and friends.
The Shot Heard Round the World!
For me, the most memorable moment I will never forget was back in June of 2010 when Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game by 1st base umpire Jim Joyce who blew what should have been the final out by calling the batter safe at 1st.
He knew he made a bad call and admitted to it after the game. What made it even more memorable was the next day when the Tiger manager had Galarraga take the starting lineup out to the home plate umpire who was Jim Joyce. As he handed the lineup to Joyce, he put his arm around him and patted him on the back as if to say "it's all right, don't worry about it". You could see tears welling up in Joyce's eyes..........that was class.
Actually, both of these teams 'betrayed' their fans at the same time! On 29 May 1957, the Giants and the Dodgers were given National League (NL) permission to move to California, San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively. It appears that they had to make the move together or not at all, so they actually moved in time for the 1958 season. It took 4 years to replace the NL franchise in NYC with the Mets in 1962. As for the AL, they got started in California with the Angels in 1961 and added the Seattle Pilots in 1967.
IND F-train or IRT #7?
Remember it well. We lived in Mt Vernon next door to Bill Rigby who used to commute to home games by bus / subway.
I was collecting money on my paper route when it was hit, almost knocked down the lady at whose door I was standing pushing into her living room & jumping up and down. Luckily she was a Giant fan too.
Not exactly. The Giants announced their forthcoming move to SF fairly early in the 1957 season. The Dodgers waited until the season had ended and announced their move to LA in October of that year.
Also with respect to the Seattle Pilots, you got the year wrong. They played only one year in 1960 and then were bought out and moved to Milwaukee for the following year and renamed the Brewers.
Couldn't have done that because the train station serving the PG was NOT elevated. It was underground, a subway, so he couldn't get any reception on a radio there. Also, it was fairly cumbersome to take a portable radio with you on a train then, because small transistor radios were still a few years away in 1951.
Mt. Vernon was ironically Branca's home town!
I mistyped the year of the Seattle Pilots. It was 1969.
I am going by second hand recollection. If you stand outside a major league stadium you can hear a lot of cheering, and the crowd outside relays accounts, perhaps from the cabbie’s radios.
I saw the game on TV as a young kid. One thing I remember is that homers down the line in the Polo Grounds were a chip shot. Center field was a different story. Thompson’s homer might have been a fly ball in a lot of other parks.
RIP.
We lived in Mt Vernon next door to Bill Rigby who used to commute to home games by bus / subway.
do you mean Bill Rigney...?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.