Bobby Thomson died last week. The man who hit the "Shot Heard "Round the World." The home run that completed the Miracle of Coogan's Bluff and gave the New York Giants the National League pennant in the bottom of the ninth inning in the third and decisive playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951. ESPN's Jayson Stark called it the most famous home run in baseball history last week which set my blood to boiling. He didn't call it one of the most famous home runs. Nor did he say it was arguably one of the most famous home runs. He just said it was the most famous home in baseball history. Period.
In over 100 years of World Series history, only once was there a walk-off home run to win a seventh and deciding game to make a team a champion and end the season. We all know that was Bill Mazeroski's home run for the Pirates in 1960 that beat the New York Yankees. Maybe that home run isn't so famous because it came against a New York team. Or maybe it was because only one New York team was participating then instead of two.
Of course, immediately upon standing up for the legitimacy of Maz' homer, I was accused of being a parochial Pittsburgher. Really⢠Are there any fans in sports more provincial than New York baseball fans⢠If it happens west of the Hudson River, they don't think it's significant. A lot of the national media feels the same way.
I guess Joe Carter's homer that won the 1993 World Series for Toronto wasn't that big a deal either. It was hit in Canada and crushed a team from Philadelphia and neither fact makes it special to those baseball purists who think all 30 teams should play in of the five boroughs making up New York. Here we at least would consider it as famous as Mazeroski's. Of course then it would be dismissed because if the Blue Jays lose that game there would have been one more game to play. There was no tomorrow on October 13, 1960.
All of this is not meant to diminish Thomson's homer. It is one of the greatest moments in baseball history. It finished off a comeback that started with the Giants 13 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in August. It came in a game the Giants were trailing, not tied as in the '60 Pirates-Yankees situation. And it pitted two New York teams against each other in a playoff that at the time was rare and not the usual part of the postseason we are accustomed to. But that's it. Yes, the Giants win the pennant! And the Yankees won the World Series. Great drama leading to failure.
Come to think of it, Kirk Gibson's homer in game one of the 1988 World Series was bigger. It set the tone for a quick World Series with the Dodgers upsetting the heavily favored Oakland A's. And then there is Carlton Fisk's waved fair homer to win game six of the 1975 World Series in the 12th inning. It too could be considered more important than Thomson's. And maybe there is the real difference. Perhaps Stark is right. Thomson's homer is the most famous. Mazeroski's is the most important.
Think about it. Thomson's has a fancy nickname. Maz' does not. Thomas had a memorable call by a homer announcer, Russ Hodges who was the voice of the Giants at that time. Maz' homer had an impartial national announcer in Chuck Thompson who could not scream umpteen times that the Pirates had won the World Series because a good portion of his audience was disappointed and shocked at the outcome. And perhaps most important, Thomson's came first. While a playoff win isn't as significant as a World Series win, it was the first time baseball fans had really seen something like that. Mazeroski's homer came just nine years later. It was more of a been there, done that.
While it's doubtful too many people in China were concerned about it, it's a good thing Thomson's home run was the shot heard around the world. Because it was only seen by a crowd of 34,320 with over 20,000 empty seats in the Polo Grounds that dreary October afternoon. Those New York baseball fans are great aren't they⢠Just ask one of them. When all is said and done, they would probably rather have famous over important anyway. It just fits.
