70 years ago, Bobby Thomson hit the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' and the Giants won the pennant

Oct. 3, 1951 – that was 70 years ago, and the story of Bobby Thomson’s "Shot Heard ’Round the World" still resonates as one of baseball’s crowning moments.

Way before "The Natural" and the Roy Hobbs character was brought to the big screen by Robert Redford, Thomson authored a true storybook ending to the Giants-Dodgers playoff series that 1951 season: His dramatic walk-off home run off Ralph Branca propelled the Giants into the World Series.

It's the classic "local boy makes good" story. Thomson was born Oct. 25, 1923 in Glasgow, Scotland, but his family moved to Staten Island when he was an infant (thus, his nicknames, "The Flying Scot," and "The Staten Island Scot’’).

After attending Curtis High School Thomson signed for a $100 bonus with the New York Giants in 1942. He served with the Army Air Force during World War II, and joined the Giants after his discharge. In his first full season, 1947, he hit .283 with 29 home runs and 85 RBIs and became an outfield mainstay. In 1949 he had career bests in batting (.309) and RBIs (109).

His batting average dropped to .252 in 1950, and Thomson took a $7,000 salary cut ($30,000 to $23,000) for 1951. He responded with a .293 batting average, and career highs in home runs (32), OBP (.385), slugging (.562) and OPS (.947) and added 101 RBIs.

The Giants lagged throughout the 1951 season, and trailed the Dodgers by 13½ games in mid-August. But under fiery manager Leo Durocher, the Giants won 37 of 44 games to tie Brooklyn for first place on the last day of the season and force a best-of-three playoff series.

Thomson’s two-run homer off Branca was the key blow in the Giants’ 3-1 win in Game 1, but the Dodgers won Game 2, 10-0. The deciding Game 3 on Oct. 3 was the first major sporting event in the United States to be televised coast-to-coast.

Brooklyn ace Don Newcombe carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but singles by Alvin Dark and Don Mueller, and Whitey Lockman’s one-out double made it 4-2. Mueller injured his ankle going into third base on Lockman's hit and was replaced by Clint Hartung, with Thomson coming to the plate and rookie phenom Willie Mays waiting in the on-deck circle.

This is where fate came looking for Branca, who had been warming in the bullpen with Carl Erskine. When coach Clyde Sukeforth watched Erskine bounce several curveballs, he advised manager Chuck Dressen to bring in Branca to replace Newcombe – despite that Game 1 homer he gave up to Thomson.

Thomson sliced through the tension of the moment and delivered his three-run homer on Branca’s 0-and-1 pitch as Giants fans at the Polo Grounds erupted in jubilation and broadcaster Russ Hodges became euphoric while painting his verbal picture for a radio audience.

In the World Series against the Yankees, Thomson batted .238, did not homer and had two RBIs as the Giants lost in six games.

Still, Thomson’s dramatic pennant-winning "shot" created his near-iconic image, tarnished somewhat by rumors that the Giants had devised a sign-stealing system in 1951 involving a centerfield telescope and a buzzer system. The story was confirmed in 2001, but Thomson for the most part denied that he knew what pitch Branca was going to throw to him. Branca remained pretty much silent about those rumors, but in his later years, 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."

There is a bit of irony in the rest of the Thomson story in that he was traded to Milwaukee after the 1953 season and missed out on the Giants’ 1954 World Series championship.

In his first spring training game with Milwaukee on March 13, 1954 Thomson broke his ankle attempting to break up a double play in the eighth inning against the Yankees. From his hospital room, he said, "I started my slide too late. It was terrible luck."

Terrible luck indeed. He was replaced in leftfield the next day by 20-year-old rookie Henry Aaron, the start of his Hall of Fame career. Thomson was out of the lineup until July 14 and hit .232 with two home runs the rest of the season.

Thomson was back in 1955 and ’56 but missed out on yet another World Series when, on June 15, 1957, he was traded back to the Giants for second baseman Red Schoendienst -- a deal many observers believe clinched the first of Milwaukee's two consecutive pennants.

Thomson finished the 1957 season with the Giants, playing in the team’s final game at the Polo Grounds. When the franchise relocated to San Francisco for 1958, Thomson was traded to the Cubs. He played in Chicago for two years, then finished his MLB career with the Red Sox and Orioles in 1960.

The Thomson story came full circle in retirement as he and Branca became close friends. They often toured together, recounting the story of the 1951 home run, and appeared at countless memorabilia and collectible shows, earning cash for autographs and signed baseballs. Today, a ball signed by both players fetches from $75 to $150.

Thomson, who died at 86 in 2010 (Branca died at 90 in 2016), was a three-time All-Star and hit at least 20 home runs in eight different seasons. He once told Sports Illustrated that his classic home run "was the best thing that ever happened to me. It may have been the best thing that ever happened to anybody."