Library of Congress enshrines Russ Hodges' 1951 call

Twenty-five audio recordings selected today by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as the "Class of 2019" worthy of preservation due to their "cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage. They include Russ Hodges’ thrilling play-by-play of the National League tiebreaker between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951; "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”; the Village People’s international dance anthem, “Y.M.C.A.”; “Cheap Trick at Budokan”; and the original 1964 Broadway cast recording of “Fiddler on the Roof”.

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Stunned that wasn't already in there. Little piece of trivia: Ernie Harwell was handling the national TV broadcast and admitted his memories of his call -- "... he swings, it's a long one, it's a home run and the Giants are going to the World Series ..." -- weren't nearly as interesting as Hodges'.

 

That's before toolboxes such as Joe Buck and Nantz had their winning calls prepped weeks in advance.

 

Always thought it was sad that Sonny Corleone died not knowing the Giants won the pennant.

 

There's a great piece of old-school baseball in the Thomson HR film clip. As he's leaving the third-base coaching box, Durocher picks up Thomson's glove, which he'd left on the field after the top of the ninth. It's at the 45-second mark.

 

Some of those fan reactions were cut in from other games, I'm sure, as nearly everyone was wearing long sleeves or coats that day and fan close-ups show short sleeves. Also, I got to hear Ralph Branca sing the National Anthem about 1996 at a NY ALS dinner.

 

Ah, there was a 1954 rule change called 3.14 (PI?) that required fielders to carry their gloves with them off the field of play. Always wondered when that went into effect. They should bring it back to speed up play.