RIP Bobby Thomson

My belief is that, although Thomson's home run did not win a World Series, it remains more famous than Mazeroski's.

 

Maz's homer remains my favorite, for many of the reasons recounted, but
Thomson's remains the marquee attraction, albiet narrowly.

 

Don't mean to diss Maz for his homer "just" winning a World Series (or Joe Carter, come to think of it), but the Series is just a week long. Thomson's homer capped a six-week stretch that started when the Giants were 13.5 games back in mid-August. Throw in the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, plus Dressen vs. Durocher, the teams in the same city ... will always be one of baseball's greatest moments.

 

The Giants went on to lose the WS and Thomson hit .238 there.

The Russ Hodges call of Thomson's HR is famous....there's no home town announcer call on the Mazeroski HR.

But the Mazeroski HR is more significant than Thomson's (or Carter's).

 

Was there a more overrated manager of the time than Charlie "Hold 'em, boys, I'll think of something" Dressen?

:

 

I would put Mazeroski and Carter on the same level in terms of significance.

Mazeroski's homer came in Game 7, but the score was tied 9-9 at the time. The Jays, meanwhile, were losing 6-5 in Game 6.

Thomson's homer is not as significant as that of Mazeroski or Carter, but it's still more famous than either because of the reasons cited by HanSenSE, along with the call by Hodges, the writing by Red Smith and others, the headline that dubbed it for all time as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World," and all of the assorted trivia: the time, 3:58 p.m.; Ralph Branca's No. 13; Willie Mays on deck; etc.

 

>>>Mazeroski's homer came in Game 7, but the score was tied 9-9 at the time. The Jays, meanwhile, were losing 6-5 in Game 6.<<<


Hmm.....no. Game 6 means there's another chance.

The Pirates beat the Yankees, who were in the middle of a streak of winning the WS in nine out of 14 years. They were supposed to win, especially in a Series where they'd badly beaten up their opponent. The Yankees had four Hall of Famers -- Mantle, Ford, Berra and Stengel.

The Blue Jays were facing the less-than-legendary Phillies.

 

Not many. Dressen became so obsessed with topping Durocher, it led to several key mistakes that led to the Dodgers' slide in September. That was one of the fascinating stories within the story in Thomson's book (along with Lee Heiman and Bill Gutman), "The Giants Win The Pennant! The Giants Win The Pennant!" which became the basis for the HBO special.

 

Appeared over the phone with Karl Ravech on Baseball Tonight. A class act as always.

Speaking of Branca, this is one of my favorite baseball photos, taken in the Dodgers clubhouse in the aftermath of Thomson's home run (that's Branca on the right):

 

To me, the difference is that the Giants went from their season ending to winning the pennant in one swing of the bat. That's what sets Thomson's homer apart from the others.

Gibson's homer came in Game 1 of the World Series = not as big as Thomson's

Carter's homer came in Game 6 of the World Series = not as big as Thomson's

Mazeroski's homer came in a tie game = not as big as Thomson's

 

I'd never read that column before and on first glance, that's got to be the best conclusion to a column I think I've ever seen.

 

Still, he continued to get jobs, on the merry-go-round . . . including a 2 1/2 year waste of energy with the Senators in the mid-50s (heralded by a
laugh-filled appearance with Groucho on You Bet Your Life) . . . then
wore out his welcome with the Braves and Tigers in the 60's before his
untimely passing in '66.

Bet You Didn't Know: Dressen was a prominent member of the 1919
Decatur Staleys.