# Bobby Thompson "Shot Heard Around the World" Dead at 86 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553 "2010-08-17T19:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553/1 "2010-08-17T19:14:37Z")
Bobby Thomson, who hit the famed ["Shot Heard 'Round the World"](http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5471194)that won the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants, has died. He was 86. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553/2 "2010-08-17T20:15:15Z")
I was born during that pennant race, in late September of 1951. My father (and the rest of his family) were long-time Giant fans. I am told that whenever he went to visit my mother while was in the hospital after having me, his pals would gather in her room because she had a radio and they could listen to the ball game. So some of the games from that race were among the first things I heard.😃 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553/3 "2010-08-17T21:06:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I was born during that pennant race, in late September of 1951. My father (and the rest of his family) were long-time Giant fans. I am told that whenever he went to visit my mother while was in the hospital after having me, his pals would gather in her room because she had a radio and they could listen to the ball game. So some of the games from that race were among the first things I heard.😃 I would be mightily impressed if your first words were: “The Giants win the Pennant” “The Giants win the Pennant” “The Giants win the Pennant” “The Giants win the Pennant” “The Giants win the Pennant” ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553/4 "2010-08-17T21:12:20Z")
Who? …what’s a pennant? And what giants? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-thompson-shot-heard-around-the-world-dead-at-86/550553/5 "2010-08-20T00:07:21Z")
Way before my time, but I thought it was nice how he and the pitcher of that moment, Ralph Branca, used to do appearances together. Alas, that particular class of baseball moment–a _decisive_ head-to-head meeting, in a concluding regular-season tie-breaking playoff game, between the two best teams in the league–is now actually impossible. Under the present system, the two best teams in the league are always guaranteed to advance to the postseason, regardless of divisions, tied or not. As Bob Costas put it in _Fair Ball_, > [@Bob Costas as Russ Hodges](#): > > The Giants win the pennant! The Dodgers win the wild card! The Giants win the pennant! The Dodgers win the wild card! Actually they wouldn’t even bother playing the game.