1951 National League tie-breaker series

The 1951 National League tie-breaker series was a three-game series played at the conclusion of the 1951 Major League Baseball season between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. It is most famous for the walk-off home run hit by Bobby Thomson of the Giants in the deciding game, which has come to be known as baseball's "Shot Heard 'Round the World".

This was the second three-game playoff in National League history. The Dodgers had been involved in the previous one as well, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946 in two straight games. After no such tiebreakers had been needed since the American League became a major league in 1901, this was the third such tie in just six seasons. In addition to the 1946 series, the AL had a one-game playoff in 1948.

Background

The Giants and Dodgers ended the season tied for first place in the National League, each with a record of 96-58. To get to this point, the Giants had to comeback from a 13 1/2 game deficit in mid-August, while the Dodgers had to win their last regular season game in extra innings to avoid the Giants clinching the pennant outright. The two teams had a fierce rivalry dating back to the earliest days of professional baseball, and this series would up the ante on it substantially.

The National League (prior to 1969) used a three-game playoff to break a tie for pennant, with the winner of this one going on to face the American League champion New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series. The Dodgers would host game one at Ebbets Field on October 1, while the Giants would host game two and (if necessary) game three at the Polo Grounds on October 2 and 3. Although the Dodgers won the coin toss for home field advantage, they chose to defer to the Giants--the idea being to win the first game at Ebbets Field to force the Giants' backs to the wall and have to win two games. This idea would later backfire.

The teams

Brooklyn Dodgers

The Dodgers, managed by Chuck Dressen, had been in first place for most of the season. They had a formidable lineup, featuring four future Hall of Famers in catcher and National League Most Valuable Player Roy Campanella, second baseman Jackie Robinson, shortstop Pee Wee Reese, and center fielder Duke Snider. First baseman Gil Hodges was no slouch, either, leading the team with 40 home runs, second in the league.

The Dodgers' pitching staff was led by Don Newcombe, who had won 20 games with an ERA of 3.28 and a league-leading 164 strikeouts. Their number two starter, Preacher Roe, might have been even better, winning 22 games while losing just 3, with an ERA of 3.04. However, the 35-year-old Roe had started the last game of the season the day before the series began, and would not appear in the playoff.

New York Giants

The Giants had come from way behind to tie the Dodgers at the end of the regular season. They had been 13 games behind with just 44 games to go, and only climbed into a tie in the next-to-last day of the season, having gone 37-7 over the last seven weeks. While the Giants' offensive attack was not as impressive as that of the Dodgers, they did have the league's RBI leader, left fielder Monte Irvin along with a 20-year-old center fielder named Willie Mays, who would win the National League Rookie of the Year award. The team's only All-Star was shortstop Alvin Dark.

Their pitching staff was led by Sal "The Barber" Maglie and Larry Jansen, who tied for the league lead in wins with 23, and also finished second and third in strikeouts behind Newcombe. Maglie had finished second in the league in ERA, just .05 behind Chet Nichols of the Boston Braves. Like Roe, Jansen had started the final game of the season, and would not appear until the very end.

The games

Game 1

Most of each team's top pitchers had been used down the stretch, so the first game of the series would feature arguably each team's third-best starter. The Dodgers sent Ralph Branca to the mound against Jim Hearn of the Giants. Branca, who had a win-loss record of just 13-10 going into the series, although his ERA was a respectable 3.26. Hearn had been a 17-game winner for the Giants, with an ERA of 3.62.

Monte Irvin and Bobby Thomson homered for the Giants, powering them to a 3-1 win. Andy Pafko hit a home run for the only Dodgers run.^[1] Hearn pitched a complete game, giving up just five hits to the vaunted Dodger offense.

Game 2

The series moved to the Polo Grounds for game two. Swingman Sheldon Jones took the mound for the Giants against the Dodgers' Clem Labine. Labine was a promising rookie who had started just six games for the Dodgers in his career, all in 1951, but he did have a 2.20 ERA in 65⅓ innings. The 29-year-old Jones was something of a journeyman, and had won just six games for the Giants against eleven losses.

Jones was pulled in the third inning despite giving up just two runs, one of which was a Jackie Robinson homer. However, the game went downhill from there, as the Dodgers abused relievers George Spencer and Al Corwin for eight more runs, while Labine pitched a six-hit shutout for a 10-0 shellacking. Pafko hit his second homer of the series, while Gil Hodges and Rube Walker added home runs of their own.^[2]

Game 3

Game three was also held at the Polo Grounds. With each team having won one game, it was finally time for a matchup between the two teams' ace pitchers. Sal "The Barber" Maglie was on the mound for New York, while Brooklyn called on Don Newcombe. After Maglie walked two batters in the top of the first, Jackie Robinson singled home the game's first run. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh. In that inning, Monte Irvin led off with a double for the Giants. He was bunted over to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Thomson.^[3]

In the top of the eighth, the Dodgers came roaring back with three runs off Maglie. A pair of singles, a wild pitch, and two more singles made the score 4-1 Dodgers. Newcombe set down the Giants in order in the bottom of the eighth, while Larry Jansen did the same in relief of Maglie.^[3]

The "shot heard 'round the world"

In the bottom of the ninth, Alvin Dark led off with a single, and Don Mueller followed with another. After Monte Irvin popped out to first base, Whitey Lockman lined a double to left-center field, scoring Dark and putting Mueller on third. Dodger manager Chuck Dressen summoned game 1 starter Ralph Branca in to relieve Newcombe, despite having only had one day's rest. On his second pitch, Bobby Thomson drove a pitch to deep left field for a walk-off home run to clinch the pennant for the Giants.^[3] This home run, hit at 3:58 p.m. EST on October 3, 1951, came to be known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World". When Thomson hit the home run, it just so happened that the player waiting on deck was a 20 year old rookie outfielder by the name of Willie Mays.

The phrase shot heard 'round the world is from a classic poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, originally used to refer to the first clash of the American Revolutionary War and since used to apply to other dramatic moments, military and otherwise. In the case of Thomson's home run, it was particularly apt as U.S. servicemen fighting in the Korean War listened to the radio broadcast of the game.

Thomson's homer, and the Giants' victory, are also sometimes known as the Miracle of Coogan's Bluff.

Line score

Polo Grounds

Revelation

In 2001, journalist Joshua Prager revealed that the Giants frequently stole pitch signals from the bleachers over the last few months of the regular season. Bobby Thomson was one of the hitters who chose to receive the signs.

Notes

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