Bobby Thomson
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson (born October 25, 1923 in Glasgow, Scotland), nicknamed The Staten Island Scot, is a Scottish-American former Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the New York Giants (1946-53, 1957), Milwaukee Braves (1954-57), Chicago Cubs (1958-59), Boston Red Sox (1960) and Baltimore Orioles (1960).
Thomson became a celebrity for hitting a home run in a playoff game, off of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the 1951 National League pennant, what is perhaps the most famous home run in baseball history.
This event was even more dramatic than it may seem to the modern sports observer, as league pennants were not routinely decided by playoff until 1969 and only occurred in years in which teams finished the regular season in a tie, as had happened in 1951.
Bobby Thomson was a .270 career hitter with 264 home runs and 1026 RBI in 1779 games. He was selected an All-Star in 1948, 1949 and 1952.
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