"The Home Run heard round the world" is silenced

One of the heroes of my youth died Monday (8/16) - Bobby Thomson, whose home run in 1951 was "heard around the world." I won't say how old I was, but I was in high school and listening to the game in the courtyard behind the school. I think we'll all remember the since famous words:

The Giants Win the Pennant, the Giants win he pennant, the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.

And they were said on the radio, not TV, by Giant broadcaster Russ Hodges. If there has ever been a pennant race that was determined by the gods of baseball, it was in 1951. In mid-August the Dodgers had a 13 1/2 game lead. And the Giants were declared "dead" by Dodger manager Charlie Dressen. But slowly but surely the Giants crept up until on that fateful 3rd day in October they were tied with the Brooklyn Bums. But that wasn't the end of the "Miracle at Coogan's Bluff." In the 9th inning of the 3rd and last game of the playoff series the Dodgers were ahead 4-2. And then Thomson came up with two runners on base, and you know the rest. Oh, by the way, my friend Steve at Whole Foods reminded me that in his rookie season with the Giants, Willie Mays was on deck.