{"id":160,"date":"2010-08-18T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T01:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsports.us\/?p=160"},"modified":"2011-01-15T14:52:42","modified_gmt":"2011-01-15T19:52:42","slug":"thomsons-first-shot-was-heard-round-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=160","title":{"rendered":"Thomson’s first shot was heard ’round North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506924199360402562\"<\/a>Bobby Thomson, the man whose shot was heard \u2018round the world in 1951, died Monday at the age of 86. But few know, or remember, that Thomson played minor league baseball in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Thomson, a Staten Island, NY native, played 29 games at third base for the Rocky Mount Rocks in 1942 at the age of 18. He batted just .241 but he had three key homers and 18 RBI. <\/p>\n

When he was signed by the Rocks, the Rocky Mount Telegram newspaper, where I was sports editor years later, ran a story titled \u201cThis Bat Is Rocks\u2019 Insurance.\u201d Thomson\u2019s first professional home run came in his first at bat at Rocky Mount\u2019s Municipal Stadium. Not only was it his first home at bat, but it was the first pitch thrown to him.<\/p>\n

Plus, he had his first big-time home run in Rocky Mount. Playing the rival Wilson Tobs in a seven-game playoff, the Rocks were down three games to none but managed to pull even at three games a piece. With the deciding seventh game in Rocky Mount, Thomson blasted a six-inning home run over the left field wall to open up a close game and give the Rocks the victory.<\/p>\n

It was believed to be only the second time in pro baseball history that a team came from three games down to win a series. After the game, appreciative and ecstatic fans passed a hat and gave Thomson 11 bucks, which he probably needed at the time.<\/p>\n

At the end of the season, he enlisted at the height of World War II. He served in the Air Corps from 1943 through 1945.<\/p>\n

After the war, he continued his career and became a regular for the New York Giants in 1947. He was a star for years but he\u2019s most remembered for the Oct. 3, 1951 home run in game three of a three-game playoff against the Brooklyn Dodgers. <\/p>\n

Thomson came to bat in the ninth inning with one out, two on and his Giants down 4-2. On an 0-1 count, Thompson banged \u201cthe shot heard \u2018round the world\u201d as he homered off Ralph Branca for a three-run, game-and-series winner.<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 announcer Russ Hodges shouted the famous call, \u201cThe Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.\u201d It was perhaps the biggest home run in major league history\u2026 but his first home run came in North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bobby Thomson, the man whose shot was heard \u2018round the world in 1951, died Monday at the age of 86. But few know, or remember,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}