49-574: Robert Brown Thomson (October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010) was an American professional baseball player, nicknamed " the Staten Island Scot ". He was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants (1946–53, 1957), Milwaukee Braves (1954–57), Chicago Cubs (1958–59), Boston Red Sox (1960), and Baltimore Orioles (1960). His pennant-winning three-run home run for the Giants in 1951
98-687: A continuing care facility in Savannah. Scottish baseball team Edinburgh Diamond Devils named their home Bobby Thomson Field. It was opened by Thomson himself in 2003, while he was in Scotland to be inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame . The UK Chapter of The Society for American Baseball Research is named the Bobby Thomson Chapter. The Curtis High School Field in Staten Island
147-492: A black player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates. Between 1943 and 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several Midwestern towns. Sign stealing In baseball , sign stealing is the act of observing the signs being signaled by the opposing catcher to the pitcher or
196-470: A career-high 32 home runs in 1951, the fifth-best total in the major leagues; he also had the fourth-highest slugging average in baseball that year. Thomson became a celebrity for his walk-off home run off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run, nicknamed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" , was dramatic as, until 1969, league pennants were only decided by
245-459: A coach, and the subsequent relaying of those signals to members of one's own team. Signs are stolen with the intent of gaining advance knowledge of the upcoming pitch and communicating it to the batter, thereby giving them an advantage. Legal sign stealing typically involves the signs being observed by a runner on second base and then relayed to the batter through some sort of gesture. Illegal sign stealing involves mechanical or electronic technology;
294-481: A component in most recent sign stealing incidents. After the 2019 season, Mike Fiers alleged that the 2017 Houston Astros used technology to illegally steal their opponents' signs and relay them to their hitters. MLB and the Astros opened an investigation into the allegation, and it was expanded to encompass the 2018 and 2019 seasons. On January 13, 2020, Rob Manfred announced that MLB's investigation confirmed that
343-550: A curveball, and three buzzes for a changeup . During a game on September 17, 1900, the Cincinnati Reds discovered the buried electrical box used by Chiles. No action was taken against anyone involved in these early sign stealing incidents. In the 1903 baseball anthology How to Play Base Ball , compiled by Boston sportswriter Tim Murnane , catcher Malachi Kittridge of the Boston Beaneaters wrote: "I give my signs to
392-431: A memorandum stating that teams cannot use electronic equipment to communicate with each other during games, especially for the purpose of stealing signs. Before the 2019 season, in an effort to reduce illegal sign stealing, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred instituted specific prohibitions on where teams could position cameras and how instant replay officials can communicate with managers. The oldest recorded instance of
441-415: A playoff when the teams involved finished the regular season in a tie. Prior to 1951, playoffs had only been necessary in 1946 (NL) and 1948 (AL). Although in mid-August, the Giants were 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind the league-leading Dodgers, they won 37 of their final 44 games to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the regular season, forcing a three-game playoff . The Giants won the first game 3–1 as
490-455: A religious objection to sign stealing, and quit both the 1959 Giants and the 1960 White Sox because of the teams' sign stealing. Manager Whitey Herzog was known to complain about other teams stealing signs. After a game where the Brewers were found to be sign stealing using their mascot Bernie Brewer , he reportedly said, "Maybe we should put a Texas Ranger or somebody out there and shoot
539-562: A result of a two-run home run by Thomson (off Branca). Brooklyn's Clem Labine shut out the Giants in the second game, 10–0. The decisive contest, played on October 3 at the Polo Grounds , was the first major sporting event televised coast-to-coast in the United States. The Dodgers took a 4–1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but Giants shortstop Alvin Dark singled, advanced to third on
SECTION 10
#1732844693156588-426: A single by Don Mueller , and scored on a double by Whitey Lockman . With Lockman on second and pinch runner Clint Hartung at third, Thomson's walk-off home run turned looming defeat into a 5–4 victory. The moment was immortalized by Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges 's excited multiple repetitions: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" Waiting in the on-deck circle to hit behind Thomson
637-492: A subject of debate. Prager notes in his book that sign stealing was not specifically forbidden by MLB rules at the time and, moral issues aside, "...has been a part of baseball since its inception". Sign stealing using optical or other mechanical aids was outlawed by MLB in 1961. In 1952, Thomson led the National League with 14 triples while batting .271 with 25 home runs and 109 RBIs for the Giants. In his final season with
686-537: A team attempting to steal signs dates back to 1876, when the Hartford Dark Blues hid a person in a shack to tip off their hitters when the pitcher would throw a curveball . In 1897, George Stallings , the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies , instructed backup catcher Morgan Murphy to hide in a clubhouse beyond center field with binoculars and a telegraph in order to alert Stallings to what pitch
735-453: A violation of Major League Baseball 's (MLB) rulebook; it depends how the signs are stolen. At the December 1961 Winter Meetings , the National League banned the use of a "mechanical device" to steal signs. The use of electronic equipment is not specifically forbidden by MLB rules, but in 2001, Sandy Alderson , while serving as executive vice president for baseball operations of MLB, issued
784-463: Is apparently a part of a large private collection owned by Dan Scheinman, a member of the San Francisco Giants ownership group. Longstanding rumors that the Giants engaged in systematic sign stealing during the second half of the 1951 season were confirmed in 2001. Several players told The Wall Street Journal that beginning on July 20, coach Herman Franks used a telescope positioned in
833-490: Is popularly known as the " Shot Heard 'Round the World ", and is one of the most famous moments in baseball history. It overshadowed his other accomplishments, including eight 20-home-run seasons and three All-Star selections. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me", he said. "It may have been the best thing that ever happened to anybody." Thomson was born in the Townhead area of Glasgow , Scotland , United Kingdom. He
882-409: Is up to the team giving the signs to protect them so they are not stolen. Even so, pitchers may retaliate when they believe their signs are being stolen with a brushback pitch . On the other hand, a batter peeking in to see the catcher's signs is not tolerated. Signs from catcher to pitcher are considered more "sacred" than signs from a third base coach to a batter. Stealing signs is not necessarily
931-517: The Brooklyn Dodgers using this technique. Bobby Thomson , who hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" , denied being tipped off to that pitch. On May 26, 1959, despite the Milwaukee Braves' bullpen stealing catcher Smokey Burgess 's signs, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings before losing the game in the 13th. The only Braves player not to accept the signs
980-721: The Commissioner of Baseball . Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are many independent minor leagues such as the Atlantic League , American Association , Frontier League , and the feeder league to these the Empire Professional Baseball League . Japan has had professional baseball since the 1930s. Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the Central League and
1029-701: The Pacific League , each with six teams. South Korea has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams in KBO League . Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. The Chinese Professional Baseball League absorbed Taiwan Major League in 2003. There are currently 6 teams in the CPBL. Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues, the China National Baseball League , Israel Baseball League , and Baseball Philippines . During
SECTION 20
#17328446931561078-567: The United States and Canada consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the World Series , in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play . The Philadelphia Phillies , founded in 1883, are
1127-615: The United States Army Air Forces and trained as a bombardier. His entire service was within the continental United States. He played semiprofessional baseball in the summer of 1945 while awaiting his discharge. Thomson batted .283 with 29 home runs and 82 runs batted in (RBIs) in his rookie year, 1947. The following season, he batted .248 with 16 home runs. In 1949, Thomson had career bests in RBIs (109) and batting average (.309). His batting average dropped to .252 in 1950. He then hit
1176-650: The 1957 season, and he was in the lineup for the club's final game at the Polo Grounds . The Giants moved to San Francisco for the 1958 season, but Thomson was gone, traded to the Cubs. He spent two seasons in Chicago before closing out his major-league career in the American League with the Red Sox and Orioles. He played one final season in 1963 with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. Thomson
1225-511: The 2017 investigation against the Red Sox, and that multiple sources told the sports news agency that Young was in fact a leader of the team's 2017 Apple Watch scheme. MLB fined the Yankees after their pitching coach, Larry Rothschild , made a phone call to replay room officials to ask whether a particular pitch was a ball or a strike. A 2017 letter from commissioner Manfred to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman , made public in 2022, indicated
1274-409: The Astros illegally used a video camera system to steal signs during their 2017 and 2018 seasons. The organization was penalized with a $ 5 million fine, forfeiture of first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and the suspension of general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A. J. Hinch for one year; Luhnow and Hinch were subsequently fired by the team the same day. Three days after
1323-543: The Astros penalties were announced, the New York Mets and Carlos Beltrán (an Astros player at the time of the scandal) mutually parted ways. Beltrán had been hired as the team's new manager on November 1, 2019, so at the time of the announcement he had never managed a game for the team. Beltrán was the only player specifically named in MLB's report on the Astros scandal. While he was not directly linked to any prohibited activity, he
1372-489: The Giants clubhouse behind center field to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers. Stolen signs were relayed to the Giants dugout via a buzzer wire. Joshua Prager , the author of the Journal article, outlined the evidence in greater detail in a 2008 book. Although Thomson always insisted that he had no foreknowledge of Branca's pitch, Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed Rube Walker 's fastball sign to Thomson. Branca
1421-509: The Giants in 1953, Thomson hit 26 home runs and 106 RBIs, and a .288 average. That winter, he was sent to the Milwaukee Braves in a multiplayer deal. During his first spring training with the Braves in 1954, he suffered a broken ankle, which allowed rookie Hank Aaron to earn a place in the Milwaukee lineup. Thomson batted a career-low .232 in 1954. The Braves traded Thomson back to the Giants during
1470-534: The Red Sox that there will be no future violations of this type." On February 4, 2020, MLB Network journalist Peter Gammons reported that former Red Sox player Chris Young told him that he was the mastermind of the Red Sox's Apple Watch scheme. Young told Gammons, "I started the whole Apple Watch thing. I got it from when I was with the Yankees." Young later denied this, and Gammons retracted his comments via Twitter . SportsNet New York (SNY) revealed that Young had been interviewed by MLB officials as part of
1519-406: The United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classes AAA, AA, High-A, A, and Rookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. "Affiliated baseball" (archaically, " organized baseball ") is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — major and minor — under the authority of
Bobby Thomson - Misplaced Pages Continue
1568-416: The Yankees were fined $ 100,000 for sign stealing. On January 7, 2020, the Red Sox were implicated in another sign stealing scandal after three unnamed team members told The Athletic that the Red Sox had used their replay room to steal signs of opposing teams during the 2018 season. On January 13, 2020, Manfred stated that he would determine the appropriate punishment for Red Sox manager Alex Cora , who
1617-464: The allegation, replied simply, "No. No comment." Forty years later, Hook's story was indirectly corroborated by another member of the 1961 Reds, pitcher-author Jim Brosnan , who discussed the disappointing home-field performance by Reds hitters during the 1961 World Series , despite having Lawrence "up in the left-centerfield scoreboard, stealing every sign the Yankee catchers gave." Technology has been
1666-410: The game feeds in the replay room" to decode sign sequences but those actions were "limited in scope and impact", as the decoding only happened during some occurrences of the opposing team having a runner on second base and were not known to "then-Manager Alex Cora, the Red Sox coaching staff, the Red Sox front office, or most of the players". The video replay operator was suspended for the 2020 season and
1715-590: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, players of black African descent were barred from playing the major leagues , though several did manage to play by claiming to be Cubans or Native Americans . As a result, a number of parallel Negro leagues were formed. However, after Jackie Robinson began playing with the major-league Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at
1764-462: The oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports. In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styled Minor League Baseball , formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, oversees nearly all minor league baseball in
1813-410: The opposing catcher was calling. In 1900, Murphy was again used to steal signs, relaying them to Phillies base coach Pearce Chiles , who stood on a buried box containing a wired buzzer. Murphy relayed coded messages to Chiles in the form of electrical buzzes about what pitch was coming, which Chiles communicated to batters by stomping on the ground. Murphy sent one buzz for a fastball , two buzzes for
1862-401: The pitcher while in a squatting position to prevent the other side from calling the turn." Three members of the 1951 New York Giants admitted to stealing signs by using a telescope to win the National League pennant that season—the admission came 50 years later, in 2001. The Giants rallied from 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind in the final 10 weeks of the season to win the pennant over
1911-422: The risk of sign-stealing. Prior to the 2022 MLB season , the league announced that teams could use PitchCom , a wireless communication system that allows the catcher to request pitches without using visible signals. Many players and coaches throughout baseball history have been considered adept at sign stealing. These include Del Baker , Joey Amalfitano , and Joe Nossek . Pitcher Al Worthington had
1960-415: The rules regarding this have become more stringent over time and continue to evolve. Sign stealing has been in practice almost since the game's origin in the 19th century, and has continued to be used in recent times. According to the unwritten rules of baseball , stealing the signs that are given by the third base coach, or those of the catcher by a baserunner on second base , is acceptable, and it
2009-477: The team forfeited their second-round selection in the 2020 MLB draft . Cora was separately suspended for a year for his actions in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. Former MLB executive David Samson and Fox Sports Radio 's Jonas Knox have said they believe this type of cheating is widespread throughout the sport. Some pitchers intentionally balked when runners were on second base to try and negate
Bobby Thomson - Misplaced Pages Continue
2058-417: Was Hank Aaron . In March 1962, newly acquired New York Mets pitcher Jay Hook accused his previous team, the 1961 National League champion Cincinnati Reds , of stealing signs throughout the season with help from former Reds pitcher Brooks Lawrence , stationed inside Crosley Field 's scoreboard. Lawrence denied the charge, and Reds manager Fred Hutchinson , when asked if he would either confirm or deny
2107-727: Was a career .270 hitter with 264 home runs and 1,026 RBIs in 1,779 games. He was selected an All-Star in 1948, 1949, and 1952. In the 1990s, over 40 years after his famous home run, Thomson received a letter from a Marine who had been stationed in Korea in 1951: After baseball, Thomson became a sales executive at a New York City paper-products company. He lived in Watchung, New Jersey , until 2006, when he moved to Savannah, Georgia , to be near his daughter Nancy and his grandchildren. He died August 16, 2010, at his home in The Marshes of Skidaway Island,
2156-433: Was also implicated in the Astros scandal, when the investigation was completed. The next day, Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to part ways; Dave Dombrowski , the general manager who hired Cora, was dismissed from the Red Sox before the 2018 sign stealing scandal was made public. On April 22, 2020, commissioner Manfred issued his report from the investigation, determining that the Red Sox replay operator had "utilized
2205-567: Was one of several Astros players who met during that season to discuss improvements in their sign stealing. During the 2017 season, the Boston Red Sox were fined by MLB for using an Apple Watch to relay stolen signs to hitters in games against the New York Yankees. On September 15, 2017, commissioner Rob Manfred had said in regards to the investigation into Boston's illicit use of an Apple Watch: "I have received absolute assurances from
2254-404: Was privately skeptical of Thomson's denials, but made no public comment at the time. Later, he told The New York Times , "I didn't want to diminish a legendary moment in baseball. And even if Bobby knew what was coming, he had to hit it.... Knowing the pitch doesn't always help." Whether the telescope-and-buzzer system contributed significantly to the Giants' late-season 37–7 win streak remains
2303-489: Was renamed Bobby Thomson Field in 2007. Thomson was inducted into the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 1995. Professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Major League Baseball in
2352-538: Was rookie Willie Mays . The Giants' season ended, however, at the 1951 World Series ; the Yankees swept the last three games to win the best-of-seven series, four games to two. Thomson batted .238 in the series with no home runs. The bat from the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" is in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York . The uniform worn by Thomson on that day
2401-527: Was the youngest of six children born to parents James and Elizabeth. He arrived in the United States two years later. James, a cabinet maker, had moved to New York City shortly before Bobby's birth and sent for his family in 1925. Thomson grew up on Staten Island in New York City and signed with the New York Giants for a $ 100 bonus right out of Curtis High School in 1942. On December 5, 1942, he joined
#155844