News arrived this afternoon that Bobby Thomson has passed away at the age of 86. Thomson, most of you know, hit the most famous home run in baseball history, "The Shot Heard 'round the World," that won the National League for the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1951 NL Playoff series.
(Aside: Pittsburghers and Pirates fans will argue that Bill Mazeroski's Game 7 HR in the 1960 World Series was more famous. More famous to Pirates fans, certainly, and perhaps more important since it decided a World Series, but most famous of all time? Afraid not. The fact that Thomson's homer came in New York for the Giants against arch rival Brooklyn, makes this more famous. Certainly, if the '51 playoff involved, say, the Braves and Cardinals, Maz' HR would have superseded Thomson's. But it didn't, and that is why Thomson's homer always leads the pack when lists of famous moments or home runs are tabulated. Perhaps that isn't fair, but there you are.)
A great conversational ice-breaker among groups of strangers is to ask everyone to tell the group "Who is the most famous person you ever met?" When I am asked this question, my answer is Bobby Thomson. It happened in the mid-1980's when my employer at the time, Equitable Life, was sponsoring a series of Old-Timers Games across major league baseball. When the game came to Pittsburgh, there was a banquet the night before when all of the Old-Timers were introduced and honored. During the cocktail hour, I introduced myself to Thomson and had about a 20 minute conversation with him. By this point in his life, how many times had he been approached by people like me to ask about his most famous moment? Nonetheless, he was a complete gentleman and a very nice guy, and he treated me as if I were the first person who ever asked him to talk about his historical moment in 1951.
He certainly wore his fame well and humbly. A real gentleman.
RIP Bobby Thomson.
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