Бобби Томсон: Шотландский американец и "Удар, услышанный по всему миру"

Scottish American baseball player (1923– 2010)

Robert Brown Thomson (October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010) was a Scottish born American professional baseball player, nicknamed "the Staten Island Scot".

Thomson was born in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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".

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 was renamed Bobby Thomson Field in 2007. Thomson was inducted into the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 1995.