BASEBALL GREAT BOBBY THOMSON DEAD

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BOBBY THOMSON who launched the "shot heard ’round the world", the most famous home run in baseball history,gone at 86.

The former New York Giant, Thomson, died peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia, his daughter Megan Thomson Armstrong said.

Thomson had been in declining health for the past several years.

His dramatic -and ultimately – historic walk off home run off pitcher Ralph Branca into the left field bleachers n the long gone Polo Gounds October 3, 1951 firmly enshrined Thomson in popular culture and baseball’s Hall of Fame.

The Giants had trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers by 13 ½ games going into the final days of the 1951 season when they came roaring back forcing a playoff series with their dreaded rivals.

In the deciding game, the battle for the National League pennant was at a fever pitch as all New York came to a standstill.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the home field Giants were up.

Dodgers Branca’s first pitch was a strike but on his second, Thomson hit a low rising liner toward left that kept rising …  AND rising — a 3 run shot in the ninth!

As announcer Russ Hodges screamed into his microphone, "The Giants win the pennant!  The Giants win the pennant!" Thomson happily trotted the bases, securing the pennant and his place in history.

"Right away after I hit it, I thought it was a home run," Thomson later said.

"Going around the bases, I could hardly breathe. I was starting to hyperventilate."