{"id":1322,"date":"2013-03-29T09:02:28","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T13:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2013-03-29T09:02:28","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T13:02:28","slug":"shot-heard-round-the-world-3-audio-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=1322","title":{"rendered":"SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD-3 AUDIO CALLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Giants-Dodgers-October-3-1951-Box-Score-Bobby-Thomson-Homer-Wins-Pennant\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These are the three known calls of the most famous home run in MLB history. Thanks to Joshua Prager for having all 3 on his website and sharing them for all to enjoy. Everyone has heard the Hodges… call, a few the McLendon call, but I believe very few the Red Barber call. Enjoy!!
\nhttp:\/\/www.joshuaprager.com\/books\/echoing-green\/audio-book\/<\/a>
\nMore on the calls at wikipedia:<\/p>\n

Several television and radio[14] broadcasters captured the moment for baseball fans in the New York City area and nationwide.[15] Some sources claim additional radio broadcasts were done by Al Helfer for the Mutual network, by Buck Canel and Felo Ram\u00edrez for a Spanish language network, and by Nat Allbright in a studio re-creation for the Dodgers’ secondary network in the South. Harry Caray was in the Giants’ radio booth with Hodges and may have also participated in the broadcast.[16][17]
\n
\nErnie Harwell
\nErnie Harwell called the game for Giants television flagship WPIX\u2014the independent station’s broadcast was carried nationally on the NBC network, the first coast-to-coast live telecast of a Major League Baseball game\u2014and his description of the home run was a simple shout of “It’s gone!” almost at the moment Thomson’s bat struck the ball. Harwell later admitted he had probably called it “too soon”, but fortunately for him, the call proved to be correct. “And then,” Harwell recalled, “the pictures took over.”[18]<\/p>\n

Red Barber
\nMeanwhile, Dodgers announcer Red Barber, calling the game for WMGM-AM, straightforwardly said, “Branca pumps, delivers – a curve, swung on and belted, deep shot to left field\u2014it is\u2014a HOME RUN! And the New York Giants win the National League pennant and the Polo Grounds goes wild!” This was followed by about a minute of amplified crowd noise. Barber, who was known for a relatively low-key play-by-play approach, later criticized the famous Hodges rendition as being questionable journalism.<\/p>\n

Russ Hodges
\nRuss Hodges, broadcasting the game on WMCA-AM radio for Giants fans, seemed perhaps the least likely man to immortalize the play; the broadcast was not national and Hodges was considered calm-voiced rather than excitable. Nonetheless, it was his call that captured the suddenness and exultation of the home run:<\/p>\n

\u201c Bobby Thomson…up there swingin’…He’s had two out of three, a single and a double, and Billy Cox is playing him right on the third-base line…One out, last of the ninth…Branca pitches…Bobby Thomson takes a strike called on the inside corner…Bobby hitting at .292…He’s had a single and a double and he drove in the Giants’ first run with a long fly to center…Brooklyn leads it 4-2…Hartung down the line at third not taking any chances…Lockman with not too big of a lead at second, but he’ll be runnin’ like the wind if Thomson hits one…Branca throws…[sound of bat meeting ball]
\nThere’s a long drive…it’s gonna be, I believe…THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the pennant and they’re goin’ crazy, they’re goin’ crazy! HEEEY-OH!!!” [ten-second pause for crowd noise]<\/p>\n

I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it! I do not believe it! Bobby Thomson…hit a line drive…into the lower deck…of the left-field stands…and this blame place is goin’ crazy! The Giants! Horace Stoneham has got a winner! The Giants won it…by a score of 5 to 4…and they’re pickin’ Bobby Thomson up…and carryin’ him off the field!
\n\u201d <\/p>\n

The main reason the WMCA call was recorded and saved for posterity was that a Brooklyn-based fan asked his mother to record the end of game.[19] An urban legend says that Lawrence Goldberg was a Dodger fan who sought to torture a friend who was a Giants fan by capturing and replaying Russ Hodges’ heartbreak from a Giants’ loss. In reality, Goldberg himself had been a Giant fan since childhood.[19][20]<\/p>\n

Gordon McLendon
\nFurthermore, only a tiny minority of people actually heard the Hodges call live. Most heard Gordon McLendon’s call on the Liberty Broadcasting System, which was carrying the game nationally. McClendon’s account (complete with a similarly hair-raising yell of “THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!”) remains the only complete broadcast account of the third game. That recording is available on Harwell’s “Audio Scrapbook”. His own call was not recorded. The McClendon call, in addition to being similar in tone to Hodges’ call, is also a better-quality recording, having been recorded professionally instead of on a home recorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are the three known calls of the most famous home run in MLB history. Thanks to Joshua Prager for having all 3 on his website and sharing them for all to enjoy. Everyone has heard the Hodges… call, a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}