"The Giants stole the pennant!

The Giants stole the pennant!"

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - New York Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges actually screamed, "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" on October 3, 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit the ‘shot heard round the world.' But, the Wall Street Journal reported on this date in 2001 what had been rumored for years that that dramatic comeback was aided by espionage. Journal reporter and author of The Echoing Green, Joshua Prager, quoted Monte Irvin, Sal Yvars and pitcher Al Gettel of the Giants admitting that for about the last ten weeks of the regular season they had a scheme to steal the opposing catcher's signs.

The Giants clubhouse in the old Polo Grounds was in centerfield. The story goes that manager Leo Durocher had a player peer through an opening in the clubhouse wall with a telescope at the catcher's signals almost 500 feet away. An electrician sitting next to the spy activated a buzzer in the Giants bullpen before each pitch; one buzz meant fastball, two buzzes meant curve. Giant utility player Sal Yvars is quoted in Dave Anderson's book Pennant Races as telling Giant batters, "Watch me in the bullpen. I'll have a baseball in my hand. If I hold on to the ball, it's a fastball. If I toss the ball in the air, it's a breaking ball." The Associated Press quoted Gettel as saying "Every hitter knew what was coming, made a big difference."

The Giants made a miraculous comeback in 1951 from 13½ games back on August 11th. They tied the Dodgers on the last day of the season so the two teams had a best of three playoff. Bobby Thomson's home run in the bottom of the ninth won game three and sent the Giants to the World Series, and the Dodgers home.

Contributing Sources:
Wall Street Journal, Joshua Prager, January 31, 2001
The Echoing Gree: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, by Joshua Prager, Vintage Books, 2001
Historic Baseball, Associated Press, February 2, 2002
New York Times