In baseball, the "Shot Heard 'round the World" is the term given to the walk-off home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3:58 p.m. EST on October 3, 1951. As a result of the "shot", the Giants won the game 5-4, defeating the Dodgers in their pennant playoff series, 2 games to 1. It is one of the most famous moments in Major League Baseball history. The phrase shot heard 'round the world is from the poem "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, originally used to refer to the... first clash of the American Revolutionary War and since used to apply to other dramatic moments, military and otherwise. The use of the phrase with regard to Thomson's home run may have been inspired in part by the high number of U.S. servicemen who listened to the game on Armed Forces Radio while stationed in Korea. Thomson's homer, and the Giants' victory after overcoming a double-digit lead in the standings by the Dodgers in the weeks preceding the playoff, are also sometimes known as the "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff.
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| Occurred: |
October 3, 1951
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| Location: | Polo Grounds |