This Could Be a Bad Omen for Dodgers

Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of Bobby Thomson’s dramatic home run off Ralph Branca that gave the New York Giants a 5-4 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers and the National League pennant. How some sportswriters saw--and then wrote about--the shot heard ‘round the world:

--Will Grimsley of the Associated Press: “Ralph Branca sat on the steps, eyes wet, his head buried in his arms. Manager Charlie Dressen paced the floor like a nervous lion. Big Don Newcombe moved around silently and aimlessly, as if trying to figure out a reason for it all. The others sat around, eyes boring holes through the floor. None spoke. The room had a funereal quiet about it.

“These were the men of Brooklyn.”

--Arthur Daley of the New York Times: “It was incredible. It couldn’t happen and yet it did happen. In as insane and as improbable an ending as any ball game could have, the Giant indomitables burst past the Dodgers and into the World Series yesterday by winning the third playoff fray. To win it, Bobby Thomson had to hit a three-run homer in the ninth. So he hit it.

“Leo Durocher was a madman dancing in the third-base coaching box and had to be forcibly restrained from embracing the grinning Scotsman from Staten Island as Thomson pattered past him. Ten feet from home plate Bobby took off in one gigantic leap. It was a leap of triumph and exultation. His right foot came thumping down on the rubber to make the home run official and he tumbled into the welcoming arms of his teammates, the most deliriously happy group of young men that ever trod the sacred sod of the Polo Grounds.”

--Shirley Povich of the Washington Post: “And so it came down to the absolute last pitch of the 157-game season before it was decided that the Giants, not the Dodgers, would be in the World Series against the Yankees.

“Hollywood’s most imaginative writers on an opium jag could not have scripted a more improbable windup of the season that started in April and had its finish today in the triumph of Bobby Thomson and the Giants.

“Into that last blur of white that came plateward out of the pitching fist of Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca was compressed the destiny of two clubs that had battled for six months to get today’s decision. Before Thomson swung, it was the Dodgers winning the pennant. A split-second later, the Dodgers were dead, and the Giants had it.”

Trivia time: Who is Christopher St. John Smith?

Down for The Count: Former major league pitcher John (the Count) Montefusco got a taste of life in the big leagues of harness racing Wednesday, finishing eighth and sixth in his first two races as a driver at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.

“It felt like I got knocked out of the box again,” he said.

Montefusco, who has been an apprentice trainer-driver under veteran horseman Sid Moiseyev since 1988, has owned and bred harness horses with Cincinnati Red Manager Lou Piniella. Montefusco says he will now devote himself to training and driving.

Gold slush: The San Francisco 49ers have scored on only five of 17 trips inside the 20-yard line this season.

Trivia answer: By his more familiar nickname, he is Sinjin Smith, who along with partner Randy Stoklos form the winningest beach volleyball tandem of all time.

Quotebook: Roger Craig, manager of the San Francisco Giants: “Bring on the Dodgers. We’ll be ready for them. Maybe we’ll make our season in three days. It would salvage something if we have a say in who wins the division. We’re playing for pride.”