Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 54
With first base open, Branca could have given Thomson a free pass, setting up the force at any base with one out. But this also meant putting the winning run on first with Willie Mays next to hit.
So Branca went after Thomson.
After taking the first two pitches, Thomson offered at Branca’s next delivery and took the swing of a lifetime. Lined down the Polo Grounds’ miniscule left field line, the ball tucked itself into the second deck not more than 300 feet away from home plate. Thomson’s three run homer won the game and the pennant, 5-4, capping one of baseball’s greatest season comebacks with, not so arguably, its greatest moment ever.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were left with the cold, stinging reality that, for the third time in six years, they had lost a chance to take the NL pennant on the season’s last day.