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The Brooklyn Dodgers scouted Bobby Thomson when he was a senior at Staten Island’s Curtis High School. They liked the youngster enough to offer him $125 a month to begin his professional career. Thomson refused, opting instead to play for his favorite childhood team, the New York Giants for $100 per month – a deal 20% lower than the Brooklyn offer.

It’s only fitting that he was wearing a Giants uniform ten years later when he hit the pennant-winning “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” against Brooklyn in one of the most-memorable homers in baseball history.

Thomson started playing professionally at age 18 in 1942 for the Giants’ Class D teams in Rocky Mount and Bristol. Before the season ended Thomson was drafted into the US Army Air Corps, remaining in service of his country until 1946. When he returned to civilian life, Thomson landed with the Giants Triple-A team in New Jersey. His first game there was against the top Brooklyn minor league club as Jackie Robinson broke professional baseball’s color barrier.

As centerfielder for the Jersey City club, Thomson hit 26 homers with 92 RBI earning a late-season call up in ’46. He parlayed his success in the 18-game cup of coffee and a strong showing in Spring Training to become the Giants everyday centerfielder the following season.

In the big leagues to stay in ’47, Thomson hit 29 homers, then made consecutive All Star teams in ’48 and ’49. Thomson hit 25 long balls and drove in 85 in 1950 then reeled off three straight 100-RBI seasons, averaging 27 homers.

Though he enjoyed a 15-year big league career with nearly 7,000 plate appearance, it was a singular moment for which the three-time All Star will always be remembered. That came in the deciding Game 3 of the 1951 National League playoffs against Ralph Branca and the Brooklyn Dodgers. “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” cemented Thomson’s baseball immortality.

In the collection is this Heilbronner Baseball Bureau information card filled out and signed by an 18-year-old Bobby Thomson in 1942. He would play in Class D for just 34 games in ’42 season before enlisting in the US Army Air Corps for whom he serve until the end of World War II. This card was signed a full four years before Thomson’s MLB debut.

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Louis Heilbroner was secretary for Cardinals president and co-owner Frank Robison when manager Patsy Tebeau resigned in the middle of the 1900 season. Robison offered the reigns to St. Louis third baseman, and future Hall of Fame skipper John McGraw who declined. Robison then named the 4’9″ Heilbroner manager, though McGraw ran the team.

The diminutive Heilbronner was in the dugout for the final 50 games of the year then never donned another big league uniform. Nine years later he founded Heilbroner’s Baseball Bureau Service, the first commercial statistical service dedicated solely to baseball. The Bureau sent out information cards like the one shown in this image.

Bobby Thomson filled out the front of this card as a teenager, a full four years before his big league debut. Shown here is the reverse of the card. Notice the August 22, 1942 postmark and the listing of the all Minor League teams for which Thomson played – Class D Bristol and Rocky Mount, and Triple-A Jersey City. 

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In this letter dated March 10, 2007, Bobby Thomson writes about the Giants sign-stealing in 1951 as well as his pennant-winning homer. Some 50 years after the homer, word emerged that the Giants stole the signs of the opponents’ catcher via a perch in centerfield. So did Thomson know what pitch was coming when he hit one of the most memorable homers in the history of baseball?

He writes, “The New York Giants stole signs in the latter half of the 1951 baseball season. We did not steal signs during the playoffs.” The rest of the letter is well worth the read.

Though Thomson denies stealing signs in the playoffs, one must wonder why the Giants would stop a practice that obviously helped win games.

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Bobby Thomson enjoyed his best seasons with the New York Giants. All three of his All Star campaigns came in New York as well as he pennant-winning “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. After spending his first eight big league seasons with the team that signed him as a teenager, Thomson was part of a six-player deal with the Milwaukee Braves in February, 1954.

In a preseason game the same year, Thomson fractured his right ankle sliding into second base in a Spring Training game agains the Yankees. This limited him to just 48 games in his first season with the Braves. More importantly, it opened an outfield spot for a 20-year old Braves prospect named Henry Aaron who hit the ground running.

In the collection is this 1955 Bowman baseball card autographed by Thomson who is featured in a Milwaukee Braves uniform.

 

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Growing up in on Staten Island in the 1920s and ’30s, Bobby Thomson developed a strong allegiance to the New York Giants and an equally strong dislike for the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a high school senior Thomson was offered $125 a month by the Dodgers but couldn’t bring himself to sign with the rival of his favorite team. Luckily for Thomson, the Giants also offered him a chance to start his professional baseball career, albeit at a 20% discount to the Brooklyn offer. For Thomson, it was an easy choice.

Shown here is a Dodger press release dated August 18, 1999, four days after the passing of Brooklyn captain Pee Wee Reese. It announces that a uniform patch memorializing Reese would be worn through the remainder of the season.

At the end of the press release Thomson writes his thoughts on the rivalry between the two teams, “First you must appreciate the historical rivalry we had with the Dodgers. It was beyond most rivalries. We didn’t like them and they didn’t like us, and it showed in every game we played.”

Thomson then turns his attention to the Hall of Fame Dodger shortstop, “…there were two Pee Wee’s; the one I played against and the relationship I had with him after our playing careers. No question he was an inspirational great player, but I wouldn’t admit that when we played.”

Thomson finishes his thoughts on the back of the press release shown in the next image.

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In the image above, former New York Giants star Bobby Thomson finishes his thoughts on Brooklyn Dodger captain and shortstop Pee Wee Reese. Thomson disliked the Dodgers and saw them as rivals. That rivalry ran so deep that Thomson could not even acknowledge Reese’s inspirational work for Brooklyn. Here, Thomson writes about their relationship after their playing days concluded.

Thomson’s thoughts begin on the front side shown in the previous image before continuing here. He writes, “It wasn’t until after our careers ended and we met as plain people [that] I realized what a fine man Pee Wee was.”

Thomson ends the letter with one of the highest compliments one rival can pay another, “He (Reese) was the kind of guy I would have loved to play with.”

The letter closes with Thomson’s signature at the bottom.