Bobby Thompson passes away

Today the world of baseball lost one of the great men who ever put on a big league uniform as Bobby Thompson, who hit one of baseball's most famous home runs, died at the age of 86.

 Baseball fans growing up in the Metro New York area will always remember where they were on October 1st, 1951, the day that Bobby Thompson became part of big league baseball lore.

In Game 3 of the National League Playoff between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, Thompson hit the second pitch he saw from Dodgers relief pitcher Ralph Branca into the left-field bleachers at the Polo Grounds, putting the Giants into the 1951 World Series.

That home run is know in baseball history as "The Shot Heard 'Round The World."

 Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard 'Round The World

The Giants win in the playoff completed an improbable comeback as New York came roaring back in the second half of the season.

The Giants trailed the Dodgers by as many as 13 1/2 games during the 1951 season before tying Brooklyn on the final day.

Thompson was as an unlikely hero as there has ever been, but isn't that what makes the game of baseball so special?

Baseball honors men like Thompson, a good player during his 15 year career, who shied away from the limelight, always giving his teammates the credit over the things he did on the field.

Bobby Thompson was a gracious man, a Scottish born lad who hit .289 his rookie season in 1946, while belting 29 home runs, and driving in 82 runs for the Giants.

Thompson also played for the Milwaukee Braves, the Chicago Cubs, and the Baltimore Orioles, where his career ended, in 1960.