The 1951 New York Giants season was the franchise's 69th season and saw the Giants finish the regular season in a tie for first place in the National League with a record of 96 wins and 58 losses. This prompted a best-of-three National League tiebreaker against the Brooklyn Dodgers, which the Giants won in three games, clinched by Bobby Thomson's walk-off home run, a moment immortalized as the Shot Heard 'Round the World. The Giants, however, lost the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

in six games.

Offseason

Spring training

The Giants had trained in Phoenix since 1947. In 1951, the team swapped

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

sites with the

, with the Yankees moving to Phoenix and the Giants training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a one-year arrangement and the Giants would return to Phoenix in 1952.

Notable transactions

* December 4, 1950: Tom Acker was drafted from the Giants by the Buffalo Bisons in the 1950 minor league draft. * Prior to 1951 season (exact date unknown) ** Dom Zanni was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants. ** Don Taussig was acquired by the Giants from the

Regular season

Center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of ...

made his major league debut in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 25. He went on to win the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year Award. Outfielder Monte Irvin led the league in RBI with 121. Five players on the 1951 Giants team went on to become major league managers. Eddie Stanky (1952), Bill Rigney (1956), Alvin Dark (1961), Wes Westrum (1965) and Whitey Lockman (1972). In June, future NFL Hall of Famer Andy Robustelli was offered a tryout with the New York Giants. The Giants offered Robustelli a $400 contract to play with Class AA Knoxville.

Opening Day lineup

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

The comeback

After a slow start, the team went 50–12 over their final 62 games to complete one of the biggest comebacks in major league history. Longstanding rumors that the Giants engaged in systematic sign stealing during the second half of the 1951 season were confirmed in 2001. Several players told ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' that beginning on July 20, the team used a telescope, manned by coach Herman Franks in the Giants clubhouse behind center field, to steal the finger signals of those opposing catchers who left their signs unprotected. Stolen signs were relayed to the Giants dugout via a buzzer wire. Joshua Prager, the author of the ''Journal'' article, outlined the evidence in greater detail in a 2008 book. He noted that sign stealing, then as now, is not specifically forbidden by MLB rules and, moral issues aside, "has been a part of baseball since its inception."

The playoff

At the end of the season, they were tied with their arch-rivals, the Dodgers, for first place in the League, prompting a three-game playoff for the pennant. The Giants had home field advantage for the series.

Game 1

The first game of the series was played at Ebbets Field. Jim Hearn started for the Giants against Ralph Branca for the Dodgers. Monte Irvin and Bobby Thomson homered for the Giants, powering them to a 3–1 win. Andy Pafko hit a home run for the only Dodgers run.

Game 2

The series moved to the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

for game two. Sheldon Jones took the mound for the Giants against the Dodgers' Clem Labine. Jones was pulled in the third inning despite giving up just two runs, one of which was a Jackie Robinson homer. However, the game went downhill from there, as the Dodgers abused relievers George Spencer and Al Corwin for eight more runs, while Labine pitched a six-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

for a 10–0 shellacking. Pafko hit his second homer of the series, while Gil Hodges and Rube Walker added home runs of their own.

Game 3

Game three was also held at the Polo Grounds. Sal "The Barber" Maglie was on the mound for New York, while Brooklyn called on Don Newcombe. After Maglie walked two batters in the top of the first, Jackie Robinson singled home the game's first run. The score remained 1–0 until the bottom of the seventh. In that inning, Monte Irvin led off with a double for the Giants. He was bunted over to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Thomson.Game 3 Box score from Baseball-Reference
/ref> In the top of the eighth, the Dodgers came roaring back with three runs off Maglie. A pair of singles, a wild pitch, and two more singles made the score 4–1 Dodgers. Newcombe sat down the Giants in order in the bottom of the eighth, while Larry Jansen did the same in relief of Maglie.

= The "shot heard 'round the world"

= In the bottom of the ninth, Alvin Dark led off with a single, and Don Mueller followed with another. After Monte Irvin popped out to first base, Whitey Lockman lined a double to left-center field, scoring Dark and putting Mueller on third. Dodger manager Chuck Dressen summoned game 1 starter Ralph Branca in to relieve Newcombe, despite having only had one day's rest. On his second pitch, Bobby Thomson drove a pitch to deep left field for a walk-off home run to clinch the pennant for the Giants. This home run, hit at 3:58 p.m. EST on October 3, 1951, came to be known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World". The phrase '' shot heard 'round the world'' is from a classic poem by

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

, originally used to refer to the first clash of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and since used to apply to other dramatic moments, military and otherwise. In the case of Thomson's home run, it was particularly apt as U.S. servicemen fighting in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

listened to the radio broadcast of the game. Thomson's homer, and the Giants' victory, are also sometimes known as the ''Miracle of Coogan's Bluff''.

= Line score

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

1951 World Series

Game 1

October 4, 1951, at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

in New York City

Game 2

October 5, 1951, at

in New York City

Game 3

October 6, 1951, at the

in, New York City

Game 4

October 8, 1951, at the

in, New York City

Game 5

October 9, 1951, at the

in New York City

Game 6

October 10, 1951, at

in New York City

Awards and honors

: National League Rookie of the Year

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Sioux CityJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

External links

1951 New York Giants team
at ''Baseball-Reference''
1951 New York Giants team
at ''Baseball Almanac'' {{San Francisco Giants New York Giants (baseball) seasons New York Giants season National League champion seasons 1951 in sports in New York City 1950s in Manhattan Washington Heights, Manhattan