Bobby Thomson
| Bobby Thomson | |||
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Thomson in 1948
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| Outfielder | |||
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Born: October 25, 1923 Glasgow, Scotland |
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Died: August 16, 2010 (aged 86) Skidaway Island, Georgia |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 9, 1946, for the New York Giants | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 17, 1960, for the Baltimore Orioles | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .270 | ||
| Home runs | 264 | ||
| Runs batted in | 1,026 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Robert Brown Thomson (October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010) was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "The Staten Island Scot", he was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants (1946–53, 1957), Milwaukee Braves (1954–57), Chicago Cubs (1958–59), Boston Red Sox (1960) and Baltimore Orioles (1960).
His pennant-winning three-run home run for the Giants in 1951, known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", is one of the most famous moments in baseball history. It overshadowed his other accomplishments, including eight 20-home run seasons and three All Star selections. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me", he later said. "It may have been the best thing that ever happened to anybody."
Thomson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the youngest of six children. He arrived in the United States two years later. His father, a cabinet maker, had moved to New York City shortly before Bobby's birth and sent for his family in 1925.
Thomson grew up on Staten Island in New York City and signed with the New York Giants for a $100 bonus right out of Curtis High School in 1942. However, on December 5, 1942 he joined the United States Army Air Forces and trained as a bombardier. His entire service was within the continental United States. He played semi-professional baseball in the summer of 1945 while awaiting his discharge.
Thomson batted .283 with 29 home runs (HR) and 82 runs batted in (RBI) in his rookie year, 1947. The following season he batted .248 with 16 home runs. In 1949 Thomson had career bests in RBI (109) and batting average (.309). His batting average dropped to .252 in 1950. He then hit a career-high 32 home runs in 1951, the fifth-best total in the Majors; he also had the fourth-highest slugging average in baseball that year.
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