Who hit the 1951 home run known as the Shot Heard 'Round the World?

Bobby Thomson hit the 1951 home run known as the Shot Heard 'Round the World.

On October 3, 1951, Thomson's three-run, walk-off homer gave the New York Giants a 5–4 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. The hit came in the ninth inning of the deciding game of a three-game playoff for the National League pennant. The Giants had trailed 4–1 earlier in the inning.

Thomson hit the home run off Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, sending the Giants to the World Series against the New York Yankees. The moment became legendary because of the intense rivalry, the dramatic comeback, and the huge radio and television audience that witnessed it.

Willie Mays is sometimes mistakenly associated with the shot because he was an important Giants star, but he was not the hitter. The phrase also echoes Ralph Waldo Emerson's “Concord Hymn,” though in baseball it specifically refers to Thomson's pennant-winning blast.