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This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by IMO the. Greatest. Of. All. Time, Willie Mays.
I was going to post about The Catch, but I have a question for the panel about something else.
In 1951, Bobby Thomson hit his famous “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” off of Ralph Branca. (With the Russ Hodges radio call on WMCA, “The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant!”).
What I didn’t learn until a few months ago was that the on-deck hitter was Willie Mays.
One school of thought is that Mays’ presence forced Branca to pitch to Thomson, rather than pitch around him.
Another school of thought says that Mays was “only a rookie”, so wasn’t a concern to Branca.
Thoughts?
https://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/t_share/MTc1NDU3NzIwMjQwMDU1NDkw/only-the-perfect-ballplayer-could-make-the-catch.jpg