Presidential Approval Rating Peaks and Valleys, 1933-2026

From The Moment with Katy Tur, October 2, 2026

According to polling presented on MS Now yesterday, on The Moment with Katy Tur, by Tur, Trump is at 82 percent disapproval on the issue of the cost of living. That's on one issue, not overall.

In contrast, the following Presidents were at the following peak levels of disapproval on the following issues: Lyndon Johnson on the Vietnam War, 57; Richard Nixon on the Watergate scandal, 71; Jimmy Carter on the economy overall, 74; George W. Bush on the economy overall, 77, and on the Iraq War, 70; and Joe Biden on the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, 62.

Not listed in that graphic, apparently because they didn't have as much as 57 percent on any particular issue, which I, having lived through every President since Nixon, find hard to believe: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

So I got curious: When were Presidents at their most popular, overall; and least? Here's the figures I found, with sources listed in the link, starting in the modern era:

* Franklin D. Roosevelt: Highest: 84 percent in a poll ending January 13, 1942, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the country rallying around itself, its troops, and its President; Lowest, 48, August 24, 1939, after the 1937-38 "Roosevelt Recession," but before the start of World War II.

* Harry S Truman: Highest: 87, June 5, 1945, in the wake of V-E Day in the closing days of World War II; Lowest, 22, February 14, 1952, at the depth of the Korean War, and with some Democratic scandals that would seem like penny-ante stuff by the time of Watergate.

* Dwight D. Eisenhower: Highest: 78, November 22, 1955, after recovering from his heart attack 2 months earlier; Lowest, 48, April 1, 1958, at the depth of the worst recession the country had seen since the end of the Great Depression, but one that would be surpassed many times starting in 1973.

* John F. Kennedy: Highest: 83, May 3, 1961, ironically in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs operation, with people appreciating that he took full responsibility for it, instead of blaming Ike, the CIA, or anybody else; Lowest, 56, September 17, 1963, after he'd lost much of the South with his civil rights bill, but he was still personally popular.

* Lyndon B. Johnson: Highest, 80, March 5, 1964, in the wake of the JFK assassination and his promise of a War On Poverty; Lowest, 35, August 12, 1968, with the Vietnam War and race riots both seeming to have no end in sight.

* Richard Nixon: Highest, 70, February 15, 1973, after he'd won a 2nd term and "ended the Vietnam War," but before Watergate emerged as an issue; Lowest, 23, January 7, 1974, oddly not right before he resigned.

* Gerald Ford: Highest, 71, August 19, 1974, right after he'd replaced Nixon and given a unifying "not an Inaugural Address"; Lowest, 37, January 13, 1975, after his pardon of Nixon, and with the recession Nixon dumped in his lap having had inflation added to it.

* Jimmy Carter: Highest, 75, March 21, 1977, in his 1st 100 days; Lowest, 28, July 2, 1979, oddly, right before his "Crisis of Confidence" speech, before the Iran Hostage Crisis, the OPEC moves raising gas prices, the accompanying inflation with everything else, or the high interest rates.

* Ronald Reagan: Highest, 68, May 11, 1981, after both his 1st 100 days and his recovering from an assassination attempt; Lowest, 35, January 31, 1983, with unemployment at 11 percent, it's highest non-COVID point since the end of the Great Depression.

* George H.W. Bush: Highest, 89, March 3, 1991, just as he ended the Persian Gulf War; Lowest, 29, August 2, 1992, with the deepest recession yet since the end of the Great Depression, and with the Democrats having just had a successful Convention, but before his Party's Convention made things worse.

So far, all of these polls were by the Gallup Organization. These were not, with one exception:

* Bill Clinton: Highest, 73, by CBS News and The New York Times, January 27, 1998, 6 days after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, a day after his finger-wagging denial of the charges, and right after his State of the Union Address, so at a low point in his Administration, he was at his most popular; Lowest, 36, by Time magazine and CNN, May 27, 1993, right after his 1st 100 days, which had a few public-relations missepts.

* George W. Bush: Highest, 92, by ABC News, October 9, 2001, right after he'd begun bombing Afghanistan in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks; Lowest, 19, by the American Research Group, February 19, 2008, with a recession getting bad and the Iraq War having no end in sight, even though things would get much worse economically.

* Barack Obama: Highest, 76, by CNN, February 8, 2009, right after his Inauguration; Lowest, 37, by Gallup, September 11, 2011, 4 months after he killed Osama bin Laden, after Republicans had started running against him, including airing TV commercials against him, but before the 2012 Primaries started, and he wasn't airing his own ads yet.

* Joe Biden: Highest, 63, by the Associated Press, May 3, 2021, around the end of his 1st 100 days; Lowest, 31, by Quinnipiac University, July 18, 2022, around the time that inflation got the highest under him.

* Donald Trump, and these are the extremes for both of his terms combined, so far: Highest, 49, by McLaughlin & Associates, March 24, 2019, before his 1st impeachment, COVID, and the COVID-induced recession; Lowest, 29, Pew Research, January 12, 2021, after the January 6 insurrection, and right before his 2nd impeachment.

Therefore, they can be ranked as follows:

Highest: Dubya Bush 92, Daddy Bush 89, Truman 87, FDR 84, JFK 83, LBJ 80, Ike 78, Obama 76, Carter 75, Clinton 73, Ford 71, Nixon 70, Reagan 68, Biden 63, Trump 49. Surprise: Reagan was never as popular as Carter or Clinton at his peak, and Trump has never had a majority.

Lowest: JFK 56, FDR 48, Ike 48, Obama 37, Ford 37, Clinton 36, LBJ 35, Reagan 35, Biden 31, Daddy Bush 29, Trump 29, Carter 28, Nixon 23, Truman 22, Dubya Bush 19. Another surprise: LBJ and Clinton never got as low as Reagan; but Truman was lower than all of them except Dubya.

How about their average approval rating? These are all from Gallup, and they didn't list FDR's: JFK 70.1, Ike 65.0, Daddy Bush 60.9, LBJ 55.1, Clinton 55.1, Reagan 52.8, Dubya Bush 49.4, Nixon 49.0, Obama 47.9, Ford 47.2, Carter 45.5, Truman 45.4, Biden 42.2, Trump 41.1.

Think about that: Not only is Trump's the lowest, but even with him, and (as Rush Limbaugh would have said about Clinton) his willing accomplices in the media, bad-mouthing Biden for 5 years straight (counting the 2020 campaign), Biden's average was still higher than Trump's.

What does this mean? Basically, it means that there are certain rules to being President:

* Don't have a "Depression." Herbert Hoover, the last President before this list, had THE one. Nixon had one. Ford suffered for it, too. Carter was seen as having one, but it wasn't one. Reagan had one. Both Bushes had one. Biden was seen as having one, but it wasn't one. Trump is now on his 2nd.

* Don't have a "Vietnam." LBJ had one. Carter had won, in Iran. Reagan got out of one, in Lebanon. Dubya had one, in Iraq. Biden sort-of had one, in Afghanistan, although it was based on a Trump policy, which he didn't change. Trump now has one, in Iran.

* Don't have a Watergate. Truman sort-of had one, the various "corruption" scandals in his Administration. Nixon had THE one. Ford suffered for it, too. Reagan had one, Iran-Contra, but survived it. Clinton didn't have one, not that Republicans didn't try to say he had several. Dubya had one, the Scooter Libby vs. Valerie Plame story. Trump had one, getting impeached over trying to blackmail Ukraine.

* Don't screw up a hurricane. Nixon and Daddy Bush had particularly bad ones in both Year 1 and Year 4, but each responded properly, and while both had their Presidencies end earlier than they would have liked, their hurricane responses had nothing to do with it. Dubya Bush had the worst one in the modern era, and it basically ended his "9/11 untouchability," before his "Vietnam" could make things worse. Obama had one just a few days before voters had to decide whether to re-elect him, but he handled it right, though he probably would have won the most-affected States anyway. Trump screwed up a hurricane in Year 1, and hardly anybody even remembers that now, because he's done so many other horrible things.

* Don't screw up a pandemic. So far, only 4 Presidents have faced this problem. In 1918, Woodrow Wilson put up measures to fight the Spanish Flu, and we may never know how many people those measures saved. Obama faced Ebola in 2014, and his measures meant that literally no Americans died from it, and just one person on American soil, a visiting Liberian. The Obama Administration "wrote a pandemic playbook," because they knew something like that would happen someday, and we had to be prepared. Trump threw it out, because it was "written" by a black man. The result was the estimation that about 70 percent of the people who died from COVID wouldn't have if Trump had kept and followed the playbook. Biden was left to deal with the aftermath, and handled it as well as could have been hoped by that point.

So that's 5 rules. And Trump has broken them all. But only the "Depression" and the "Vietnam" seem to have hurt him in this 2nd term.

These polling averages also suggest that there will always be a core group that will support either party, no matter what; and a larger mass of people in between who are willing to change their minds to adjust to changing circumstances, and who do, whether the President or the media like it or not.

It's also worth noting that, once you take out FDR's 2 extra terms, most Presidents that managed to win a 2nd (or 1st full) term averaged better polling in their 1st term than in their 2nd. The exceptions, so far, have been Reagan, Clinton and Obama.

But now, as Year 6 of his Presidency is moving into its latter stages, and he is almost halfway through the 2nd term he won on the basis of fear of immigrants, inflation, and the issue of war & peace, Trump is facing blowback on the latter 2 issues, from people who had been his people all the way.

It is not enough to make them call their Congressmen and ask for his 3rd impeachment. It is not enough to make them call their Senators and ask for his conviction and removal through an impeachment trial. It is certainly not enough to make enough Republican Senators, plus Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, join every other Democratic Senator to make 67, enough to remove him.

But it might become enough to make supporters of his, who know he's not literally on the ballot in the elections to be held on November 3, either vote Democratic for the first time in who-knows-how-long-if-ever, or stay home, and lead to big Democratic victories.

Because now, Trump's policies are directly hurting them. And it's been almost 2 years: Blaming a President who hasn't been in office in that time, or the Democrats who don't hold Congressional majorities and are blocked from making policy, won't work. This is on him, and it is on his Party.

And if enough Republicans lose for the ones that are left to blame him for their new minority status, that might be enough to shake his 34-Senator firewall. And, instead of a literal wall he built that does little to keep immigrants from entering the country, it may just be that figurative wall collapsing that ends his Presidency.

Unless, of course, his health catches up to him first.

October 4, 1976: The Resignation of Secretary Earl Butz

October 4, 1976, 50 years ago: Earl Butz resigns as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. In 2020s parlance, he exercised his privilege, got caught, and fell victim to cancel culture.

Earl Lauer Butz was born on July 3, 1909 in Albion, Indiana. He grew up on a farm, and graduated in a high school class of seven students. He graduated from nearby Purdue University, married, and had 2 children. His nephew, Dave Butz, also went to Purdue, and also went on to work in Washington, in his case as a defensive tackle for the NFL's Washington Redskins.

In 1948, Earl Butz became vice president of the American Agricultural Economics Association. In 1951, he became vice president of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. In 1957, he returned to Purdue to teach. In 1968, he ran for the Republican nomination for Governor of Indiana.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed him Secretary of Agriculture. He was never connected to any of the crimes that fell under the umbrella term "Watergate," and continued to serve in the post after Nixon resigned the Presidency, and turned it over to Gerald Ford. At first, he seemed like an ordinary Republican: Pro-business, but not especially offensive.

That changed while he attended the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Paul VI had made public his opposition to "population control," because it included increased birth control. A natural stand for a Pope to take.

Butz, using a fake Italian accent, made a veiled reference to the mandatory celibacy of priests, all the way up to the Pope, saying, "He no play-a the game, he no make-a the rules." Terence Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of New York, for all intents and purposes the Papal Viceroy in America, demanded an apology. The White House ordered him to give one. He did, but weaseled his way into a typical "I got caught" response of being taken out of context.

But on October 4, 1976, with just 29 days before President Ford had to face the voters for re-election, against former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia, Butz resigned. The newly-published October 7 issue of Rolling Stone magazine had published some remarks of his, remarks that meant that he could not continue as a member of the President's Cabinet.

The remarks were made on a commercial flight aboard TWA from Kansas City, where the Republican Convention had been held, to California. With Butz on the flight were singer Pat Boone, a known Republican; another singer, Sonny Bono, who would later be elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California, and then to Congress, in each case as a Republican; and John Dean, former White House Counsel to Nixon, who had gone to prison for his role in Watergate, and was reporting on the campaign for Rolling Stone.

Liquor was flowing, in spite of the presence of Boone, known as perhaps popular music's biggest goody-two-shoes. (A big star from 1955 to 1957, he hadn't had a hit record since 1963, but the TV networks knew he could still draw an audience.) And, according to Dean, Butz, always a country boy at heart, and a man who enjoyed what has been called "barnyard humor," told a dirty joke, about a dog and a skunk having sex. That, alone, wouldn't have forced his resignation, because it wouldn't have been worth reporting.

But then Boone asked a good question: Why couldn't the Republican Party, which had been the party of Abraham Lincoln, attract more black voters? Instead of giving an insightful answer, Butz gave one that Time magazine, in its October 18 issue, censored. Rolling Stone did not, and Dean was willing to go only so far, and no further, in covering it up: He said it came from "an unnamed Cabinet officer." But, for those who knew the people in the Cabinet, it was too easy to figure out it was Butz, and he was exposed.

At least he didn't use the N-word. No, at most, he didn't use the N-word: He said, "I'll tell you what the coloreds want. It's three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit." (The "loose shoes" was referring to assisting in dancing.)

Ford was furious. On the one hand, firing Butz would have angered Republicans in farm States that he needed to win. On the other hand, keeping him might have put other States, that were close, at risk. Making a speech at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Ford began a sentence with the words, "The greatest danger I see in America today," and someone in the crowd yelled out, "is tight shoes!"

With demonstrators with signs saying, "KICK BUTZ" outside the White House, Butz took the decision out of Ford's hands, and quit. The election was close, even closer than Carter's Electoral Vote victory made it look: 3 States were decided by less than 5,000 votes, and 19 were decided by less than 40,000. Any number of things could have shifted the necessary 30 Electoral Votes that would have given Ford a full term: The Butz remark, the Nixon pardon, the recession that began in late 1973 ending earlier, refusing to bail New York City out, then doing it, appointing Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President, then dumping him as such for Bob Dole, and debate gaffes by both Ford and Dole.

John Knebel served as Secretary of Agriculture for the rest of Butz's term. Butz returned to Purdue as a "professor emeritus." In 1981, he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned in 1978. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but all but 30 days of the term were suspended. He was one more member of the Nixon Administration to go to prison, although it had nothing to do with Watergate, or anything that happened while Nixon was in office.

He died in 2008, at the age of 98. At the time, he was the longest-lived former Cabinet member ever. He no longer holds that distinction: Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State under Nixon), George Schultz (Treasury under Nixon and State under Reagan) and W. Michael Blumenthal (Treasury under Carter) each lived to see a 100th birthday.

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October 4, 1976 was a Monday. Actress Alicia Silverstone and soccer star Mauro Camoranesi were born.   

October 4, 1936: The Battle of Cable Street

October 4, 1936, 90 years ago: London's police and anti-fascist demonstrators clash with members of the British Union of Fascists in the East End. It was known as the Battle of Cable Street, and it was Britain's 1st message that it would not put up with far-right tyranny. Sadly, in 1938, its government did. Thankfully, in 1939, that stopped.

As Mike Cole, of the East End, wrote for the website Historic UK:

The 1930s was a period of seismic political change throughout Europe. Fascist dictators took power in Germany, Italy and Romania and left wing and communist movements rebelled against expanding fascism in countries like Spain. In Britain, this tension culminated in a violent event in the East London area of Stepney, on Cable Street.

The murderous pogroms in Russia and elsewhere in Europe had lead to many Jewish refugees arriving in the East End of London by the late 19th Century. The backlash against this contributed to the suspicion that serial killer Jack the Ripper might have been an immigrant, Jewish or otherwise. By the early 1900s, Stepney was one of the poorest and most densely populated suburbs of London. By the 1930s, that part of the East End had a distinct Jewish population and culture.

Sir Oswald Mosley was the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1931, when America's Time magazine put him on their cover, calling him "Britain's Hitler." At 35, he had already been knighted for his government service. He met Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in early 1932, and very much admired and modelled himself on the man known as "Il Duce." Mosley even created a new, sinister organization, the Blackshirts, a quasi-military group of around 15,000 thugs, modelled on Mussolini's Squadrismo.

As the number of fascists was growing, so too was the opposition against them. Trade unionists and Communists, as well as the Jewish community, were becoming increasingly mobilized. When Mosley announced a march into the heart of the Jewish community in the East End of London, planned for Sunday, the 4th of October, 1936, the community was in disbelief and it was a clear provocation.

The Jewish People's Council presented a petition of 100,000 names to urge the Home Secretary to ban the march. But, the BUF had the support of the press and police, and with the Daily Mail running headlines in the 1930s such as "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" the government failed to ban the march and the people of the East End set about organizing to defend themselves. (After World War II, the Daily Mail continued to be far enough to the right that it was nicknamed the Daily Heil.)

The Communist newspaper, The Daily Worker, called people to the streets on the day of the march, to block Mosley’s way. There were many who were worried about violence, and the Jewish Chronicle warned its readers to stay home on the day. Many other groups such as the Communists and Irish Dockers encouraged the defense of the diverse community from Fascist intimidation. The Communist Party even cancelled a planned demonstration in Trafalgar Square and redirected its supporters to the East End.

On October 4, thousands of antifascists began to gather at Gardeners Corner in Aldgate. The battle lines were set as Mosley gathered his men at the Royal Mint by The Tower of London. The police amassed 6,000 officers to clear a path for them into Whitechapel. The police used mounted officers at Aldgate to beat back the crowds onto the pavements but thousands more were streaming into the area. Four sympathetic tram drivers strategically abandoned their vehicles to help block the road to the fascists.

"Down with the fascists!" chants were heard across East London as the police clashed with the community blocking their way. Communists, Jews, Irish Dockers, Trade Unionists all united under the chant "They Shall Not Pass!" -- a line used by French Field Marshal Henri Petain against the Germans in World War I, and recently taken up by the Spanish Republic in their eventually failed effort to prevent a Fascist takeover.

As the police could not get through the crowds towards Whitechapel, Mosley decided to change the route, and head down narrow Cable Street, that ran parallel to his original route. The Blackshirts were headed up and flanked by the Metropolitan Police as they headed into Cable Street.

Everything from rotten fruit to boiling water rained down on them from windows on all sides. The Met reached the first barrier, but brawls broke out, and the police withdrew and demanded that Mosley turn around.

Celebrations broke out across the East End that afternoon. 79 antifascists were arrested, many of whom were beaten by the police, some even sentenced to hard labor. Only 6 fascists were arrested.

Mural honoring the Battle, on Cable Street

Within 2 years, the British government was appeasing Nazi Germany. Within another year, Britain and Germany were at war.

Two days after the Battle of Cable Street, and 3 years after the death of his 1st wife, Mosley, who had cheated on her endlessly, married his longtime mistress, Diana Guinness -- in Germany, in a ceremony held at the home of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and attended by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

On May 23, 1940, after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, Mosley was arrested under Defence Regulation 18B. Diana was interned a month later, the gap due to the fact that she was pregnant with their son, Max. Most other BUF members were interned, and Fascism was eliminated as a threat in the country. Diana was released in November 1943, but Oswald was kept under house arrest for the duration of The War.

Afterward, he became an advocate for a united Europe, and a leader of Holocaust denial. After the Notting Hill Riots of 1958, he ran for Parliament on an anti-immigrant platform, and lost badly. He ran again in 1966, from a district in East London, but his evil there was not forgotten, and, again, he was clobbered at the polls. He moved to France, and never returned to Britain except for brief visits.

By 1977, he was suffering from Parkinson's disease, but dissension in Britain led to a turn back to the right, and a partial restoration of his reputation. Rock singer Elvis Costello mentioned this in his hit song "Less Than Zero." Mosley lived to see the election of the Conservative Party government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the most right-wing government Britain had ever had. He died on December 3, 1980.

Between his 2 marriages, he had 5 children, including the novelist Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale, a title from his mother's family; and Max Mosley, who served 16 years as President of the International Automobile Federation. Through 2026, none of Mosley's descendants have run for public office in any country.

October 3, 1976: "Quincy, M.E." Premieres

October 3, 1976, 50 years ago: Only a year and a half after the last episode of The Odd Couple, Jack Klugman returns to series television in the premiere of Quincy, M.E., on NBC. It is one of the many TV shows created or co-created by Glen A. Larson, in this case co-created with Lou Shaw, who also wrote Worse Than Murder, a play about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The drama enables Klugman to return to drama, which was how he got started. But while Los Angeles County Medical Examiner "Dr. R. Quincy" -- as shown on his office door and on his business card, and in 7 seasons no one ever said what the R. stood for -- was serious about his work, some of the Oscar Madison personality was thankfully included. And, of course, as a medical professional, Quincy had to be every bit as neat as Tony Randall's Felix Unger, not sloppy like Oscar.

Garry Walberg, who had played Felix & Oscar's poker pal Homer "Speed" Deegan, played LAPD Lieutenant Frank Monahan. Joseph Roman played his partner, Sergeant Brill.

Robert Ito played Dr. Sam Fujiyama, at the time one of the few Asian-American TV characters outside of M*A*S*H and Hawaii Five-O. John S. Ragin played Quincy and Sam's boss, Dr. Robert Asten. Jonathan Segal played laboratory technician Jeff Sellers. Eddie Garrett played Eddie the forensic photographer.

Val Bisoglio played Danny Tovo, who ran the bar that Quincy hung out in. John Nolan played John the bartender.

Quincy was a widower, and Anita Gillette played his wife, Helen, in an episode with flashback scenes. Quincy must have "had a type," because Gillette was later cast as Dr. Emily Hanover, whom Quincy ended up marrying near the end of the series.

This series, of which my mother was a big fan, may have inspired her to name a cat Quincy. It was also the first show to focus on a medical examiner venturing into solving the murders of those on whom he did his autopsies, long before NBC's Crossing Jordan and TNT's Rizzoli & Isles (both set in Boston), much less the supporting characters seen on CBS' CSI and NCIS franchises, Fox's Bones and ABC's Castle.

The other half of The Odd Couple had debuted The Tony Randall Show on September 23, 1976. Randall played a widowed judge with teenage daughters, in Philadelphia. It ran on ABC for a season, then on CBS for a season, before being canceled.

From 1981 to 1983, Randall starred in the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney. In 1986, Klugman starred on the NBC sitcom You Again? It ran 2 seasons. In 1997, he played a doctor on an episode of Diagnosis: Murder. And, in 2002, he played a medical examiner on an episode of the aforementioned Crossing Jordan. In 1993, Randall and Klugman reprised their best-known roles in The Odd Couple: Together Again.

Segal died in 1999, Nolan in 2000, Garrett in 2010, Walberg in 2012, Klugman later in 2012, Ragin in 2013, Larson in 2014, Shaw in 2015, Roman in 2017, Bisoglio in 2021. Ito and Gillette are still alive.

October 3, 1976: A Career, a Race and a Dynasty End In Baseball

October 3, 1976, 50 years ago: Hank Aaron plays his last game. In his last at-bat, playing for the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, where he had previously played for the Milwaukee Braves, he singles off Dave Roberts of the Detroit Tigers -- the same pitcher who, for the Houston Astros, had given up his 712th and 713th career home runs. But the Tigers win the game, 5-2.

Hank retires with 3,771 hits and 2,174 runs scored, both 2nd at the time only to Ty Cobb; a .305 batting average, a 155 OPS+; and with these all-time records: 755 home runs, 2,297 RBIs, 6,856 total bases, and 1,477 extra-base hits (624 doubles, 98 triples and 755 homers). Only the home run record has been broken, and that, dubiously.

The Brewers retire his Number 44 on this day, even though he only played 2 seasons for them. It's more of a recognition for his contribution to baseball in Milwaukee, which was 14 seasons counting his tenure there with the Braves. The Atlanta version of the Braves will retire Number 44 for him on their next Opening Day.

This was the 30th season of racially integrated Major League Baseball. Hank Aaron was the last active MLB player who had played in the Negro Leagues.

Another note from the '76 Brewers: On September 23, pitcher Danny Frisella, a member of the Mets' 1969 World Champions, made his last appearance of the season. There was no indication that he wouldn't be pitching in 1977. But on New Year's Day, in Phoenix, he was killed in a dune buggy accident. He was only 30 years old, and was the 1st member of the "Miracle Mets" to die.

This Brewers-Tigers game was also the last for Tiger catcher Bill Freehan. A key member of their 1968 World Series winners, he had been battling a thumb injury, and retired at age 34. In the late 1960s and early '70s, he was, beyond any question, the AL's best catcher. He made 11 appearances in the All-Star Game. No other player has made that many and still not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Another Tiger whose career was ending was Alex Johnson, who last played on October 1. As a rookie in 1964, he nearly helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the NL Pennant. In 1970, with the California Angels, he won the AL batting title. But he rarely played so well again, and wore out his welcome with 7 different teams. He later took over his father's trucking company, and admitted he enjoyed it more than baseball. Also in 1970, his brother, Ron Johnson, playing for the Giants, became the 1st player for an NFL team in New York to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

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On the same day, the last day of the regular season, the Kansas City Royals' George Brett and Hal McRae, and the Minnesota Twins' Rod Carew, 3 players, are separated by .001 for the American League batting title -- and their teams are playing each other at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) The Twins won, 5-3.

Brett, who goes 3-for-4, edging his Royals teammate for the crown with the deciding hit, an inside-the-park home run, a line drive that outfielder Steve Brye misplayed, leading McRae to believe the lack of effort was intentional, and racist. (Like McRae, Carew was black; unlike McRae, he was also Hispanic. His thoughts on McRae's theory are unrecorded.) The final totals: Brett .333, McRae .332, Carew .331. Or, to take the decimal point one step further: Brett .3333, McRae .3321, Carew .3306.

In case you're wondering about on-base percentage: McRae .407 (to lead the AL), Carew .395, Brett .377. So Brett had the lowest of the 3 in that category.

Both Carew and Brett would win more batting titles, and both would flirt with a .400 batting average: Carew finished at .388 in 1977, while Brett finished at .390 in 1980.

Another former AL batting champion, Tony Oliva, had been battling knee injuries, and last played for the Twins on September 29. He retired, at age 38.

Tommy Davis had been a National League batting champion, in 1962 and '63 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he never fully recovered from a broken ankle in 1965, and over the next 11 seasons, played for 9 teams, including Finley's A's twice. He played his last game for the Royals on October 2, and retired at 37.

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Also on this day, only 9,155 fans come out to the Oakland Coliseum to witness what is already expected -- correctly, as it turned out -- to be the end of an era. The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0. Nolan Ryan of the Halos and Mike Torrez of the A's each go the distance.

With the reserve clause having been struck down in the previous off-season, free agency is coming in the upcoming one. Having already lost ace pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter to a legal wrinkle, and having traded away his best player, right fielder Reggie Jackson, A's owner Charlie Finley goes on to refuse to offer new contracts to reliever Rollie Fingers, 3rd baseman and team captain Sal Bando, left fielder Joe Rudi, 1st baseman Gene Tenace, shortstop Bert Campaneris, or even the recently acquired right fielder Don Baylor. He also looks to trade pitcher Vida Blue, this time without the interference of Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Hunter, Jackson and Fingers would make the Hall of Fame. All-Star Game appearances for these players: Jackson 14, Hunter 8, Fingers 7, Campaneris and Blue 6 each, Bando 4, Rudi 3, and Tenace and Baylor 1 each. Blue and Hunter had won an AL Cy Young Award; Blue, Jackson, Baylor and Fingers would each win an AL Most Valuable Player award.

Finley thought that, with the money he saved by not paying them, he could build a new dynasty. In the next 3 seasons, the A's were dreadful. But in the 4th, 1980, they finished 2nd; in the 5th, 1981, they won the AL Western Division. But before the 1980 season ended, he sold the team, and didn't get to enjoy being proven, at least partially, right.

This was also the last game in Oakland uniforms for future Hall-of-Famers Billy Williams, the great former Chicago Cub left fielder, who retires; and Willie McCovey, who heads back across the Bay and re-signs with the San Francisco Giants. Nate Colbert, former star for the San Diego Padres, was also on the A's roster, and had last played on October 1. That would be his last game as well: After trying to catch on with the expansion Toronto Blue Jays in the next season's Spring Training, his back injury convinced him to retire at the age of 30.

Over the next 3 seasons, the A's would lose 299 games, and play before a total of 1,329,361 home fans -- an average of 5,471 fans per game. Their attendance had never been good, and the Coliseum, even when new and considered suitable, had already been nicknamed the Oakland Mausoleum. Finley's cheapness and stubbornness had blinded him to what needed to be done, and one of the best teams in baseball history became a joke franchise almost overnight.

A note from the '76 Angels: This game against the A's turned out to be the last major league game for shortstop Mike Miley. A quarterback at Louisiana State University, where he was known as "Miracle Mike," he got them into the 1974 Orange Bowl, losing to Penn State. He left school to play pro baseball, and played 70 games with the Angels in '75 and another 14 in '76. But on January 6, 1977, back in LSU's seat of Baton Rouge, he was killed in a car crash, only 23 years old.

*

October 3, 1976 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton outpitched Craig Swan. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Burleson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-6. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.

Rico Petrocelli did not play, either. The shortstop on the Sox' 1967 AL Pennant winners, and the 3rd baseman on their 1975 Pennant winners, had been battling an inner ear infection, and hadn't played since September 14. The Sox released him early in 1977, without playing him again. He was not quite 34 years old. There were no hard feelings, and he later coached and broadcast for the Sox.

On September 29, Tommy Harper played for the Orioles, and it turned out to be his last major league game. He had been one of baseball's top base stealers, but his hitting had tailed off, and he retired at 36.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals at Three Rivers Stadium, winning both games by a 1-0 score. Jim Rooker pitched a 7-hit shutout in the opener, while Jerry Reuss pitched a 5-hit shutout in the nightcap. Neither the Pirates' Willie Stargell nor the Cardinals' Lou Brock got into either game.

Bob Moose didn't get into the game for the Pirates, either. The relief pitcher had last appeared on September 25. On October 9, his 29th birthday, he was driving back from the charity golf tournament of former teammate Bill Mazeroski, in Maz's hometown of Martins Ferry, Ohio, when he was killed in a car crash.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. On June 13 of that season, Pat Darcy, who gave up the game-winning home run to Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the previous year's World Series, was sent down to the minors. At 26, he never appeared in another major league game.

Carl Morton, the 1970 National League Rookie of the Year, had lost his consistency, and last pitched for the Braves on August 21. After struggling in the minor leagues the next 2 seasons, he retired, and died of a heart attack while jogging in 1983, only 39.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Len Barker pitched a 3-hit shutout. Earlier in the year, on June 19, former Yankee pitcher Fritz Peterson made his last major league appearance, for the Rangers. Injuries convinced him to retire at age 34.

On August 17, another member of the Oakland dynasty, pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom, made his last appearance, for the White Sox. He returned to Oakland's minor-league system in 1977, but an injury forced him to wrap it up at 32.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Dave Winfield did not play.

* The New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, the Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants finished their seasons the day before. Frank Robinson, officially still the player-manager of the Indians, had not played since September 18, although he never officially announced his retirement as a player. On September 29, former Twins star César Tovar, now with the Yankees, played his last game.

October 3, 1951: The Bobby Thomson Game

October 3, 1951, 75 years ago today: Along with the Bucky Dent Game of 1978, the Bobby Thomson Game may be the most written-about single game in the history of baseball. And if you have to ask why, then you don't know the history of baseball.

Funny thing: Life was imitating art. Just a month earlier, on August 29, 1951, a film titled Rhubarb premiered, based on the novel by H. Allen Smith. The owner of a Brooklyn baseball team dies, and leaves ownership of the team to his cat, which he had named "Rhubarb," an old baseball term for an argument, often used by Dodger broadcaster Walter "Red" Barber.

The plot has the Brooklyn team playing the New York team in a Playoff for the Pennant. It was only the 2nd film role for 20-year-old Leonard Nimoy, and the future Star Trek star was not credited. The most unfair thing about this movie, if not the most illogical.

*

In real life...

The New York Gothams began play in the National League in 1883. In 1886, after a particularly rousing victory, their manager, Jim Mutrie, called them "my big boys, my giants," and they were the New York Giants from then on. In 1925, a football team would be named after them, and they still use that name.

Their first home had been a polo field in what became known as the East Harlem section of Manhattan. In 1890, they moved to 155th Street and 8th Avenue, where Harlem meets Washington Heights, with a cliff called Coogan's Bluff overlooking it. The stadiums that would be built there, first one, then another on the same site after a 1911 fire, would carry the name "the Polo Grounds" from their previous home, even though polo was one of the few outdoor sports capable of being played outdoors that the place never hosted.

Up until 1898, New York and Brooklyn were separate cities. In 1883, a team was founded in the American Association. It would eventually become known as the Trolley Dodgers, due to Brooklyn being covered with trolley lines and locals having to dodge them. Eventually, this was shortened to "Dodgers."

In 1913, their owner, Charles Hercules Ebbets, built a ballpark on a spot near Prospect Park, where the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Flatbush come together. Someone suggested he name it for himself, and Ebbets Field was born.

The separate cities of New York and Brooklyn, and after 1898 the Boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, developed a rivalry above and beyond baseball. But the rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers was nasty, even more so than the one that eventually developed between the 3rd team established in New York, the American League's Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox.

After all, not only were the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field just 13 miles apart, but, with the 154-game schedule and 8-team Leagues of the time, they played each other 22 times a year. Like the old saying goes, "Familiarity breeds contempt." As Keith Jackson would later say of certain college football rivalries, "These two teams just don't like each other." And the fans, who had to live together, side-by-side, sometimes even in the same family, in the City, and in the nearby suburbs, didn't like each other, either.

The Giants always had money, and the Dodgers rarely did. The Giants won the Pennant in 1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936 and 1937; and the World Series in 1905, 1921, 1922 and 1933. The Dodgers didn't win nearly as much: The Pennant in 1916 and 1920.

Because of a messy divorce, Charlie Ebbets died broke in 1925. At his rainy funeral, another part-owner, Ed McKeever, caught a cold and, in those pre-antibiotic days, developed pneumonia and died. As if the team's finances weren't precarious enough, the Great Depression came. Eventually, one-quarter ownership of the team came into possession of a bank, the Brooklyn Trust.

(In 1950, Brooklyn Trust became part of Manufacturer's Trust. In 1961, after another merger, it became Manufacturer's Hanover, or "Manny Hanny." In the 1970s and '80s, it was one of the few companies that advertised on the television broadcasts of both the Yankees and the Mets. In 1991, it was bought out by Chemical Bank. In 1996, Chemical bought Chase Manhattan Bank, and adopted its name. In 2000, Chase merged with J.P. Morgan & Co., so the little bank that once owned a key piece of the Brooklyn Dodgers is now part of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., tying Charlie Ebbets to the Morgan and Rockefeller families.)

In 1934, the Giants were leading the NL, and, in a radio interview, someone asked Bill Terry, the Giants' manager and 1st baseman, about the upcoming series with Brooklyn. He mockingly said, "Brooklyn? Is Brooklyn still in the league?" Down the stretch, the Dodgers beat the Giants enough times that a surge by the St. Louis Cardinals cost the Giants another Pennant. The Dodgers, already known in the Brooklyn dialect as "Dem Bums," couldn't win, but they could spoil things for the "Jints."

In 1938, Ed's brother and fellow part-owner, Steve McKeever, died. Ownership of the Dodgers was now divided as follows: 1/8th, Grace Ebbets, Charlie's widow; 1/8th, Joseph Gilleaudeau, Charlie's son-in-law; 1/8th, Elizabeth "Dearie" Mulvey, daughter of Steve McKeever; 1/8th, James Mulvey, Dearie's husband; 1/4, a trust set up by Ed McKeever before his death; and 1/4, Brooklyn Trust.

The bank hired Larry MacPhail away from the Cincinnati Reds, and installed him as team president. He renovated Ebbets Field, brought broadcaster Red Barber with him from Cincinnati, and rebuilt the team. By 1941, they were Pennant winners again. But, as the Giants did in 1923, '36 and '37 (after beating them in '21 and '22), the Dodgers lost the World Series to the Yankees. The words "WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR" appeared in a headline of the Borough's newspaper, The Brooklyn Eagle.

Except "Next Year" never seemed to come. The Dodgers had replaced the Giants as New York's 2nd team, but the Yankees had already replaced the Giants as New York's 1st team. The Dodgers fell 2 games short of the Pennant in 1942. Then came World War II. MacPhail left, and St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey was hired as team president and GM. Rickey and Pfizer executive John L. Smith bought out the Ebbets and Ed McKeever trusts, and were now each a 25 percent owner, as were the Mulveys and Brooklyn Trust.

Meanwhile, Giants ownership had been fairly steady. John T. Brush, who rebuilt the Polo Grounds, died in 1912. He left the team to his son-in-law, Harry Hempstead. In 1919, Hempstead sold the team to Charles Stoneham. In 1936, Stoneham died, leaving the Giants to his son, Horace Stoneham.

In the 1st season back from The War, 1946, the Dodgers finished in a tie with the Cardinals, but lost a Playoff. In 1947, the Dodgers desegregated baseball with Jackie Robinson, and won the Pennant -- but lost the Series to the Yankees. After missing out in 1948, they won again in 1949, but lost the Series to the Yankees. In 1950, they lost the Pennant on the final day of the season, to the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 1942, Brooklyn Trust chose one of its lawyers to manage its quarter share of the Dodgers. They could have chosen William A. Shea -- yes, the man for whom Shea Stadium would be named, as the team that played there would have been impossible without him -- but he was a Giants fan. So they chose someone who cared not at all about baseball, only money: Walter Francis O'Malley.

In 1950, John L. Smith died. O'Malley saw his chance. He bought Brooklyn Trust's share. He bought Smith's share. He knew he could intimidate the Mulvey's into approving whatever he did. All he had to do was buy Rickey out. While they had a few things in common, Rickey and O'Malley hated each other's guts, and Rickey knew the game was up, but, also being a clever lawyer, found a way to make O'Malley pay through the nose. If there's one thing a rich man values more than money, it's control, and O'Malley paid the price to get 75 percent ownership, and 100 percent control, of the Dodgers.

*

So, going into the 1951 season, the Dodgers were financially secure. But, competitively speaking, there were successful, not not enough: They'd already had 3 recent World Series losses, were 0-5 in the Series overall, and had 3 nasty near-misses for the Pennant.

But they were loaded: 1st baseman Gil Hodges was a slugger and a fine fielder; 2nd baseman Robinson excelled in all aspects of the game, especially baserunning; shortstop Harold "Pee Wee" Reese and 3rd baseman Billy Cox were slick fielders; center fielder Edwin "Duke" Snider might have been the best all-around player in the NL; right fielder Carl Furillo was a terrific hitter with a great arm; catcher Roy Campanella was a slugger who was the best game-caller in the NL; and the starting rotation was strong with Don Newcombe, Elwin "Preacher" Roe, Carl Erskine and Ralph Branca. Oddly, they could never settle on a regular left fielder.

The Giants? The infield was Whitey Lockman, Eddie Stanky, Alvin Dark and Hank Thompson; the outfield was Monte Irvin, Bobby Thomson and Don Mueller; the catcher was Wes Westrum; and the rotation was Sal Maglie, Larry Jansen, Jim Hearn and Dave Koslo. Pretty much every regular was good, and Irvin and Maglie were genuine stars. But, aside from Irvin in left field, I don't think most Dodger fans would have swapped players with the Giants at any position.

The players on each team didn't like each other. To make matters weirder, the Giants manager was the man who had managed the Dodgers to the Pennant in 1941, Leo Durocher, a nasty man in so many ways, including his arguments with umpires that got him nicknamed "Leo the Lip."

He had been suspended for the entire 1947 season by Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler, for what he called "conduct detrimental to the game." It was Burt Shotton who managed the Dodgers to that Pennant. Durocher was reinstated for 1948, but Rickey, a moralist, was tired of Durocher and his amorality.

When Horace Stoneham fired Mel Ott, one of the Giants' most popular players ever but a poor manager, he called Rickey, and asked if he could hire Durocher. One man's trash being another man's treasure, Rickey told Durocher about the idea, and Durocher, knowing that Rickey was a cheapskate and Stoneham would pay him more, went for it. Dodger fans considered him a traitor, and hated him above all other Giant personnel, not knowing that it wasn't his idea.

Shotton returned, and managed the Dodgers through the 1950 season, winning the 1949 Pennant. He was replaced by Charlie Dressen for 1951.

The Dodgers started the season just 11-10, but then won 29 of their next 39, and led the NL by 7 games on June 23. Early on, the Giants had an 11-game losing streak, for a 2-12 start. Then they won 9 out of 11, but it still took them until May 28, Memorial Day, to get back to .500, at 20-20. An 8-1 run got them to 35-27 on June 19, 5 games behind the Dodgers.

Part of the reason the Giants got going is that, on May 25, they called up a black kid from an industrial town outside Birmingham, Alabama, who was tearing up Class AAA ball: A center fielder named Willie Mays. With Hank Thompson not hitting, Bobby Thomson was moved to 3rd base, and Mays turned out to be the NL Rookie of the Year.

But the Dodgers went 10-2 from June 30 to July 13, to lead the NL by 9 games. Then they went 1-6 after the All-Star Break, but still led by 7 1/2. On July 20, they started a 10-game winning streak, and were 9 1/2 up when it ended on July 31. On August 8, they swept a doubleheader from the Giants. The next day, they made it a 3-game sweep.

Someone on the Dodgers declared, "The Giants is dead." The quote hit the newspapers. While grammatically incorrect, it sure seemed accurate: On August 11, the Giants were 13 1/2 games behind the Dodgers, and the rest of the NL was behind the Giants. It looked like another Yankees vs. Dodgers "Subway Series."

A funny thing happened on the way to the Subway Series. The Giants started cheating. They had a sign-stealing system at the Polo Grounds, and it allowed them to go 50-12 down the stretch, including 20-3 at home.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers coasted: From September 9 to 28, they went just 7-11, and fell into a tie for 1st place, blowing their huge lead. On the scheduled last day of the regular season, they needed to beat the Phillies in Philadelphia just to force a best-2-out-of-3 Playoff for the Pennant against the Giants, and while it took them 14 innings, and both fielding and hitting heroics by Robinson, they did it.

*

There was a coin toss to decide home-field advantage. The Dodgers won. But Dressen chose to open the series at home, assuming that taking an early lead would give them a psychological edge for the rest of the matchups at the Polo Grounds. So Game 1 of the Playoff was set for October 1, at Ebbets Field. Hearn outpitched Branca, who gave up a home run to Thomson in the 4th inning, a foreshadowing. Irvin also homered, and the Giants won, 3-1. So much for Dressen's strategy. 

Game 2 was played on October 2, at the Polo Grounds. The Dodgers bounced back in a big way, with home runs from Robinson, Hodges, Andy Pafko (finally, they found a left fielder) and Rube Walker, who was catching in place of Campanella, who was injured, ending a season in which he would be named the NL's Most Valuable Player. (Home runs on the season: Hodges 40, Pafko 30, Robinson 19, Walker... 4.) Clem Labine pitched a 6-hit shutout, and the Dodgers beat the Giants 10-0.

Dressen stuck with Labine the whole way, making it next to impossible for him to pitch in the deciding game the next day, also at the Polo Grounds. My grandmother was a Dodger fan from Queens, and she told me, "That Dressen was so stupid!"

October 3, 1951. It was cloudy that Wednesday, and there was a threat of rain, so only 34,320 fans came to the 55,987-seat Harlem Horseshoe. Among those in attendance, sitting next to each other, were a pair of Dodger fans: A comedian from Brooklyn named Jackie Gleason, and a singer from Hoboken, New Jersey named Frank Sinatra.

Also in attendance were 2 of the American League Champion Yankees: Campanella's main competitor for the title of the best catcher in baseball, Lawrence "Yogi" Berra; and right fielder Hank Bauer. Watching on television on NBC, with Ernie Harwell as the announcer, was Mays' main competitor for the title of the most exciting rookie in baseball, center fielder Mickey Mantle.

Mickey had asked Yogi who they should root for. Yogi said they should root for the Giants, because the Polo Grounds seated nearly twice as many people as Ebbets Field, meaning the gate receipts for the World Series would be larger if their opponents were the Giants, which meant that the World Series shares for the players would be higher. The Yankees would get almost as much money from losing to the Giants as they would from beating the Dodgers.

At 1:30 PM, home plate umpire Lou Jorda signaled to Giant starter Sal Maglie, and said, "Play ball!" Maglie struck Furillo out. He walked Reese and Snider. Robinson singled Pee Wee home. 1-0 Dodgers. Pafko grounded out, and Hodges popped up. In the bottom of the 1st, Stanky flied out, Dark popped up, and Mueller lined out.

Top of the 2nd inning: Cox grounded out. Walker struck out. Newcombe popped up. Bottom of the 2nd: Irvin grounded out. Lockman and Thomson singled, but Mays lined out. 1-0 Dodgers.

Top of the 3rd inning: Furillo grounded out. Reese popped up. Snider struck out. Bottom of the 3rd: Westrum walked. Maglie bunted him over. Stanky grounded into a double play. 1-0 Dodgers.

Top of the 4th inning: Robinson grounded out. Pafko struck out. Hodges grounded out. Bottom of the 4th: Dark popped up. Mueller lined out. Irvin grounded out. 1-0 Dodgers.

Top of the 5th inning: Cox bunted for a hit. Walker struck out. Newcombe grounded out. Furillo flied out. Bottom of the 5th: Lockman grounded out. Thomson doubled. Mays struck out. Westrum was intentionally walked, to set up a force play. Maglie struck out. Still 1-0 Dodgers.

Top of the 6th inning: Reese struck out. Snider singed, but was caught stealing. Robinson walked. Pafko popped up. Bottom of the 6th: Stanky flied out. Dark grounded out. Mueller popped up. Still 1-0 Dodgers.

Top of the 7th: Hodges popped up. Cox grounded out. Walker singled. Newcombe grounded out. But as the Dodgers took the field for the bottom of the 7th, Newcombe was beginning his 270th inning of the season. He gave up a double to Irvin. Lockman grounded into a fielder's choice that advanced Irvin to 3rd. Thomson hit a sacrifice fly that scored Irvin with the tying run.

A mound conference was convened. Dressen, Walker, and the entire Dodger infield surrounded Newcombe. This included Jackie Robinson. He was the 1st black man to play in the major leagues since 1884. Newcombe was the 2nd black man to become a successful major league pitcher, after Leroy "Satchel" Paige with the Cleveland Indians.

Jackie knew that, if Newk couldn't get the job done, people would say a black pitcher couldn't do it. Newk had already given up what would now be called a walkoff home run to Tommy Henrich in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series, and the home run to Dick Sisler that won the 1950 Pennant for the Phillies. To use another phrase that wasn't yet in use, Newk "couldn't win the big one."

New York Herald Tribune sportswriter Roger Kahn, Jackie's best friend in the media, once wrote that he could converse with Eleanor Roosevelt and curse with Leo Durocher in equal measure. In a high-pitched voice that belied his imposing physical form and his massive moral authority, Jackie told Newk, "You keep pitching until your fucking arm falls off."

The batter was Mays. Lockman was still on 1st. Newk, at this point running on fumes, pitching on brains and guts, got Mays to ground to Dark, who started an inning-ending double play. It was 1-1.

Top of the 8th: Top of the order up. Furillo lined back to Maglie. Then, as if they had sensed his courage, or maybe as if they didn't want to incur Robinson's wrath, the Dodgers began to pick Newcombe up. Reese singled. Snider singled Reese over to 3rd. Maglie threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners, scoring Reese. With 1st base open, Robinson was walked. No good: Pafko singled Snider home. Hodges popped up. But Cox singled Robinson home. Walker grounded out. 4-1 Brooklyn.

In the years to come, Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto became a broadcaster, and joked about leaving the game early, to get home to New Jersey, over the George Washington Bridge. "I gotta get over that bridge!" he would tell his broadcast partners. Well, at this point, thinking the Dodgers had the game in the bag, Berra and Bauer left, got in the car, and headed for the Bridge.

Bottom of the 8th: The 3-run cushion helped settle Newcombe down. He struck out Bill Rigney, who was pinch-hitting for Westrum. Hank Thompson was sent up to pinch-hit for Maglie, and grounded out. And Stanky popped up. End of 8: Dodgers 4, Giants 1. Dem Bums needed 3 more outs.

Top of the 9th. Larry Jansen was now pitching for the Giants, and Ray Noble replaced Westrum as catcher. Dressen should have pinch-hit for Newcombe. He didn't, possibly because it was already known that, for a pitcher, Newcombe was a very good hitter. But he grounded out. So did Furillo. And Reese flew out.

Bottom of the 9th. It is an inning we are still talking about, 75 years later. The Dodgers went into it with a 4-1 lead. Just 3 more outs, allowing 2 or fewer runs, and they would face the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series, the next day, at Yankee Stadium.

But Newcombe was gassed. He allowed a single to Dark. He allowed a single to Mueller. Now, the tying run was at the plate, in the form of a future Hall-of-Famer, Irvin. Newk got him to pop up to Hodges. But Lockman doubled to left, scoring Dark, and sending Mueller to 3rd.

There was a break in the action, because there was a sprain in Mueller's ankle. He was replaced on 3rd base by Clint Hartung.

Dressen knew he finally had to take Newcombe out. He got on the bullpen phone. Clyde Sukeforth, the pitching coach, previously the scout who found Robinson, answered. Dressen could choose between Erskine and Branca, 2 righthanders, to face, potentially, the next 2 batters, both righthanded, Thomson and Mays.

As soon as Sukeforth picked up the phone, Erskine threw a pitch in the dirt. Sukeforth told Dressen this, and told him that Branca was pitching well. Dressen said, "Send in Branca."

The announcement came over the public address system, "Now coming in to pitch for Brooklyn, Number 13, Ralph Branca." Number 13, the traditional unlucky number. Thomson was a good hitter against a fastball, but only against a fastball. And Branca had only a fastball. And he'd already given up a home run to Thomson in Game 1 of the Playoff.

Red Barber was broadcasting the game for the Dodgers, over WMGM, 1050 on the AM dial. My grandmother, then living with my grandfather and mother on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, knew the details. She knew that Branca was the wrong choice in a big situation, especially to face Thomson. She turned off the radio. John Sterling was then 13 years old, and living on the Upper East Side. In his long career as the Yankees' radio announcer, he liked to say, "You just can't predict baseball." That day, Grandma predicted baseball. Because, in this case, it wasn't that hard to do.

Thomson was at bat. Mays was on deck. He may have been Willie Mays, but he was 20, a rookie, and, by his own later admission, very nervous. There's no guarantee that Mays would have done anything good. Had Branca gotten Thomson out, Mays could have made the last out.

Thomson stepped into the box. Branca's 1st pitch was a strike call on the outside corner. It was 3:58 PM. Russ Hodges had the call on the Giants' radio station, WMCA, 570 AM:

Bobby hitting at .292. He's had a single and a double, and he drove in the Giants' first run with a long fly to center. Brooklyn leads it, 4–2. Hartung down the line at third, not taking any chances. Lockman with not too big of a lead at second, but he'll be runnin' like the wind if Thomson hits one.

Branca throws. 

There's a long drive, it's gonna be, I believe... (dramatic pause)

The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! (Three seconds of crowd noise)

Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the Pennant! And they're goin' crazy! They're goin' crazy! Hey-oh! (Seven seconds of nothing but crowd noise)

I don't believe it! I don't believe it! I do not believe it! Bobby Thomson hit a line drive into the lower deck of the left-field stands! And this blamed place is goin' crazy! The Giants! Horace Stoneham has got a winner! The Giants won it, by a score of 5-4, and they're pickin' Bobby Thomson up, and carryin' him off the field!

More than any home run, more than Bill Mazeroski's in 1960, more than Carlton Fisk's in 1975, more than Bucky Dent's in 1978, more than Kirk Gibson's in 1988, more than Joe Carter's in 1993, more than any hit by David Ortiz in 2004, this is the most talked-about home run in baseball history. The only other serious contender for the title is Babe Ruth's apparent called shot in the 1932 World Series.

It was Thomson's 32nd homer of the season. The last one may have been the shortest in physical distance, maybe 320 feet. But it has traveled the longest in memory.

Sinatra said that Gleason was so drunk and distraught that he threw up on Frank's shoes. Asked on the 50th Anniversary about having left early, Berra said, "I guess we should have stayed." It would be 1973, and he would be the manager of a team which did not exist in 1951, before Yogi delivered his most famous quote, which would have been appropriate on that cloudy long-ago Wednesday afternoon: "It ain't over 'til it's over."

There's a picture taken from center field, as Thomson touched home plate. Jackie Robinson was standing behind 2nd base, making sure Thomson did, in fact, touch the plate. Was he thinking about the moment in 1908, at 2nd base, on that plot of land (if not at that stadium, which replaced the former Polo Grounds in 1911), when Fred Merkle failed to touch the base, costing the Giants the Pennant?

It didn't matter: Thomson did touch all the bases, including the plate. On the film, Robinson can be seen ripping the cap off his head. He made the long walk, all the way back to the blockhouse in center field, with the Giants' clubhouse on one side and the visiting team's on the other.

There's another photo, showing Branca sprawled on the steps up to the clubhouse, with former Dodger star, now coach, Harry "Cookie" Lavagetto, sitting next to him, a cigarette in his hand.

A priest was in the Dodger locker room, Father Pat Rowley. Branca asked him, "Why me?" Rowley told him, "Because God knew your faith would be strong enough to bear this cross." Rowley was there because his cousin was Branca's girlfriend, Ann Mulvey. Who was also the daughter of Dodger part-owners John and Dearie Mulvey. Ralph and Ann were soon married. Branca lost the Pennant, but got the girl.

The game, and the Giants' comeback to get there, are called "The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff." They could have been expected to flop in the World Series against the Yankees, having expended so much emotion. Instead, they almost kept it going, taking 2 of the 1st 3 games. But the Yankees took the next 3 for the title.

Taking a line from "Concord Hymn," Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 poem about the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775 that started the American Revolution, Thomson's homer became known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World." 

The day after the game, October 4, 1951, the New York Daily News ran a front-page game recap under the headline, "The Shot Heard 'Round the Baseball World"; and a New York Times editorial that same day called Thomson's homer "the home run heard round the world." According to baseball historian Jules Tygiel, "These two phrases merged in the popular memory," and the Thomson blast became "The Shot Heard 'Round the World."

Indeed, it was, literally, heard around the world: American troops, fighting in the Korean War, and stationed in various bases in Europe and Asia, and on ships at sea, heard it on Armed Forces Radio. So did writer George Plimpton, a Giants fan studying at Cambridge University in England.

Giant fans were happier about this than they were about winning the World Series 3 years later, because it was against the hated Dodgers. Dodger fans were more crushed by this than they were about losing any World Series to the Yankees, because they hated the Giants more. And, 75 years later, Dodger fans now elderly are still hearing about it.

Now it is done. Now the story ends. And there is no way to tell it. The art of fiction is dead. Reality has strangled invention. Only the utterly impossible, the inexpressibly fantastic, can ever be plausible again.
-- Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith, in the next day's New York Herald Tribune. If Red wasn't the greatest sportswriter ever, this paragraph certainly shows why he's a contender for that title.

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The Dodgers did recover, at least competitively. They won the Pennant in 1952. They lost the World Series to the Yankees. They won the Pennant in 1953. They lost the World Series to the Yankees. The Giants won another Pennant in 1954, and beat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, due in large part to the Game 1 heroics of a catch in the 8th inning by Mays and a walkoff pinch-hit home run in the 10th inning by James "Dusty" Rhodes. It would be the team's last until 2010, as they developed a habit of painful close calls similar to those that the Dodgers had faced.

Finally, in 1955, after going 0-7 in World Series play, 0-5 against the Yankees, "Next Year" finally came for Brooklyn. The Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series, thanks to a great catch by Sandy Amoros -- a left fielder -- and a shutout by Johnny Podres in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium. They won another Pennant in 1956, but the Yankees, needing revenge over the Dodgers for the 1st time, got it.

After the 1957 season, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. The move was made by O'Malley, who wanted a bigger and better stadium, and wasn't getting it from New York City. He needed another team in California, to save money on travel costs. Giants owner Stoneham, as unhappy with the condition of the Polo Grounds and its neighborhood as O'Malley was with the size of Ebbets Field and the condition of its neighborhood, was going to move the team to Minneapolis, where their top farm team was. When O'Malley suggested San Francisco, Stoneham went for it. The rivalry went to the West Coast, and while they're now 425 miles apart, it has been every bit as nasty as it was when the gap was 13 miles.

Back in New York, the teams' bereaved fans were united in 1962, by a new team, the New York Mets, whose fans, those old enough to remember the Giants and Dodgers as New York teams and not, hated the Yankees every bit as much as the older fans among them hated each other.

Ebbets Field hosted "midget auto" races for 2 years, and was torn down in 1960. The Polo Grounds hosted a Heavyweight Championship fight between Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson, then became the home of the AFL's New York Titans from 1960 to 1963 (they became the Jets in 1963), and the home of the Mets in 1962 and '63. It was torn down in 1964, just days before its replacement as the Mets' and Jets' home, Shea Stadium, opened. The same demolition crew that tore down Ebbets Field tore down the Polo Grounds, with the same wrecking ball, painted to look like a baseball.

The Dodgers have since won the World Series in 1959, 1963 (over the Yankees), 1965, 1981 (over the Yankees), 1988, 2020, 2024 (over the Yankees) and 2025; and won Pennants but lost the World Series in 1966, 1974, 1977 (to the Yankees), 1978 (to the Yankees), 2017 and 2018.

The Giants won Pennants in 1962 (history repeating itself, a Playoff won over the Dodgers, although there was no dramatic home run, and then they lost the World Series to the Yankees), 1989 and 2002, before winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014. And there have been times from 1962 onward that the Giants have spoiled Playoff berths for the Dodgers, and the Dodgers have done it for the Giants.

In 2014, Travis Ishikawa hit a bottom-of-the-9th home run to win the NL Championship Series for the Giants, echoing Thomson's homer. But it was against the St. Louis Cardinals, not the Dodgers; and it was in Game 5, not a deciding Game 7. Fox broadcaster Joe Buck used the phrase "The Giants win the Pennant!" only once. 

The rivalry continues: In 2021, the Giants won 107 games, winning the National League Western Division, while the Dodgers won 106, to reach the NL Wild Card Game. They won it, and faced the Giants in the NL Division Series. It went to a deciding Game 5 in San Francisco, and a 9th inning run gave the Dodgers a 2-1 win and the series, although they lost the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves.

Branca, a native of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York, eventually found out about the Giants' cheating, and was upset about it. Thomson always claimed he never saw a signal about what pitch was coming. He didn't have to: He knew that Branca only had a fastball.

Nevertheless, Branca and Thomson became friends, and often did autograph sessions at memorabilia shows together.

Thomson, born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Staten Island (hence his nickname, "The Staten Island Scot"), died in 2010. He was 86. He was cremated, and there is no gravesite. Branca died in 2016, at 90, and was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, the same cemetery as Babe Ruth and Billy Martin.

Willie Mays, who became one of the greatest players who ever lived, was the last surviving player from the game, living until June 18, 2024 -- 73 years, 8 months and 15 days after the game.

But the Bobby Thomson Game, and the Shot Heard 'Round the World that won it, will live forever. Indeed, some people consider this the greatest baseball game of all time. In 1981, baseball historian John Thorn published Baseball's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

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October 3, 1951 was a Wednesday afternoon. There were no other games in any other sports, so there were no other scores on this historic day. But it was a historic day in baseball for another reason, although that wouldn't be known for many years to come: Dave Winfield, who would be elected to the Hall of Fame, was born on this day, in St. Paul, Minnesota.