Miracle Ball (New York Baseball Giants)

Miracle Ball

By Brian Biegel

Isn’t it time baseball had a positive story to lift the dark clouds of steroids and scandals hovering above the national pastime? Especially in New York, where TV, talk-radio, and newspapers have polluted us with reports about cheaters such as A-rod, Petite, and Clemens? No Mets yet…fingers crossed.

Well, the story illustrated in the new book Miracle Ball (available everywhere May 12) is the perfect antidote to a baseball world beleaguered with bad press. For it not only combines the elements of Major League Baseball, its fans and the history of the game, but it also features the uplifting – some would even say miraculous – account of a father and son – both Mets fans - whose lifelong bond is strengthened by an iconic moment in baseball lore that occurred nearly sixty years ago.

We’re talking, of course, about “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” – more specifically, the actual iconic home run ball that's been missing since 1951. There’ve been some precious baseball artifacts that have gone missing over the years, but the NY Giants converted third baseman Bobby Thomson’s baseball is tops on any list – no disrespect to Kirk Gibson (and Vince Scully), or Bill Mazeroski.

Most baseball fans are familiar with the scene, likely told to them by their dad. If not, here’s an excerpt from Miracle Ball to set it up for you:

“The sun hung over the first-base side of the Polo Grounds, reflecting off the apartment buildings that lined Harlem River Drive and onto the open end of the stadium behind the left field stands. It was October 3, 1951. The clock in center field read 3:58.

The details of the play itself are familiar to most baseball fans. Branca had Thomson down in the count 0-1, the result of a called strike right down the middle. It was the bottom of the ninth. Two men on base. The Giants trailed the Dodgers by two runs in the last game of a three-game playoff series. The winner would advance to the World Series against the New York Yankees. Out of the windup, Branca threw a fastball, high and tight. But this time Thomson, the lanky outfielder-turned-third-baseman, was ready. He pulled the pitch to left field—a sinking line drive.

The fans in the lower portion of section 35 followed the flight of the ball. A photo captured the moment perfectly. There was an overweight, middle-aged man in a white t-shirt and a black jacket in the first row. Next to him was a buzz cut teenager with thick-rimmed eyeglasses. A row above them stood a man with a handlebar mustache and a fedora. In the fourth row, a bushy haired man stood with his arms stretched above his head and his mouth wide open.

The crowd’s loyalties were evenly divided: The Dodgers fans prayed that the ball would somehow find its way into left fielder Andy Pafko’s mitt; the Giants fans prayed that it wouldn’t. The teams’ rivalry—the oldest in professional sports—dated back all the way to the 19th century, but it had never seen a moment like this.

The prayers of the home team’s fans were answered: Thomson had hit a home run; the Giants won the pennant. Thomson’s blast became known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”

As for the ball itself, that’s been a mystery ever since—one that every baseball historian in the country thought would never be solved. Just after the ball cleared the wall, it bounced out of a fan’s glove and ricocheted seven feet to the left—straight into the hands of a person who would ensure that its fate would not be discovered for more than 50 years.”

The subjects in this book are colorful and compelling. What’s more, the story itself is utterly unique and unprecedented. Soon every sports page and baseball website in America will be sharing the news of the person who walked out of the Polo Grounds that day with the most storied baseball in the history of the sport.

While Miracle Ball will likely encapsulate any baseball fan, it also has the kind of touching narrative that makes even the non-sports-fan become engrossed in the book. It’s a story about family, baseball history, and an utterly unique quest for a famous baseball. There’s also a component of a person overcoming debilitating mental illness - all through the prism of baseball and parenting.

Present in the background through the entire book is the memorable event, which catapulted the NY Giants into baseball lore and crushed the hearts of Brooklyn Dodgers fans from Flatbush Avenue to Ocean Parkway.

This from JEREMY SCHAAP, New York Times bestselling author of Cinderella Man and Triumph:

“The adventure documented in Miracle Ball is ample evidence that Biegel is the Magellan of literary searchers. But Miracle Ball isn’t just about the Journey. What Biegel also captures are the dynamics of the relationships between fathers and sons, between Americans and their national pastime, between history and mythology. Miracle Ball is a poignant, funny, and important addition to the baseball canon.”

Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard ‘Round the World

AVAILABLE IN BOOK STORES AND ONLINE MAY 12

www.metspolice.com

The Mets Police at www.metspolice.com