It was fifty years ago today…

(This article appeared on Purebaseball.com Oct. 3, 2001)

<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=145,height=216,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/1951.jpg”><img title=”1951″ height=”223″ alt=”1951″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/1951.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a> 1951: When Giants Played the Game, by Kerry Keene. Sports Publishing Inc., $16.95.

…to paraphrase from the Beatles.

One of the classic confrontations in sports history took place on October 3, 1951. Thomson and Branca. Two names as inimitably linked as Bonnie and Clyde, Stanley and Livingston, Hekyll and Jekyll. Their face-off in the final playoff game is considered one of the most dramatic moments in all of sports history.

Looking back over the course of the national pastime since the beginning of the 20th century, its remarkable to see how often years ending in “01” included truly special events. For example, the American League began operations in 1901. CyYoung earned the last of his 511 victories in 1901, which also saw the christening of the famous Polo Grounds. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis became the first Commissioner of Baseball in 1921 and wasted no time in casting “eight men out.” In 1931, Babe Ruth socked his 600th homer.

DiMaggio constructed his 56-game hitting streak and Williams hit .406 in 1941. Roger Maris broke the Bambino’s record in 1961, thanks in part to the first expansion, which took place that season in the American League.

The first World Series night game, much to baseball’s chagrin, took place in 1971, as well as one of baseball’s worst trades: the Mets’ Nolan Ryan for four California Angels. The player’s strike of 1981, which mandated a split-season format to determine playoff participants. Twenty years after “the trade,” Ryan, by then pitching for the Texas Rangers, tossed his seventh no hitter and Rickey Henderson became the all-time stolen base leader — on the same day!

This year holds the possibility for a few historic events as Barry Bonds tries to break Mark McGwire’s single season home run record and the Mariners go for the all-time win mark. Kerry Keene recollects the magic of the 1951 season in the appropriately-titled 1951: When Giants Played the Game. While the largest part of the book rightly concerns itself with “the shot heard round the world”; it also marks the comings (Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and goings (DiMaggio) of future Hall of Famers (as well as the ultimate departure by Eddie Collins, Harry Heilmann and Shoeless Joe Jackson, all of whom passed away during the year).

Baseball also celebrated the 50th and 75th anniversaries, respectively, of the American and National Leagues. Other notable events included a Yankees “three-peat”; World Series victory; the ouster of “Happy” Chandler as Commissioner; and, of course, the debut (and finale) of the diminutive Eddie Gaedel as a major league player.

Most of the events included in 1951 have been told before. We have often read of the eerily similar difficulties of Mantle and Mays as rookies, but Keene manages to put on interesting spins. Some of the events are relatively less earth-shattering than others, but for every Thomsonesque home run there are dozens of the routine games that make up a season. His chapter on the machinations behind the firing of Chandler is particularly detailed, but his take on the increasing role of black players is somewhat skimpy.

<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=143,height=216,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/1960.jpg”></a> Keene took the same overview approach in 1960: The Last Pure Season (SPI), which examined the big leagues in the final year before that slippery slope of expansion began to dilute the talent pool. He also co-authored <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=167,height=254,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/babeinred.jpg”></a> The Babe in Red Stockings: An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth With the Boston Red Sox, 1914-1919 (Sagamore), a fascinating look at the legend as a pitching star in his pre-pinstripe years, full of newspaper accounts, pictures, and cartoons of the era.

Many articles and books will laud Thomson’s accomplishments as writers and publishers jump on the bandwagon (see Joshua Prager’s article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year for the expose on possible sign-stealing which forewarned the Giants of Dodgers’ pitches). Keene’s 1951 is a reminder that a lot of ingredients go into the mix of a full season.