Would it seem silly to you to devote an entire book that showed a particular baseball was not the one hit by Bobby Thomson in the 1951 playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
That how I felt when I read this piece in The New Daily News on Miracle Ball: My Search for the Shot Heard ‘Round the World by Brien Biegel.
Biegel embarked on a two-year quest that helped him recover from his devastating emotional crisis – and with the help of the Daily News, he solved a mystery that has gnawed at collectors and baseball fans for decades: What happened to the Ralph Branca fastball that Thomson turned into the most dramatic home run in the history of baseball?
In this case, it’s not the finished product, it’s the process that’s the bigger story, at least to me:
Fifty-five years later, pushed by a loving if not eccentric father, Brian Biegel turned the Thomson ball into a personal crusade. The Daily News played an important role: A four-page 2006 story on Biegel’s quest generated important leads, and photographer Susan Watts, a friend of Biegel’s, introduced him to the forensic detectives who helped him solve the mystery. Perhaps the biggest contribution came from photographer Hank Olen, whose famous “Pafko at the Wall” photograph unlocked the mystery of the Thomson ball.
Jack Biegel, meanwhile, says he’s bursting with pride because his son overcame his depression and put together a compelling book.
is available on Amazon.com,
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