Thomson's Home Run Legendary But Aaron's Is No. 1 In Baseball Lore

A home run that won a pennant nearly 59 years ago was reborn this week, due, ironically, to the death of the man who hit it.

Across the past couple of days, a generation or two of American sports fans who barely remember the 1970s, much less the early 1950s, have become acquainted with Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World," the home run that lifted the New York Giants to a historic comeback over their despised rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and into the 1951 World Series.

The grainy, black-and-white footage that accompanied the news of Thomson's death Monday night at the age of 86 crystallizes a moment in time when American sports revolved around baseball and baseball revolved around New York.

After announcer Russ Hodges deliriously screamed "The Giants win the pennant!" four times in a row as Thomson circled the bases, the Giants went out and lost the World Series in six games to the New York Yankees.

It's such a magical, whimsical, captivating moment that it makes complete sense that many fans and sports historians say it's the greatest, most important home run ever hit. Those who were born at the time not only believe that, they've been convincing future generations by passing down their stories about where they were when Thomson stepped to the plate. In many cases, they were watching on their family's first television set.

Theirs is a laudable argument, but from our vantage point today, looking back over the past six decades, knowing what we now know about Major League Baseball, I believe there's one home run that supersedes Thomson's, and that's Hank Aaron's 715th on April 8, 1974.