Sadly, the promise of Chalmers’ early pitching career went unfulfilled. For the next six seasons, he was beset by recurring arm miseries, alternating brief stretches of hurling artistry with longer periods of inconsistency and extended periods of complete idleness. At the end of the 1916 season the Phillies gave up on Chalmers and released him to a minor-league team. Months later, his professional playing career was over. For the remainder of his life, Chalmers lived out of the limelight, a quiet family man working as an insurance claims adjuster.

George Chalmers1 was something of a baseball rarity, one of only seven major-league players born in Scotland. He arrived on June 7, 1888, in Aberdeen, a Doric-speaking seaport located hard by the North Sea in northeastern Scotland,2 the youngest of three sons born to George Chalmers Sr. (born 1852) and his wife, Annie (née Peter, born 1860).3 In 1890 the Chalmers family emigrated to New York City, settling in upper west side Manhattan where George Sr. found work as a carpenter. Son George attended school through the eighth grade and then joined the local workforce, first as a bellboy and messenger at the posh Imperial Hotel, thereafter as a receiving clerk for the Manhattan Warehouse and Storage Company.4 During the winter, Chalmers made side money as a motorcycle-riding pacemaker for bicycle races conducted at Madison Square Garden.5

Like myriad others, Chalmers began playing baseball on city sandlots as a boy. By the time he reached his late teens, Chalmers was exclusively a pitcher and hurling for various New York area teams like the All-Hudsons, the Bradford Field Club, the Hobokens, and the Englewood Field Club, reportedly making $25-$30 per game.6 He also played in upstate New York (Red Hook) and Connecticut (Danbury). George even reportedly pitched some games for the Manhattan College nine.7 Despite success in amateur, college, and semipro ranks, Chalmers had difficulty breaking into Organized Baseball. New York Highlanders skipper Clark Griffith reportedly refused him a tryout in early 1908.8 It was also reported that while Chalmers had been signed by the Detroit Tigers, he was never given a trial by the club.9 Finally, the Scranton Miners of the middle-tier minor New York State League decided to give Chalmers a chance, inking him for the 1909 season.

During his semipro days, Chalmers had been nicknamed Dode, a handle that evolved into Dut “for no apparent reason when he became a professional.”10 The nickname stuck. Once in harness for Scranton, Dut Chalmers quickly moved to the forefront of circuit hurlers. On May 29 he pitched a two-hit, 4-0 shutout against Binghamton. Two days later, he dazzled the Wilkes-Barre Barons, blanking them 1-0 in 18 innings.11 Another 1-0 gem against Utica was registered by Chalmers 10 days thereafter.12 By midseason, Sporting Life was reporting that “major league scouts are eyeing Scranton’s star young pitcher, George Chalmers.”13 But the Scranton Miners were a bad club, and even a standout like Chalmers struggled to maintain a winning record. In the end, he finished 16-15 (.516) in 34 games14 for a last-place finisher that otherwise went 39-66 (.371).

Chalmers returned to Scranton in 1910, and by July he was “the pitching sensation of the New York State League.”15 His contract was then purchased by the National League Philadelphia Phillies for a reported $4,000.16 But under the sale terms, Chalmers would remain with Scranton until the conclusion of the NYS League season.17 Sporting Life described the Phillies’ new acquisition as possessed of “a good spitter and exceedingly good control and curves … [and] a fastball with a deceiving jump to it.”18 Within weeks of the transaction, Phillies manager Red Dooin put out the call for Chalmers to report, but with Scranton then in the thick of the NYS League pennant chase, the Miners declined to part with him prematurely.19 On September 15 Chalmers defeated Albany, 2-1, notching his league-leading 25th victory.20 He also posted the best winning percentage (.806) among circuit hurlers. In the estimation of the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, “not another pitcher comes close to George Chalmers as the New York State League’s star hurler, despite the rather nifty work by [Syracuse aces] Duggan and Alexander.”21

Joining the Phillies in late September, Chalmers was quickly sent into action, but was ill-treated by both sides in his major-league debut, a September 21 start against Cincinnati. The opposition touched up the newcomer for four runs on eight hits in four innings of work, although “many of the hits credited to the Reds were grounders that took bad bounds away from the innerworks quartet.”22 While Chalmers did himself no favors by walking four batters, the play of the Phillies’ defense was more detrimental, officially charged with four fielding errors but apparently deserving of more. In the view of Philadelphia beat writer Jim Nasium (Edgar Forrest Wolfe), “[T]he errors column in the scoring rules isn’t provided with sufficient elasticity to fully account for the Phillies shortcomings in the field during the innings that young Chalmers had to stand out there.”23 Still, a late-game rally propelled the Phillies to a 13-11 win, getting Chalmers off the hook in the process.

He was not so fortunate in his second start, being raked by Brooklyn in an 8-0 loss. Chalmers redeemed himself, however, in the season finale, in New York. After walking the first two batters he faced, Dut slammed the door, allowing only two more Giants baserunners in a masterly 6-1, two-hit triumph called after eight innings. The victory squared his Philadelphia record at 1-1, and restored Chalmers to a position of high regard with both club management and the baseball press. Indeed, “[O]ne or two scribes even declared that he is the best young right-hander that has broken into fast company since the debut of Christy Mathewson.”24

Over the winter, the Philadelphia North American, noting the praises sung by Phillies club president Horace Fogel and manager Dooin, observed that “no young pitcher has entered the league with better press notices” than George Chalmers.25 Shortly thereafter, the club reportedly rejected a $7,000 offer made by the Detroit Tigers for the release of their one-time chattel.26 Once spring training began, Chalmers pitched consistently well.27 Yet, when the regular season commenced, Dooin went with a three-man starting rotation composed of veterans Earl Moore and Jack Rowan plus rookie Grover Alexander.28 Chalmers was relegated to second-line duty. While on the sidelines, he benefited from the tutelage of veteran backstop Pat Moran, who persuaded Chalmers to abbreviate his long, swinging windup. The result was better command of Chalmers’ lively stuff – when he got the chance to use it.29

Employed fitfully in the early going, Chalmers eventually got a start against Brooklyn on May 4. He responded with a seven-hit, 6-0 shutout victory. More than a month would pass before he got another such opportunity, suffering a 5-0 loss to Cincinnati on June 6. By July, however, Chalmers had become a semi-regular member of the Phillies rotation and performed admirably. On July 29 he defeated Chicago, 4-3, to raise his personal record to 9-2. The following day, by-now staff ace Alexander registered his 21st victory, putting the (56-36) Phillies a full 20 games over the .500 mark and into the thick of the NL pennant chase. But from there, neither Chalmers nor Philadelphia could keep up the pace. By season’s close, Chalmers had slipped to 13-10, while a campaign-closing six-game losing streak left the (79-73) Phillies a distant fourth-place finisher to the league champion New York Giants.

Although his numbers paled in comparison to those of fellow rookie Alexander (28 wins, a 2.57 ERA, and 227 strikeouts in 367 innings pitched), Chalmers had had a decent freshman season. Over the winter, big things were again predicted for the 23-year-old, and club owner Fogel ensured that the Phillies would be the beneficiary, signing Chalmers to a handsome three-year contract, with a bonus clause for a 30-win season.30 But unbeknownst to all concerned, Chalmers’ best pitching was already behind him. The chronic arm trouble that would short-circuit Dut’s major-league career first surfaced during a postseason exhibition-game tour of Cuba by Phillies players. Chalmers later explained that “when he went to Cuba with the barnstormers, he felt a catch in his shoulder” that still had not disappeared when he arrived in Phillies camp for 1912 spring training.31 But arm problems had not been the only difficulty wrought by the Caribbean sojourn. Just getting back into the country had been a hassle for Chalmers. Although he thought of himself as a proud New Yorker, the young hurler was not yet, in fact, an American citizen, a matter that led to his temporary detention by immigration authorities at Key West.32 Immediately upon his release, Chalmers set about obtaining naturalized US citizenship.33

Chalmers’ arm was still aching when he arrived in spring camp. After he was diagnosed with a torn ligament in the throwing shoulder,34 Chalmers was placed on the shelf indefinitely. He finally got a start in the second game of a Decoration Day doubleheader against New York, losing 6-1. Several uneven performances later, Chalmers was sidelined again. This prompted impatient club owner Fogel to suspend the right-hander without pay “until he is condition to take his regular turn in the box.”35 But that would not come until September 4, when “our erstwhile reluctant pitcher”36 set down the first-place New York Giants on five hits, 4-2. A month later, Chalmers completed his brief season work with a route-going 11-2 triumph over the now pennant-winning Giants. In all, Dut had gone a disappointing 3-4 in only 57⅔ innings pitched, barely a quarter of the 208-plus frames that he had hurled the previous year. This led Fogel to grouse that Chalmers had cost him about $800 per game pitched, and to propose a never-adopted scheme to pay pitchers by the game, rather than the season.37

His roster spot largely guaranteed by the three-year contract that Fogel had given him, an optimistic Chalmers reported over the winter that he felt “like a two-year-old, and his shoulder now swings without a twinge.”38 However well his pitching wing may have felt, Chalmers had plainly lost stuff. In 26 appearances in 1913, he posted a dismal 3-10 log, with a Deadball Era-high 4.81 ERA, for a second-place (88-63) Phillies club. During the offseason, Chalmers rejected overtures from the newly arrived Federal League and returned to Philadelphia. But not for long. His arm miseries had resurfaced, and after Chalmers went 0-3 in three early-season games pitched, the Phillies released him unconditionally.39 Hopeful of continuing his career, Chalmers underwent $20-per-day electronic massage treatments and worked out at the Polo Grounds under the watchful eye of Giants manager John McGraw, a pitching reclamation specialist.40 But Chalmers pitched no more that season.

A seemingly recovered Dut Chalmers was brought South by McGraw in spring 1915 and pitched well in exhibition-game outings. With Rube Marquard regressing and longtime ace Christy Mathewson near done, the Giants needed pitching help. So Chalmers remained with the club as Opening Day came and went. But with his 21 roster spots all contract-committed, McGraw felt unable to sign Chalmers. The best he could offer him was a berth with the International League Jersey City Skeeters, managed by former Giants pitcher Hooks Wiltse.41 After a disappointed Chalmers had cleaned out his Polo Grounds locker, he encountered his friend and one-time mentor Pat Moran, now manager of the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. Having heard reports of Chalmers’ encouraging spring performance, Moran decided to take a chance on him. In fact, Moran put Chalmers in the box on April 21, the day after he had signed him – against the New York Giants, no less. Dut responded brilliantly, holding the Giants to two hits in a complete-game 6-1 victory. Used sparingly thereafter, Chalmers pitched well but with little luck, dropping a number of close decisions. A 5-4 win over Brooklyn on June 29 reversed his fortunes. From there on, Dut won six of his final nine decisions to finish at 8-9, with a career-best 2.48 ERA in 170⅓ innings pitched.

Behind the Triple Crown pitching of Grover Alexander (31 wins/1.22 ERA/241 strikeouts), the 90-62 Phillies captured their first National League pennant. But in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, the Phils did not hit (a .182 team BA). With Alexander having already pitched twice and Philadelphia behind two wins to one, Moran bypassed Al Demaree (14-11) and Eppa Rixey (11-12) and handed the ball for Game Four to Chalmers. Dut rewarded his manager’s confidence with a capable performance, scattering eight hits. But he was undone by the Phillies’ lack of offense, dropping a 2-1 decision to Red Sox righty Ernie Shore. The following day Boston rallied for a 5-4 victory to take the Series in five games.

The next month brought a happier occasion to the life of George Chalmers. On November 24, 1915, he and Brooklyn bookkeeper Elizabeth Ann Hechler were married at the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. In time, the birth of children George (born 1919) and Jean (1922) would complete the family.

Featured in an upbeat Baseball Magazine profile,42 Chalmers entered the 1916 season with bright hopes, only to see them dashed by the return of arm trouble. He appeared in only 12 games, going 1-4 in 53⅔ innings pitched, and sat out the last two months of the campaign. In certain quarters, the failure of Chalmers and former 21-game winner Erskine Mayer to perform at their 1915 levels was viewed as costing the 91-62 Phillies an encore NL pennant.43 After the season, the Phillies gave up on the oft-injured Chalmers, selling him to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.44 Although still only 28, George Chalmers’ major-league career was over, its early promise left unfulfilled. In seven seasons, all with the Philadelphia Phillies, he had posted an underwhelming 29-41 (.414) record, with a 3.41 ERA. In 646⅓ innings pitched, Dut had allowed 645 base-hits, striking out 290 batters while walking 279. A “fine, upstanding, intelligent young fellow with all the sturdy Scotch virtues,” Chalmers had been well-liked by his teammates and wished the best by them.45

Chalmers’ time in Kansas City was brief. He went 2-2 in seven games.46 His release by the Blues in late May of 1917 brought Chalmers’ professional baseball career to a close.47 By 1920 George was working as a boilermaker and living with his young family in The Bronx.48 Thereafter, he was employed for decades as a small-claims adjuster by various insurance companies. In his later years, Chalmers suffered from arteriosclerosis, and in June 1960 he suffered a stroke. Six weeks later, a second stroke proved fatal.49 He died at home in The Bronx on August 5, 1960. George “Dut” Chalmers was 72. Following funeral services, his remains were interred at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Queens, New York. Survivors included his wife, Elizabeth, and children, George and Jean.

Sources

Sources for the biographical detail recited herein include the George Chalmers file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; US and New York State census data; Chalmers family info posted on Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited below. Unless otherwise noted, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference and The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds. (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc., 2d ed. 1997).

Notes

Hugh Nicol was a New Year’s Baby, born on January 1, 1858, at Campsie in Stirlingshire, Scotland. The ninth of the 10 children of Mary MacColgan1 and Robert Nicol, he came to the United States with his parents in 1865. The family settled in Rockford, in northwestern Illinois. The 1870 Census records Robert as a laborer, Mary as keeping house, and no occupation for 23-year-old Eliza. At age 21 son Robert was a carpenter, 16-year-old Edward was a sash and blind maker, and 14-year-old James was working in a cotton mill. At age 12, Hugh was at school, as was his 10-year-old brother, Thomas. The four older children were not in the household at the time of the census.

Hugh must have learned baseball on the streets, backyards, or playgrounds of Rockford. During his teens he played baseball for various amateur clubs in his hometown. It is said that he was also skilled in gymnastics, swimming, rowing, and wrestling.2 He was to use his gymnastic and wrestling skills to augment his income during his career in professional baseball.

In 1879 Nicol started his professional career as a second baseman and outfielder for the Rockford White Stockings in the Northwestern League. He quickly advanced to the major leagues. He made his big-league debut at age 23 on May 3, 1881, for the Chicago White Stockings of the National League. After two seasons in the Windy City, he jumped to the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. During four years in St. Louis, Nicol established himself as a fan favorite, especially among young boys who thrilled to see a person of their own size playing major-league baseball. Nicol was not only a major-league player; he was a star. The boys adopted Little Nic as their hero, cheering every time he stepped to the plate. It was in the field, though, that he earned the most plaudits. He used his great speed to snare flies and line drives that would elude the grasp of most outfielders. According to the St. Louis Globe Democrat, Nicol seemed “very small, but he is quick as a cat and picks up and throws to the infield with great speed.”3 Sporting Life described his play enthusiastically: “He ranks as one of the crack right fielders of the country. He covers a great deal of territory, recovers the ball cleanly and rapidly, and is so accurate and swift a thrower that batsmen who hit into his territory cannot afford to lose time in reaching first base.”4

In each of his first two seasons in St. Louis, Nicol led the American Association in assists by an outfielder. In both 1884 and 1885 he led the circuit in total chances per game by an outfielder. Nicol’s popularity was enhanced by his showmanship. During one spring-training game the Missouri Republican reported that Nicol “tumbled and bounced about, turning summersaults and cart-wheels in a manner that would have done credit to one of Cole’s Arabs [a popular circus act.]”5

Nicol was not a great hitter. He never came close to leading the league in any hitting category. His best major-league batting average was .285 and his top on-base percentage was .341. Perhaps his best day at the plate came at an opportune time, on a September day in 1883 with the Browns chasing the Philadelphia club in the American Association pennant race. In six trips to the plate that day, Nicol “made five corking hits and as many runs. These latter were made by as daring and reckless base running as was ever witnessed. Twice the diminutive player dove face-first into home plate, touching it with his hand just ahead of the ball.”6

Little Nic’s heroics that autumn afternoon helped reduce the Browns’ deficit to 2½ games behind the Phillies. Chris von der Ahe’s boys couldn’t quite catch the Phils, however, and the final standings showed Philadelphia winning the pennant by a one-game margin over second-place St. Louis.

Making five hits in one game was unusual for Nicol, but outstanding baserunning by the Supersonic Scot was par for the course. It is said that he was one of the first players to use the head-first slide.7 His blazing speed and derring-do enabled him to steal 138 bases in 1887, a record that probably will never be broken as long as the current rules of baseball are in force.8 In that same 1887 season Nicol combined with teammate Bid McPhee for the second-highest number of stolen bases by a pair of teammates in a season. Stolen bases were not tabulated before 1885, so it is not known how many bags the speedster pilfered in the early part of his career. He was 29 when he set the record. He stole 103 bases the next year at the age of 30, so it is likely that he swiped a lot of bases in his younger days.

The year 1886 was an eventful one in the life of Hugh Nicol. On April 27 he married May Little in Kansas City. Born in Canada, she was the daughter of Irish immigrants. May and Hugh had three children: Charles (born in Ohio in 1888); Scott (born in Missouri in 1890); and Florence (born in Illinois in 1894). Scott died from injuries suffered while playing football in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1906.

During most of the 1886 baseball season, Nicol was ill with malaria. He appeared in only 67 games for the Browns that year. He recovered well enough to engage in two money-making opportunities during the offseason. In September he was appointed instructor at the Rockford Gymnasium at what The Sporting News called “a good round salary.”9 He told the paper, “I have been suffering with malarial fever more or less all summer. That is the reason I have not been playing my regular position. Recently, however, I have been feeling better and during the past few days I have been working out … with Professor Muegge as my instructor. I have always been a gymnast, but he has taught me many new points which will come in handy when I get to work in my new position at Rockford.”10

Apparently the job as a gymnastics instructor did not consume all of Nicol’s time that fall. The editor of The Sporting News reported receiving a letter from Little Nic, in which he said, “I am getting fame and recognition as a wrestler. … Something funny happened here the other day. Just read about it as it appeared in one of our papers. ‘The little athlete, Hugh Nicol, and General Grant, greatest wrestler of the age, had a bout in the Register office Saturday, and Little Nic did up the General in the first round. … General Grant did not like it and made a jump at the ball player, and had he hit him with the full force offered the athlete would undoubtedly have been killed. But Little Nic was on the alert. He leaped aside and the general was knocked into a thousand pieces. … He was so completely knocked out that the devil had to be called in with broom and shovel and carried out on a scoop.”11

Of course, the wrestler, General Grant, was not knocked into a thousand pieces. However, a plaster bust of General Grant that stood on a wall was shaken off the shelf and crashed to the floor. “When the dust was cleared up the athlete was still in the ring unhurt, while the general lay about him in innumerable fragments. Surely, it was a close call for Nic, the heavy bust being enough to have knocked him into a cocked hat, if it had hit him square on the head.”12

Chris Von der Ahe, owner of the Browns, had become disenchanted with Nicol. The Cincinnati Reds were interested in acquiring the fleet outfielder. Negotiations went on for some time until an agreement was reached in November 1886. The Reds gave Von der Ahe $400 cash plus rookie catcher Jack Boyle. The Browns then released Nicol, and Cincinnati’s new manager, Gus Schmelz, went to Nicol’s home in Rockford and signed Little Nic at a salary of $2,100 for the 1887 season. The Sporting News stated that “Hugh Nicol’s addition to the Cincinnati team means chain-lightning on bases. He is worth all the young blood in Christendom.”13

The assessment of the “Baseball Bible” was on the mark as far as baserunning is concerned. In his very first year in Cincinnati, Nicol set the basestealing record that still stands. One of his Cincinnati teammates, Long John Reilly, at 6-feet-3-inches, was one of the tallest players in the majors; Little Nic was one of the shortest. The two posed together on a baseball card with the caption “The Long and the Short.”

After three good years in the Queen City, Nicol slumped in 1890. He appeared in only 50 games for the Reds before his major-league playing career ended on August 2, at the age of 32. He finished the 1890 season with Kansas City of the American Association. Nicol spent the next 15 years in the minor leagues, as player, manager, or player-manager. In 1891 and 1892 he played second base and outfield for the Rockford Hustlers in the Illinois-Iowa League. In 1892 Little Nic still had some speed left, as in two different games he singled and immediately stole second and third bases.14

Nicol left baseball temporarily in 1893 to manage a cigar store in St. Louis,15 but he was soon back in the game he loved. In 1894 Nicol was player-manager for the St. Joseph Saints of the Western Association. During the next two seasons he played and managed in the Western Association, mainly with the Rockford Forest Citys, but briefly with the Peoria Distillers.

In 1897 Nicol returned to the major leagues as one of the four men who tried unsuccessfully to keep the St. Louis Browns out of the National League basement. He had no more success than the other skippers. The Browns won only eight of 40 games with Nicol at the helm and finished the season with a franchise-record 102 losses. Nicol never played nor managed another game in the big leagues, but his association with the majors was not over. From 1908 to 1912 he served the Cincinnati Reds in another capacity – scout.

Somewhere along the way Nicol had received training as a marble cutter. The 1900 census showed him working for a Rockford monument company as a traveling salesman. In 1901 Nic helped organize the Three-I League, and owned and managed its Rockford club, the Red Sox, for the next three years. He then managed two other clubs in the league. In 1904 he managed the Rock Island Islanders for part of the season. He spent all of 1905 at the helm of the Peoria Distillers.

In 1906 Nicol became the first athletic director at Purdue University, where he expanded physical-education activities and put the athletic program on a money-making basis.16 He also coached Purdue’s baseball team for 10 or 12 years. After resigning from Purdue in 1916 or 1918 (accounts differ), Nicol remained in the area. The 1920 census showed his residence as Lafayette, Indiana, and his occupation as a dealer in stocks and bonds. His health deteriorated and he eventually developed complications from diabetes. He died in Lafayette on June 27, 1921, at the age of 63. He was buried in Grand View Cemetery, near the Purdue University campus, in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Hugh Nicol was a little man, but he was big in achievements. The Sporting News published the following tribute:

A little man with a lion’s heart
Who gamely played an athlete’s part;
Who gave his best wherever placed
And never quit though odds were faced;
Smiling and cheery, alert and quick,
The one and only Little Nic.17

Notes

As New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica noted in a 1998 column during Mark McGwire’s chase of Babe Ruth’s home-run record, “Sometimes you do not need 60 or 61 home runs. Sometimes you just need one, and your life is never the same after that, not for a single day.”2

“It wasn’t just me,” Thomson told Lupica. “It was everything. It was New York, it was the Giants versus the Dodgers, it was the way we’d come from so far behind, it was the fact that we came from behind that day in the ninth. It was eight teams instead of all the ones they have now. It was the World Series on the line. You tell me my home run is safe today, and maybe you’re right. Sometimes it’s like that ball never came down.”3

In Thomson’s own words, “I had a decent major-league career, but if I hadn’t been in the right place at the right time in the Polo Grounds, batting against Branca at precisely 3:58 on Wednesday afternoon, October 3, 1951, I would have played my 15 seasons in the major leagues and then vanished from sight and memory, never to be heard from again.”4

Born Robert Brown Thomson on October 25, 1923, in Glasgow, Scotland, Thomson was the youngest of six children. His father had left Scotland for the United States five days earlier in search of a better life for his family, and in 1926, Robert, his mother, and five siblings landed at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, ultimately settling on Staten Island, part of New York City.5 Later in life sportswriters often labeled him the Staten Island Scot.

Thomson attended Curtis High School on Staten Island, where he excelled in both soccer and baseball. He drew the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and played for the Dodger Rookies, an amateur team made up of area players the Dodgers wanted to keep an eye on.

Thomson first commanded the Giants’ attention in high school as well, playing on an industrial-league team made up of older players. “One night, there was a Giants scout named George Mack at the game. He had come to look at our center fielder, who had been invited to work out for the Giants a few days later at the Polo Grounds,” Thomson wrote in Few and Chosen. “I had a pretty good game that day, and Mack told our center fielder, “Bring that kid shortstop with you.”6

Despite the ongoing interest by the Dodgers, Thomson ultimately signed his first contract with the Giants in 1942. “The Giants offered me $100 a month to go to Bristol, Virginia, in a Class D league [Appalachian League],” Thomson said. “The Dodgers said they would give me $125 a month, but I was a Giants fan and I wanted to play for them.”7 Thomson played sparingly at Bristol, and the Giants’ front office moved him to Rocky Mount (North Carolina) of the Class D Bi-State League. He played 29 games at third base, hitting .241 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.8

Before the 1942 season concluded, Thomson was drafted and entered the US Army Air Corps. Commenting on this chapter of his life, he said, “While I missed out on the chance to improve my skills in the important early years of minor-league baseball, the air force helped me mature. When I got out of the service in 1946, I was invited to spring training in Jacksonville, Florida, with the Giants’ Jersey City team of the Triple-A International League. The place was overrun with players who had come out of the service.”9

Thomson landed in Jersey City, the Giants’ top farm team, to start the 1946 season. His first game at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City also happened to be Jackie Robinson’s first game in Organized Baseball. “As far as what Jackie did in that game, I don’t remember,” Thomson said. “I just remember he was in all the headlines, and nobody even noticed a scared kid playing center field for the Giants, me.”10 Thomson hit 26 home runs at Jersey City, and joined the Giants late in the season. He played in his first major-league game on September 9 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, collecting two hits in four at-bats. He hit hit .315 with two home runs in 18 games for the Giants, and was in the major leagues to stay.

Initially slotted into a competition for the job at third base, Thomson began the 1947 season as the regular second baseman but moved to center field after nine games. He fared well as a rookie, batting.283 with 29 home runs, scoring a career-best 105 runs and driving in 85 runs.

Thomson’s production fell off in 1948 (.248, 16 HR, 63 RBIs), but he was selected to the NL All-Star team, striking out in a ninth-inning pinch-hitting appearance. The Giants didn’t fare much better, finishing in fifth place, 13½ games out of first place. Despite the drop in production, Thomson didn’t go unnoticed. The Pittsburgh Pirates, for one, inquired about his services in a potential trade for their own Wally Westlake, but they were unable to offer anything acceptable to the Giants.11 The Dodgers also showed an interest in Thomson during the winter meetings, but the Giants’ price tag of Ralph Branca in return killed the deal.12

The Giants didn’t fare any better in 1949, but Thomson had what would be considered one of his best seasons, batting .309 with 27 home runs, 109 RBIs, and a .518 slugging percentage. He was a repeat selection as an All-Star, again going hitless in a pinch-hit appearance, but had become a staple in center field for the Giants, playing all of his 156 games at that position. The Giants finished a distant 24 games off the pace. Thomson was still a vital part of their future plans; club officials indicated in the offseason that everyone on the roster was available for trade except Thomson, Whitey Lockman, and pitcher Monte Kennedy.13 Thomson’s defensive skills had matured enough that manager Leo Durocher, commenting on Whitey Lockman, said, “He’s the third best outfielder in the league, trailing only Stan Musial and Bobby Thomson.”14

The Giants went through a major housecleaning before the 1950 season, with a new cast of players built more for speed than power. Thomson led the team with 25 home runs and 85 RBIs, though his batting average fell off to .252. The personnel changes resulted in an improved team that finished third, five games out of first. Thomson hit close to .400 for the final three weeks of the season, a return to form that again earned him mention in trade talks.

Thomson’s heroics in 1951 make prior years lose emphasis in establishing his career legacy. The season not only saw a move to third base to make room for rookie Willie Mays (Thomson actually played each outfield position during the season in addition to third base), but the pennant race itself was one of the most exciting in baseball history.

“We got off to a terrible start, and the Dodgers were red hot,” Thomson recalled a half-century later. “In July, [Brooklyn manager Charlie] Dressen made his famous remark, ‘The Giants is dead,’ which really got under our skin. We fell behind 13 games on August 11, but we weren’t dead. We began to play better, and the Dodgers slowed down from their torrid first half. By September 14, we had cut their lead to six games, but we only had 12 games left.”15

The Giants continued to close the gap, and after they beat Boston in their final regular-season game, Brooklyn rallied to beat Philadelphia in 14 innings, setting the stage for a best-of-three-games playoff. Thomson hit his 31st home run in Game One, a 3-1 Giants victory at Ebbets Field. The two-run blast came at the expense of the Dodgers’ starter, Ralph Branca. Brooklyn responded with a 10-0 shellacking of the Giants in Game Two, at the Polo Grounds, setting the stage for the deciding game on October 3 at the Polo Grounds.

With Brooklyn leading 1-0, Thomson hit a fly ball in the seventh inning to score Monte Irvin and tie the game, only to see the Dodgers score three runs in the eighth and go up, 4-1. The game entered the bottom of the ninth with Brooklyn’s starter, Don Newcombe, still in command. Al Dark and Don Mueller led off with singles, and after Irvin fouled out, Whitey Lockman doubled sharply to left field, scoring Dark and putting runners on second and third with Thomson coming to the plate. “As soon as Whitey hit the ball, I headed for the plate and there’s poor Mueller on the ground,” Thomson said. “It wasn’t until they carried him off the field that I realized he had injured his ankle. The delay kind of broke the tension for a moment. The next thing I remember was Leo Durocher, coming down from the third-base coach’s box and putting his arm around my shoulder and saying, ‘Bobby, if you ever hit one, hit one now.’ ”16 Branca was brought in to relieve Newcombe and get the final two outs.

“Nobody goes up to bat trying to hit a home run in a situation like that,” Thomson continued. “If you do, you’re almost certain to fail. I was just hoping to make contact.”17

What happened next remains one of the greatest sporting moments of all time, with Thomson hitting Branca’s second pitch into the lower left-field stands, provoking announcer Russ Hodges’ unforgettable call and sending the Giants into the World Series against the New York Yankees the next day, a Subway Series they lost in six games.

After the season Thomson’s sportswriters’ moniker was altered slightly to the Flying Scot from Staten Island. On December 6 he danced a few steps of the highland fling during Bobby Thomson Day, which was celebrated by 1,400 fans in front of the Staten Island Borough Hall.

The dramatic home run linked Thomson and Branca for the remainder of their careers and beyond. The two remained in the New York area for years and developed a friendship, appearing at memorabilia shows and corporate functions. The friendship was tested when the Wall Street Journal ran an article in January 2001 headlined “Giants’ 1951 Comeback, The Sport’s Greatest, Wasn’t All It Seemed,” that told of an elaborate scheme to steal the signs of the opposition and transmit them to the batter electrically. The article became a book, The Echoing Green, published in 2006. For his part, Thomson maintained throughout his life that he didn’t receive a stolen sign, telling author Joshua Prager “I was always proud of that swing.”18

After the pennant winner in 1951, Thomson spent the offseason attending various events, even performing a song with Branca at the annual dinner of the New York baseball writers.19

Thomson was an All-Star again in 1952, finally getting a start in the game at third base. He again went hitless, concluding his appearances in All-Star Games without hitting safely in four at-bats. A June 16 game-ending grand slam against Willard Schmidt of the Cardinals spawned memories of the 1951 heroics, and he continued to be productive for the Giants. His 24 home runs again led the the team, but the Giants couldn’t recapture the late-season magic of their previous season and finished in second place, 4½ games behind Brooklyn. On December 27 he and Elaine Coley of Plainfield, New Jersey, were married.

By most accounts Thomson was gentle and conservative throughout his career. Author Ray Robinson (The Home Run Heard ’Round the World, among others) told of an encounter he had with Thomson at author Dick Schaap’s funeral in January 2002. The pair sat together, and after the memorial, Robinson asked Thomson if he had known Dick well. “No, I didn’t,” Thomson responded. “But he said so many nice things about me, I thought I should come and pay my last respects.” Robinson wrote, “It was a typical response for Thomson, who always tried to remain true to his personal ethos: ‘If you can bring happiness to somebody, or help somebody, I try to do it.’ ”20

In late 1952 the Braves, soon to move from Boston to Milwaukee, were reported to have an interest in acquiring Thomson, even reportedly offering star pitcher Warren Spahn in a trade.21 That exchange never came to fruition. With Willie Mays in the Army, Thomson returned to the outfield for the 1953 season and again led the Giants in home runs with 26. The Giants struggled, however, and finished the season in fifth place, 35 games out of first place. With the need for pitching, Thomson’s services continued to be a marketable commodity, and on February 1, 1954, the Giants traded Thomson and catcher Sam Calderone to the Milwaukee Braves for pitcher Johnny Antonelli, infielder Billy Klaus, pitcher Don Liddle, catcher Ebba St. Claire, and $50,000. Although the trade was initially a shock, Thomson offered a rational outlook on the change of address. “How do I like it? Why great. What ballplayer wouldn’t like being traded to a club that everybody considers a red-hot pennant contender?  Naturally, I do feel sorry having to leave New York. However, it’s part of baseball to be traded, and this switch I think will do me a lot of good. It was tough keeping up one’s spirit with things breaking so badly for the Giants last year.”22

In their first season in Milwaukee, the 1953 Braves had won 28 more games than in their final season in Boston, and with the addition of Thomson they were considered an instant contender as the 1954 season approached. Optimism was abounding in Milwaukee, and Thomson was slotted to bat cleanup for the first time in his career, a move to protect Eddie Mathews in the lineup. Thomson addressed the opportunity with modesty and appreciation for his new teammate. “I may not get much chance to drive over runs following a guy like Mathews,” he said.23 Thomson didn’t get that chance initially. On March 13 he fractured his right ankle sliding into second base in a preseason game against the New York Yankees. The injury hampered Thomson the entire season, and he played in just 43 games, hitting .232 with two home runs.

The injury provided an opportunity for Henry Aaron to join the Braves’ starting lineup in his rookie campaign, the second time Thomson had been replaced by a future Hall of Famer (the first was Mays). Suffering from multiple injuries among the ranks, the Braves were left watching at season’s end as Thomson’s old team, the Giants, won the pennant for the second time in four seasons and carried that momentum to a four-game World Series sweep of the favored Cleveland Indians.

Now 31 years old, Thomson was faced for the first time with the prospect of recovering from a significant injury. With a favorable prognosis by the Braves trainer, Dr. Charles Lacks, manager Charlie Grimm announced early in the winter that Thomson would be his cleanup hitter. Thomson played exclusively in the outfield in 1955, but hit just 12 home runs, and the Braves finished second to the Dodgers. Braves management was disappointed. Trade rumors again mentioned Thomson’s name as an expendable, with emerging star Aaron and Bill Bruton considered solid fixtures in the outfield. Once more Thomson endured the offseason, and was still on the Braves roster as the 1956 season opened. His 20 home runs and 74 RBIs, ranked fourth best on a Braves team that now included such sluggers as Aaron, Mathews, and Joe Adcock. Milwaukee finished just one game off the pace to the Dodgers.

Rumors of trades with Thomson’s name attached were again prevalent before the 1957 season. Thomson was 33 and considered past his peak by many. The rumors were realized on June 15, when Milwaukee sent Thomson (hitting .236 in 41 games at that point), pitcher Ray Crone, and infielder Danny O’Connell to the Giants for second baseman Red Schoendienst. The move provided minimal benefit to the Giants, as they finished a lowly sixth, 26 games behind the Braves, who won the pennant and went on to win the World Series over the Yankees. For Thomson, it was the second time he was traded from a team that won a World Series the same season.

Traded again at the start of the 1958 season by the San Francisco Giants (now in San Francisco) to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder/first baseman Bob Speake and cash, Thomson experienced a slight career rebirth, posting respectable numbers of 21 home runs and 82 RBIs to accompany a .283 batting average. He got no closer to a pennant winner, though, as the Cubs were well off the pace, in fifth place.

The story was the same in Chicago in 1959. Although Thomson appeared in 122 games, his career was fading and he was becoming a part-time player, despite contributing a respectable 11 home runs and 52 RBIs. His career and his interest in baseball winding down, Thomson was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Al Schroll on December 1, 1959. He played just 40 games with the Red Sox in 1960 before being released on July 1. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles and went hitless in three games. His release on July 26, 1960, coincided with his retirement from baseball.

“Times were different then,” Thomson said. “I had to work in the offseason, and when I retired, I was married and had a child, and there were no offers for jobs in baseball, as a coach or a scout, so I had to go out and get a job.”24 He worked as a sales executive with the Westvaco paper products Company. “I wanted to get a responsible job, stay home more with my wife and daughter, and live a normal life,” Thomson said.25

The Thomsons settled in Watchung, New Jersey. They added another daughter and son to their family. Elaine, his wife of over 40 years, died in 1993, and son Bobby Jr. died suddenly the same year, on Father’s Day, from a rare virus.

Thomson and Ralph Branca appeared together many times over the years, and their friendship endured all obstacles. “I bleed for Bob about his son,” Branca told columnist Dave Anderson in 2001.26 For his part, Thomson declined to attend the 50th anniversary festivities of the historic home run at a Giants-Dodgers game in San Francisco, mostly in respect for Branca. “They were going to have Ralph and me ride around in a cart,” he said. “Ralph doesn’t need that.”27

Thomson finished his career as a three-time All-Star with a batting average of .270 and 264 home runs. He never amassed more than 4.6 percent of the vote in Hall of Fame voting.

Career statistics do not conclusively tell the tale of Bobby Thomson. Remembered throughout his life by one moment in time, in the final analysis, Thomson was a shy and reserved man who consistently tried to fulfill all requests, whether for a story or a simple autograph. “There was no ego in Bobby. He didn’t know the word,” said Charles “Chick” Harrison, a friend of Thomson’s from New Jersey. “He might have been a gem in the baseball world, but he was a gem to everyone who knew him.”28

“People have asked me if I resent the fact that that 1951 homer is all I’m remembered for,” Thomson told The Scotsman in 2003. “What I say is, I feel fortunate that I had my one moment in the sun. It’s nice to be remembered – and so many people remember where they were when they heard that game on the radio.”29

Thomson died on August 16, 2010, at his home in Savannah, Georgia. Survived by his daughters Megan and Nancy, he was 86.

An updated version of this biography appeared in “The Team That Time Won’t Forget: The 1951 New York Giants” (SABR, 2015), edited by Bill Nowlin and C. Paul Rogers III. It also appeared in “Thar’s Joy in Braveland! The 1957 Milwaukee Braves” (SABR, 2014), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.

Sources

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Smith, Ron, The Sporting News Selects Baseball’s 25 Greatest Moments (Saint Louis: Sporting News Publishing Company, 1999).

Thomson, Bobby with Phil Pepe Few and Chosen: Defining Giants Greatness Across The Eras (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007).

Anderson, Dave, “The Shot Heard ’Round the World: A Fastball, A Swing And Forever.” New York Times, 2001.

Bathgate, Stuart, “Bobby Thomson: Staten Island Scot brings fame home,” The Scotsman, 2003.

Biederman, Les, “Meyer Measures Wally for Longer Wallops in Blueprinting Bucco Rise,” The Sporting News, March 9, 1949.

Burr, Harold C., “Dodgers Seeking First Sacker – Mahatma Admits – But Not Mize,” The Sporting News, April 13. 1949.

Daniel, Dan, “Thomson, Branca Spark N.Y. Writers’ Show,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1952.

Ellis Nut, Amy, “Baseball legend, ex-N.J. resident Bobby Thomson lived humbled by his ‘accidental hero’ status,” New Jersey Star-Ledger, August 18. 2010.

Goldstein, Richard, “Bobby Thomson Dies at 86; Hit Epic Home Run,” New York Times, August 17, 2010.

Kremenko, Barney, “Lockman, on Tip from Ott, Pegging With More Accuracy,” The Sporting News, April 15 1950.

Lupica, Mike, “Shot Jolts Bobby Thomson’s Memory,” New York Daily News, September 8, 1998.

Prager, Joshua, “Giants’ 1951 Comeback, The Sport’s Greatest, Wasn’t All It Seemed – Miracle Ended With ‘The Shot Heard Round the World’; It Began With a Buzzer – ‘Papa’s’ Collapsible Legacy,” Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2001.

Robinson, Ray, “A Signature Home Run Balanced by Humility,” New York Times, October 1, 2011.

Smith, Ken,“Only Bobby, Whitey, Monte Left Off Giants’ Trade List,” The Sporting News, October 12, 1949.

Shaikin, Bill, “Bobby Thomson, 1923-2010; his home run was the stuff of legend,” Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2010.

Thisted, Red, “Bobby the Scot to Get His Fling in Cleanup Spot,” The Sporting News, March 10, 1954.

Friend, Harold C. “1954 New York Giants Trade Bobby Thomson to Milwaukee Braves for Johnny Antonelli,” www.Bleacherreport.com, January 12, 2013.

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Notes