Friday, July 7, 2023

#257 Bobby Thomson - Milwaukee Braves


Robert Brown Thomson
Milwaukee Braves
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  180
Born:  October 25, 1923, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1942 season
Major League Teams:  New York Giants 1946-1953; Milwaukee Braves 1954-1957; New York Giants 1957; Chicago Cubs 1958-1959; Boston Red Sox 1960; Baltimore Orioles 1960
Died:  August 16, 2010, Savannah, GA (age 86)

Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" to win the 1951 National League pennant for his Giants team overshadowed the outfielder's three All-Star Game selections and his eight seasons hitting at least 20 home runs.  Thomson played in parts of 15 seasons in the majors, having his best years with the Giants in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  He was an All-Star in 1948, 1949 and 1952, batting a career high .309 in 1949 while also reaching his career best in RBIs with 109.  In 1951, the Giants and Dodgers finished the regular season in a tie, requiring a best of three series to determine who went to the World Series.  Thomson's famous home run came in the third game of the tied series off Dodgers' pitcher Ralph Branca, with two men on base.  The Giants would win the game 5-4, but drop the World Series to the Yankees in six games.  Thomson led the league with 14 triples in 1952 and he'd cross the 100-RBI plateau for the fourth and final time in 1953.

The popular Thomson was traded by the Giants (for the first time) to the Braves in February 1954 as part of a six-player deal.  He'd spend a few decent seasons in Milwaukee before briefly coming back to the Giants in 1957.  Thomson wouldn't move west with the Giants to San Francisco as the team traded him to the Cubs before the start of the 1958 season.  He'd play three more seasons with the Cubs, Red Sox and Orioles before retiring following a few at-bats with the Orioles in 1960.  Thomson appeared in 1,779 games, batting .270 with 264 home runs and 1,026 RBIs.


Building the Set
December 28, 2007 from Dad's eBay purchase - Card #331
I last shared this full story with the Whitey Ford (#240) post, but I'll repeat myself, in an edited version, here.  The way my Dad and I finished the 1956 Topps set was somewhat anti-climatic but nevertheless a joyful memory.  Leading up to the Christmas of 2007, my Dad (with the help of my Mom) scoured eBay and other online baseball card stores for the remaining 29 cards we needed to complete the set.  Throughout the weeks and months leading up to the holidays, he knew we had completed the set but he kept it quiet, wanting to surprise me on Christmas morning.  I have no idea, and I'll never know, what the true last card was that he acquired to finish off the set.  And I have no record, nor was he able to tell me, how much they had paid for any of these final 29 cards.  This Thomson card was one of the final 29.  Normally, this would have been considered a marquee card to add, but some of the other cards included within that final 29 haul were Roberto Clemente (#33), Whitey Ford (#240), Pee Wee Reese (#260) and a spotless Checklist card for the 1st and 3rd Series.

The Card / Braves Team Set
Thomson had been absent from Topps sets since 1952.  The action shot is from 1955, as he had worn #34 with the club for his first two season in Milwaukee, switching to #25 in 1956.  I'm guessing that's Giants' catcher Wes Westrum (#156) behind the plate as Westrum wore #9 in 1955 and caught in 11 games against Thomson's Braves that season.  Topps has to be almost obligated to highlight Thomson's famous home run in a cartoon panel on the back of the card.  The broken ankle referenced in the last cartoon panel happened on March 13, 1954 in a spring training game against the Yankees.  Thomson was limited to 43 games that season.

1956 Season
This was Thomson's last full year with the Braves, and he was their regular left fielder, appearing in 142 games overall.  The Braves nearly won the pennant, finishing a game behind the Dodgers, with Thomson unable to provide any late season miracles as he had five years earlier.  With Bill Bruton (#185) in center and Henry Aaron (#31) in right, the Braves fielded a solid outfield.  Thomson batted .235 with 20 home runs and 74 RBIs.  His home run total was fourth on the team behind Joe Adcock (#320), Eddie Mathews (#107) and Aaron.

1949 Bowman #18
1951 Bowman #126
1952 Topps #313
1960 Topps #153
2001 Topps #379

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1948 Bowman #47
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1952, 1956-1960, 2001
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #5

265 - Thomson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/23/23.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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