cover image The Home Run Heard 'Round the World: The Dramatic Story of the 1951 Giants-Dodgers Pennant Race

The Home Run Heard 'Round the World: The Dramatic Story of the 1951 Giants-Dodgers Pennant Race

Ray Robinson. HarperCollins Publishers, $19.95 (244pp) ISBN 978-0-06-016477-5

The story of the New York Giants' rise from 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers to tie for the National League pennant in 1951 and then win the playoff has been written countless times. Not that Robinson ( Iron Horse ) hasn't done his homework, for he has supplemented his examination of the press clips with interviews with virtually everyone involved who is still alive, from Bobby Thomson, who hit the famous pennant-clinching homer, to Walter Matthau, an embittered Dodgers fan who lost a bundle on the crucial game. But the saga is old hat nonetheless. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)