What did Branca throw before the one everybody knows? Went and looked. A fastball for a called strike, then he came back with the second pitch, and Thomson got it. 0-1 count. 5-4. Pennant gone. He wore 13, he was 25 that year, and he spent the rest of his life getting asked about one pitch by strangers in airports and hotel lobbies, and by every account he answered them. Every time. Nicely!
And the Giants were 13.5 back in August of 1951. Thirteen and a half! The Evening Star that morning has the whole thing frozen in the right-hand column, inning by inning, "Robinson Gives Dodgers 1 to 0 Lead in First" — eighty pages, five cents, printed while Brooklyn was still ahead.
Toby — that one went out live coast to coast, one of the first ball games to manage it (the cable link west had only just opened that month). So people in California watched it happen rather than reading it the next morning.
Toby, the park was better than half empty that afternoon, which means somebody ordered franks and peanuts for a crowd that never showed. And a ninth inning like that ends the beer sales fast — nobody's queuing for a hot dog with Thomson rounding third. The vendors went home heavy and the kitchen ate the rest.