Title: "The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World"
Author: Joshua Prager
Publisher: Pantheon
Pages: 350 pages
Price: $26.95
In a nutshell: In 1951 the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants ended up in a tie for first place in the National League and played a three-game series to determine which would face the New York Yankees (and get beat) in the World Series. This is the story of how the game changed the lives of two players — Bobby Thomson, who hit the three-run homer that won the pennant for the Giants, and Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn pitcher who served up the home-run ball — when they found themselves on the road together as celebrities.
—Parry Sorensen