Bobby Thomson Controversy What was controversial about thomson? Although Thomson always insisted that he had no foreknowledge of Branca's pitch, Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed Rube Walker's fastball sign to Thomson. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? the team used a telescope, manned by coach Herman Franks in the Giants clubhouse behind center field, to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers. WHere ther any penalties for this? I don't know.
Where there any other scandals?
Where there any other scandals involving Bobby Thomson other than when the team stole finger signals of opposing catchers?
Longstanding rumors that the Giants engaged in systematic sign stealing during the second half of the 1951 season were confirmed in 2001. Several players told the Wall Street Journal that beginning on July 20, the team used a telescope, manned by coach Herman Franks in the Giants clubhouse behind center field, to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers. Stolen signs were relayed to the Giants dugout via a buzzer wire. Joshua Prager, the author of the Journal article, outlined the evidence in greater detail in a 2008 book.  Although Thomson always insisted that he had no foreknowledge of Branca's pitch, Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed Rube Walker's fastball sign to Thomson. Branca was privately skeptical of Thomson's denials but made no public comment at the time. Later he told The New York Times, "I didn't want to diminish a legendary moment in baseball. And even if Bobby knew what was coming, he had to hit it.... Knowing the pitch doesn't always help." Whether the telescope-and-buzzer system contributed significantly to the Giants' late-season 37-7 win streak remains a subject of debate. Prager notes in his book that sign stealing was not specifically forbidden by MLB rules at the time and, moral issues aside, "...has been a part of baseball since its inception". Sign stealing using optical or other mechanical aids was outlawed by MLB in 1961.  Thomson however, late in his life, rebuked his prior claims of not receiving the sign on the Shot Heard 'Round the World, and admitted that the sign was received. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Robert Brown Thomson (October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010) was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player, nicknamed the "Staten Island Scot". He was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants (1946–53, 1957), Milwaukee Braves (1954–57), Chicago Cubs (1958–59), Boston Red Sox (1960), and Baltimore Orioles (1960). His pennant-winning three-run home run for the Giants in 1951 is popularly known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", and is one of the most famous moments in baseball history. It overshadowed his other accomplishments, including eight 20-home-run seasons and three All-Star selections.  "It was the best thing that ever happened to me", he said.  "It may have been the best thing that ever happened to anybody."

Early life
Thomson was born in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He was the youngest of six children born to parents James and Elizabeth. He arrived in the United States two years later. James, a cabinet maker, had moved to New York City shortly before Bobby's birth and sent for his family in 1925.

Thomson grew up on Staten Island in New York City and signed with the New York Giants for a $100 bonus right out of Curtis High School in 1942. On December 5, 1942, he joined the United States Army Air Forces and trained as a bombardier. His entire service was within the continental United States. He played semiprofessional baseball in the summer of 1945 while awaiting his discharge.

Early baseball career
Thomson batted .283 with 29 home runs and 82 runs batted in (RBIs) in his rookie year, 1947. The following season, he batted .248 with 16 home runs. In 1949, Thomson had career bests in RBIs (109) and batting average (.309). His batting average dropped to .252 in 1950. He then hit a career-high 32 home runs in 1951, the fifth-best total in the major leagues; he also had the fourth-highest slugging average in baseball that year.

The "Shot Heard 'Round the World"

Thomson became a celebrity for his walk-off home run off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run, nicknamed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", was dramatic, as until 1969, league pennants were only decided by a playoff when the teams involved finished the regular season in a tie.  Prior to 1951, playoffs had only been necessary in 1946 (NL) and 1948 (AL).

Although in mid-August, the Giants were  games behind the league-leading Dodgers, they won 37 of their final 44 games to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the regular season, forcing a three-game playoff.  The Giants won the first game 3–1 as a result of a two-run home run by Thomson (off Branca).  Brooklyn's Clem Labine shut out the Giants in the second game, 10–0.  The decisive contest, played on October 3 at the Polo Grounds, was the first major sporting event televised coast-to-coast in the United States.  The Dodgers took a 4–1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but Giants shortstop Alvin Dark singled, advanced to third on a single by Don Mueller, and scored on a double by Whitey Lockman.  With Lockman on second and pinch runner Clint Hartung at third, Thomson's walk-off home run turned looming defeat into a 5–4 victory. The moment was immortalized by Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges's excited multiple repetitions: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Waiting in the on-deck circle to hit behind Thomson was rookie Willie Mays. The Giants' season ended, however, at the 1951 World Series; the Yankees swept the last three games to win the best-of-seven series, four games to two. Thomson batted .238 in the series with no home runs.

The bat from the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" is in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. The uniform worn by Thomson on that day is apparently a part of a large private collection owned by Dan Scheinman, a member of the San Francisco Giants ownership group.

Sign stealing

Longstanding rumors that the Giants engaged in systematic sign stealing during the second half of the 1951 season were confirmed in 2001.  Several players told The Wall Street Journal that beginning on July 20, coach Herman Franks used a telescope positioned in the Giants clubhouse behind center field to steal the finger signals of opposing catchers.  Stolen signs were relayed to the Giants dugout via a buzzer wire. Joshua Prager, the author of the Journal article, outlined the evidence in greater detail in a 2008 book.

Although Thomson always insisted that he had no foreknowledge of Branca's pitch, Sal Yvars told Prager that he relayed Rube Walker's fastball sign to Thomson.  Branca was privately skeptical of Thomson's denials, but made no public comment at the time.  Later, he told The New York Times, "I didn't want to diminish a legendary moment in baseball.  And even if Bobby knew what was coming, he had to hit it.... Knowing the pitch doesn't always help."  Whether the telescope-and-buzzer system contributed significantly to the Giants' late-season 37–7 win streak remains a subject of debate.  Prager notes in his book that sign stealing was not specifically forbidden by MLB rules at the time and, moral issues aside, "...has been a part of baseball since its inception".  Sign stealing using optical or other mechanical aids was outlawed by MLB in 1961.

Later years
In 1952, Thomson led the National League with 14 triples while batting .271 with 25 home runs and 109 RBIs for the Giants. In his final season with the Giants in 1953, Thomson hit 26 home runs and 106 RBIs, and a .288 average. That winter, he was sent to the Milwaukee Braves in a multiplayer deal.  During his first spring training with the Braves in 1954, he suffered a broken ankle, which allowed rookie Hank Aaron to earn a place in the Milwaukee lineup. Thomson batted a career-low .232 in 1954.

The Braves traded Thomson back to the Giants during the 1957 season, and he was in the lineup for the club's final game at the Polo Grounds. The Giants moved to San Francisco for the 1958 season, but Thomson was gone, traded to the Cubs. He spent two seasons in Chicago before closing out his major-league career in the American League with the Red Sox and Orioles.  He played one final season in 1963 with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan.

Thomson was a career .270 hitter with 264 home runs and 1,026 RBIs in 1,779 games. He was selected an All-Star in 1948, 1949, and 1952.

In the 1990s, over 40 years after his famous home run, Thomson received a letter from a Marine who had been stationed in Korea in 1951:
"I was in a bunker in the front line with my buddy listening to the radio.  It was contrary to orders, but he was a Giants fanatic. He never made it home, and I promised him if I ever got back, I'd write and tell you about the happiest moment of his life.  It's taken me this long to put my feelings into words.  On behalf of my buddy, thanks, Bobby."

After baseball, Thomson became a sales executive at a New York City paper-products company.  He lived in Watchung, New Jersey, until 2006, when he moved to Savannah, Georgia, to be near his daughter Nancy and his grandchildren.  He died August 16, 2010, at his home in The Marshes of Skidaway Island, a continuing care facility in Savannah.

Honors
Scottish baseball team Edinburgh Diamond Devils named their home Bobby Thomson Field. It was opened by Thomson himself in 2003, while he was in Scotland to be inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.

The UK Chapter of The Society for American Baseball Research is named the Bobby Thomson Chapter.

The Curtis High School Field in Staten Island was renamed Bobby Thomson Field in 2007.

Thomson was inducted into the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 1995.

See also

 List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
 List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
 List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders

References

External links

ESPN/The Associated Press obituary
BBC obituary
Thomson's profile at Baseball Library
 Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run 1951. According to the description at Cleveland Public Library's site: "45? min., recorded on tape with Luke Sewell interview/ Between 1973 and 1987 historian Eugene Converse Murdock interviewed 76 former baseball players in 22 states. Most had been active in the 1930s. Murdock was chairman of the history department at Marietta College from 1972 until his retirement in 1986. The interviews were not professionally recorded, and the audio quality is variable."
Joshua Prager's The Echoing Green
Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: The Shot Heard 'Round the World at The Sporting News
 
Article, The Herald (Scotland)

National League All-Stars
Baltimore Orioles players
Boston Red Sox players
Chicago Cubs players
Milwaukee Braves players
New York Giants (NL) players
Major League Baseball center fielders
Major League Baseball left fielders
Bristol Twins players
Jersey City Giants players
Rocky Mount Rocks players
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Major League Baseball players from Scotland
Scottish emigrants to the United States
Sportspeople from Glasgow
Sportspeople from Staten Island
Semi-professional baseball players
1923 births
2010 deaths
Curtis High School alumni
People from Watchung, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Somerset County, New Jersey
United States Army Air Forces officers
Military personnel from New Jersey
In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt,  unethical or sexual practices. Scandalized politicians are more likely to retire or get lower vote shares.

Journalism 
Scandal sells, and broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines and the electronic media have covered it in depth.  The Muckraker movement in American journalism was a component of the Progressive Era in the U.S. in the early 20th century.  Journalists have built their careers on exposure of corruption and political scandal, often acting on behalf of the opposition party.
     
There are numerous contextual factors that make a scandal noteworthy, such as the importance of the people, the depth of conspiracy and the coverup strategies used.
     
The political ideology of media owners plays a role—they prefer to target the opposition but will reluctantly cover their own side.  Journalists have to frame the story in terms of the audience's values and expectations to maximize the impact.

Lists by country

 Albania – Political scandals of Albania
 Australia – List of Australian political controversies
 Belgium – Belgian political scandals
 Canada – List of Canadian political scandals
 Chile – Chilean political scandals
 Colombia – Colombian parapolitics scandal
 France – French political scandals
 Germany – German political scandals
 Iceland – Icelandic political scandals
 India – Indian political scandals
 Ireland – Irish political scandals
 Italy – Italian political scandals
 Japan – Black Mist Scandal (Japanese politics)
 Lithuania – Generic article on corruption in Lithuania
 New Zealand – List of political scandals in New Zealand
Malaysia – List of scandals in Malaysia
 Philippines – List of political scandals in the Philippines
 Poland - List of political scandals in Poland
 Slovakia – List of Slovak political scandals
 Slovenia – 1975 Zaliv Scandal
South Korea – Political scandals in South Korea
 United Kingdom – List of political scandals in the United Kingdom

 United States  – List of federal political scandals in the United States
 Ukraine – List of political scandals in Ukraine

See also
Deviancy amplification spiral
Mass media
Moral panic
Sensationalism
Sex scandal

References

Further reading
 Canel, Maria Jose and Karen Sanders. Morality Tales: Political Scandals and Journalism in Britain and Spain in the 1990s (2005)
 Dagnes, Alison and Mark Sachleben. "Scandal! An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Consequences, Outcomes, and Significance of Political Scandals" (Bloomsbury 2013)
 Dziuda, Wioletta; Howell, William G. 2020. "Political Scandal: A Theory." American Journal of Political Science.        
Fisher, Trevor. Scandal: Sexual Politics of Late Victorian Britain (1995)        
 Giroux, Gary. Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform: An Encyclopedia (2013)        
 Grossman, Mark. Political Corruption in America: An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power, and Greed (2008)
 Heidenheimer, Arnold and M. Johnston. Political corruption: Concepts and contexts (2002)
 King, Anthony. Sex, Money and Power: Political Scandals in Great Britain and the United States (1984) 
 Kohn, George C. The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal (2000)     
 MacMullen, Ramsay. Corruption and the Decline of Rome (1990)
 Scott, James C. Comparative political corruption (1972)
 Temple, Kathryn. Scandal Nation: Law and Authorship in Britain, 1750–1832 (2002)

External links Public scandals involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral sexual activities are often associated with the sexual affairs of film stars, politicians, famous athletes, or others in the public eye. Sex scandals receive attention if a prominent figure is involved, if there is a perception of hypocrisy, if a public figure's sexuality is non-normative, or if it involves non-consensual acts. A scandal may be based on reality, the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both. Whether the scandal is based in fact or not, it may lead to the celebrity disappearing from the public eye or to the resignation of prominent political figures.

Sex scandals involving politicians often become political scandals, particularly when there is an attempt at a cover-up or suspicions of illegality. Attempts at coverups include payoffs, threats, or, in extreme cases, murder. 

While some commentators see sex scandals as irrelevant to politics, particularly where "professional performance [does] not seem to be impaired", Gene Healy of the Cato Institute views them as not just "great fun", but a reminder "that we should think twice before we cede more power to these fools." An increase in the prevalence of morally questionable expressions of sexuality is sometimes referred to as a sexidemic.

Sex scandals, in relation to political and public figures, often lead to questions of one's own ethics and moral code. A politician who is caught in a sex scandal is more likely to resign than a public figure in the face of a sex scandal.

History
Scandals have been a part of history in major declarations, false truces, when political or celebrity figures need to pay someone off to protect their legacy and more. Scandals can involve bribery, immoral action, shame, slander, misdoing, etc. The Hamilton–Reynolds affair, which involved Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who had a one-year affair with Maria Reynolds during George Washington's presidency, is considered one of the first sex scandals in American political history. Political sex scandals in the U.S. have included the first sex scandal of Alexander Hamilton to three major national political figures, Newt Gingrich, John Edwards, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Men and women have to face scrutiny of their career or life in the field of politics by the media looking for scandals.

Infidelity

Sex scandals involve sexual affairs which usually, but not always, involve infidelity. Infidelity has many definitions, either based on experience or research done on people who have been involved in the act of disloyalty and trust. To some, infidelity "is a complex phenomenon with multiple reasons driving people to cheat on their partners". A 2018 New York Times article cited an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy national survey, stating "that 15 percent of married women and 25 percent of married men have had extramarital affairs".

Gender stereotypes in scandals

Sex scandals tend to include a bias when it comes to men and women who are caught and then need evidence to explain their situation. A 2015 study concluded that gender stereotypes were "refer(ed) to the meanings that individuals and societies ascribe to males and females". According to Juliet Williams at the University of California, Los Angeles the 1998 Clinton–Lewinsky scandal in the United States made the US Congress, media, and citizens look at male candidates and politicians in a different light by "normalizing public discussion of sex acts." John Edwards, David Petraeus, Anthony Weiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Herman Cain, are other examples of men involved in sex scandals that have caused the public not to give men the benefit of the doubt. This has caused the debate between politics and sex scandals to be seen in a different light. It has allowed gender-shifting and the role of gender to become more unbiased in the selection of candidates during their evaluation and allowing more power for women fighting against stereotypes due to scandals, and men being seen as more skeptical.

A year after the 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases was first reported, leading to the viral spread of the #MeToo movement, New York Times published a list of 201 names of prominent men in the United States who had lost their jobs following public allegations of sexual harassment.

Social attitudes have traditionally been less forgiving when minors are involved. In France, for example, the scandal surrounding Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier and former call girl Zahia Dehar – for whom Bouvier allegedly acted as a pimp in the late 2000s, paying her to appear at dinners for entertainment when she was 17 years old – has caused outrage and opened a debate about powerful men in society abusing their power. The fall from grace and imprisonment of Anthony Weiner, following his sexting of explicit pictures to a 15-year-old girl, is another notable example of the pre-#MeToo era.

See also

Casting couch
Celebrity sex tape
Deviancy amplification spiral
List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
:Category:Sex scandals
Weinstein effect

References

External links
 Beaucoup B.S. - Christopher Hitchens

Human sexuality
Scandal