Bobby Thomson Controversy
What was controversial about thomson?
What was controversial about Bobby Thomson?
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
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.
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)

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The United States Penitentiary, Thomson (USP Thomson), formerly Thomson Correctional Center, is a high-security federal prison located in Thomson, Illinois. It has an area of about  and comprises 15 buildings. The facility is enclosed by a , 7000 volt electric fence surrounded by an additional  exterior fence covered with razor wire. Thomson has eight cellhouses with a rated capacity of 2,100 beds—1,900 high-security SMU beds and 200 minimum-security beds at the onsite camp—and according to BOP officials, the potential to use some of its high-security rated capacity to house up to 400 ADX inmates. From its completion in 2001 to 2006, it remained empty. By 2009, only the minimum-security section housed prisoners.

In October 2012, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) purchased Thomson Correctional Center from the State of Illinois for $165 million. Plans to transfer inmates from Guantanamo Bay to the facility had already been blocked by Congress.

In August 2014, Donald Hudson was named the first warden of the prison. The prison was fully activated in January 2019 and as of March 2020, the prison had an inmate population of 1,067. In June 2019, the prison crossed the 400 employee mark with an authorization to hire 200 more over the next few years as inmate population continues to ramp up.
As of May 2020, USP Thomson holds 1009 inmates at the high-security USP and 74 at the minimum security camp.

History
The building of the prison was controversial; early plans suggested using the site of the former Savanna Army Depot, several miles north of Thomson.  One of the main reasons the prison was controversial was concern that the prison would have a negative impact on the environment, especially being so close to the Mississippi River.

Thomson Correctional Center was built between May 1999 and November 2001.  Its completion cost $140 million, but the state omitted opening costs from the 2002 budget, and Governor George H. Ryan called for a delay to the opening to save $50 million per year in operating costs.  By 2009, the total cost to the state of Illinois had exceeded $170 million.  The minimum security unit has an annual budget of $7 million. State budget constraints as well as labor union opposition to closing other state prisons prevented the maximum-security prison from opening.

In 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich proposed to close the state prison in Pontiac and to open the Thomson maximum-security unit instead. However, Blagojevich was subsequently arrested on December 9, 2008, and was removed from office.  His replacement, Governor Pat Quinn, cancelled plans to close the Pontiac prison in March 2009, leaving Thomson unused.

Transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees 

On December 15, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama, via a Presidential memorandum, formally ordered the departments of Justice and Defense to arrange federal ownership of the prison, and prepare for transfer there of both federal prisoners and Guantanamo detainees. According to previous press reports, the acquisition plan contemplated housing  up to 100 inmates from the camp, in addition to other federal prisoners.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons would erect a more secure perimeter fence, so its perimeter security exceeded supermax standards.  The portion of the Thomson prison that would be used to house Guantanamo detainees would be operated by the Department of Defense, while the rest of the prison would be operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

CNN stated that before the decision was announced, many in the town had welcomed the idea of Guantanamo prisoners being housed in their town, in hopes it would revitalize the local economy and bring jobs. However, funding for detainee transfers was blocked.

Federal Bureau of Prisons Purchase 
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s office announced on October 2, 2012, that the Obama administration and Federal Bureau of Prisons would buy the Thomson Correctional Center from the state of Illinois for $165 million. An administration official said the deal was to address overcrowding issues, and Thomson would not be used to house any Guantanamo detainees, which the official noted was prohibited by law. "The entire facility will house only [Bureau of Prisons] inmates (up to 2,800) and be operated solely by BOP.  Specifically, it will be used for administrative maximum security inmates and others who have proven difficult to manage in high-security institutions," said the official, who asked not to be named. This statement was echoed in a letter from United States Attorney General Eric Holder. "I have committed that no Guantanamo detainees will be transferred to Thomson. As you know, any such transfer would violate express legal statutory prohibitions," Holder said in a letter to Representative Frank Wolf, who fought the proposal.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said the move would create 1,000 jobs in the area of Thomson. Federal officials have said that building a new prison instead of buying Thomson would take years and cost about $400 million. State officials estimated that annual operation of the facility would generate more than $122 million in operating expenditures, including salaries and $61 million in local business sales. The prison was fully activated in January 2019.

Notable inmates

References

External links

Infrastructure completed in 2001
Buildings and structures in Carroll County, Illinois
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
Prisons in Illinois
2001 establishments in Illinois
Federal Bureau of Prisons W.B. Thomson  was a rugby union international who represented England from 1892 to 1895.

Early life
W.B. Thomson was born in 1871, in Matabeleland, then deemed part of South Africa but in what would later become South Rhodesia.  He was educated at Bedford Modern School.

Rugby union career
Thomson played his club rugby for Blackheath F.C. and made his international debut on 2 January 1892 at his club's home ground at the Rectory Field, Blackheath in the England vs Wales match. He played on four occasions for England and was on the winning side on three occasions. He played his final match for England on 9 March 1895 at the Athletic Ground, Richmond in the England vs Scotland match.

Personal life
Wardlaw Brown Thomson married Mary Ethel Brewis in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1896 They had a son, Wardlaw Ivor Thomson who was killed in the First World War.  WB Thomson died in 1921.

References

1871 births
People educated at Bedford Modern School
English rugby union players
England international rugby union players
Rugby union centres
Year of death missing