The Echoes of a Home Run: 'The Shot Heard Round the World' Stirred the Nation, The Secret Behind It Preyed on Two Men (Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2006, adapted from The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World by Joshua Prager) (sub. req'd)

A fascinating article, adapted from Joshua Prager's new book, on what the 50-year secret that the Giants stole the sign for the pitch that became Bobby Thomson's pennant winning homer in 1951 did to the participants:

Branca had long viewed his lot as more unfair than unfortunate. Lying now in a hotel bedroom, two thoughts seized the pitcher: the miracle Giants had done something despicable and an unendurable Dodger loss was in no way his fault. "I made a decision not to speak about it," says Branca. "I didn't want to be a crybaby. Anything I would say about that situation they would label me a sore loser."

But discretion had its price. Leashed, a secret raced round and round in Branca, overtook the baby steps turned strides that had in three years brought peace. "It changed my personality," observes Branca. "I was quick to criticize. I was always looking for reasons to be skeptical. I think I became an angry man after that."
. . . .
[N]either man savored his time with the other. "I didn't enjoy being in his company," Thomson told me flatly of his five decades beside Branca, "because people would bring up the subject. I've been a burden to Ralph."

Ralph in turn was a burden to Bobby. Even as Thomson had for decades co-signed the sweet spots of baseball after baseball, not once had he offered up to Branca a confession. "I guess I've been a jerk in a way," he said. "That I don't want to face the music. ... Maybe I've felt too sensitive, embarrassed maybe."