MLB.com

Bobby Thomson hits one of the most famous home runs in baseball history against the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds on Oct. 3, 1951. (AP Photo)

• "The Giants win the pennant!" 56k | 300k

The words of Giants announcer Russ Hodges bring a chill to the spine of any baseball fan who hears them, even if he or she wasn't even alive when they originally came out of Hodges' mouth.

"Branca throws. There's a long drive. It's gonna be, I believe ... The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!

"The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits it into the lower deck of the left-field stands. The Giants win the pennant! And they're going crazy! They're going crazy! Whoa-oh!"

More than half a century after Hodges made his famous call, the final play of the 1951 playoff series between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers lives on as one of the greatest in Major League history, having recently been selected among the Top 30 in Mastercard's memorable moments campaign.

"It's just as good now as it was when it really happened," said Giants outfielder Monte Irvin, who fouled out two batters before the historic blast. "It was a great feat, one of the most memorable moments in the history of baseball. You had a bunch of men that had done the impossible when we caught [the Dodgers] after being 13 1/2 games behind in August and it was a perfect culmination of a great effort by the New York Giants team.