Growing up in the shadow of my father’s New York Giants Baseball fandom, I’ve known the story of the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” all my life. It was the home run hit by Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1951 National League pennant.

In our house, my brother and I had to know a lot of sports facts just to earn a seat at the dinner table. DiMaggio’s streak (a hit in 56 consecutive games), Lawrence Taylor’s single-season most-sacks record (20.5), the man on deck when Bobby Thomson hit that famous homer (Willie Mays), and who served up that homer (Ralph Branca) … just to name a few.