by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 22, 2010

Phil Bildner's new children's book - The Shot Heard 'Round the World - isn't about the American Revolution, but a famous 1951 play-off game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.  ("Dodger baseball was Brooklyn's religion," writes Bildner, adding that Ebbets Field "was Brooklyn's cathedral.")  The winning team would go on to the world series for a showdown against New York's third team, the New York Yankees. Yet the book's jacket promises it's not just a story about baseball - but also "a sweeping view of life in Brooklyn in the summer of 1951, from its streets, to its Cyclone, to its stadium...."

Even the narrator speaks like a Brooklyner, remembering "livin' on Linden Boulevard on the outskirts of Flatbush.." There's a nice illustration of Ebbet's Field - from the outside, and then the inside - but then the story returns to the fans, chattering at home or arguing on the sidewalk. He namechecks the Dodgers - including Jackie Robinson - as well as the Giants' players, and acknowledges familiar names  on the Yankees like Joe Dimaggio and Yogi Berra. Then he lists out some nearby neighborhoods, adding "all of Brooklyn knew that at long last the World Series banner was going to fly high and proud above our borough."

The Dodgers' lose a 13-game lead as the Giants hit an unstoppable winning streak - including 16 wins in a row. "After a long, hot summer, the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees were the only teams left standin' in all of baseball," he notes, remembering its personal significance. ("[A]cross the five boroughs every truck driver, transit cop, and trial judge was transfixed...") Bildner dedicates the book to his father, but also thanks "baseball fans everywhere..."

It's not Bildner's first story about New York. He also wrote "Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing," about the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. And illustrator C. F. Payne does his best to capture the neighborhood's special feeling. For the day of the big game, Payne draws the city streets - empty and abandoned!

"The entire borough of Brooklyn came to a halt... Up on Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville, the rabbis recited special hymns and prayers." The playgrounds are deserted and the barbershops are empty, and there's no line at Coney Island for the Cylone and the Wonder Wheel. "No knishes knished. No trolleys trolleyed..."

He refers to the team as "my Dodgers," and remembers the single by Jackie Robinson. The historic game culminates with a three-run lead at the bottom of the ninth. "Three outs to go.

"Three measly outs..."

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