Herman Franks Forum

According to author Joshua Prager in his 2006 book The Echoing Green, Herman Franks played a critical role in the Giants' Bobby Thomson's famous pennant-winning home run in the 1951 NL tiebreaker playoffs—Baseball's Shot Heard Round The World. According to Prager, Franks, who was a Giants coach under Durocher, was stationed in the Giants' center-field clubhouse at the Polo Grounds, their home field, stealing the opposing catcher's signs through a telescope and relaying them through second-string catcher Sal Yvars (positioned in the bullpen) to the Giants' coaches and hitters. When asked where he was when Thomson hit his home run, Franks said, in 1996, that he was "doing something for Durocher" at the time.

Interesting story. I knew Herman Franks. His daughter was my Kindergarten teacher. 

Cool! Did she teach you sign stealing?

I had a buddy who went to prom with one of Earl Weaver's daughters. Said he was the nicest guy.

so the Dodgers fail to make the post season [which at that time, was directly into the world series,] because of sign stealing in 1951, and

about 66 years later, in 2017 they fail to win the world series based on sign stealing by the Astros.  

the Dodgers need to figure out how to protect their signs