[2] Returning to the game in 1946 at age 27, he spent most of that year with the Tulsa Oilers of the Double-A Texas League, where he batted .333 with 180 hits and was selected the loop's Most Valuable Player.

The 1947 campaign saw Schenz back in the minors, this time with the Nashville Vols of the Double-A Southern Association (hitting .331 in 99 games).

However, a decade after the 1951 season, word began leaking out that the Giants' winning streak coincided with their adoption of using a telescopic spyglass to steal opposing catchers' signs from their center-field clubhouse at their home field, the Polo Grounds.

The sign-stealing rumors began to gain credence in 1991, three years after Schenz' 1988 death, when one of the 1951 Giants, reserve catcher Sal Yvars, confirmed the accusation in The Home Run Heard Round the World, by Ray Robinson.

Then, in January 2001, journalist Joshua Prager revealed details of the spying plot in The Wall Street Journal, and followed with a full account in his 2006 book The Echoing Green.

[5] For his WSJ article, Prager interviewed 22 living players, including Thomson, who, although not denying that the Giants stole signs in 1951, said he ignored purloined intelligence when he batted (he found it distracting) and a stolen signal did not lead to his famous blast.