However, in his autobiography, Hodges related how a Brooklyn fan, excited over what appeared to be a certain Dodger victory, hooked up his home tape recorder to his radio.

He's had a single and a double and he drove in the Giants' first run with a long fly to center... Brooklyn leads it 4–2...Hartung down the line at third not taking any chances... Lockman with not too big of a lead at second, but he'll be runnin' like the wind if Thomson hits one... Branca throws... [audible sound of bat meeting ball] There's a long drive... it's gonna be, I believe...THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT!!

Bobby Thomson... hit a line drive... into the lower deck... of the left-field stands... and this blame place is goin' crazy!

On October 16, 2014, the eventual World Series champion Giants won the National League pennant on a three-run walk-off homer by Travis Ishikawa, and Fox broadcaster Joe Buck quoted the line as the ball landed in the right-field stands.

"[5] This historic call is also preserved at the Hall of Fame at the graphic aspect with the original score sheet Hodges was personally logging.

Under Thomson's name in the ninth inning slot, there begins a long streak across the entire score sheet where Hodges, pencil to the paper awaiting the outcome of the at-bat, jumped up in excitement, and his pencil-holding hand streaked across his score sheet, unintentionally capturing the moment.

In the film The Godfather, Sonny Corleone is listening to this broadcast on his car radio when he is murdered at a toll booth.

The broadcast is also used in an episode of M*A*S*H and has been fictionalised in the first chapter of Don DeLillo's epic magnum opus novel, Underworld, (published separately as a novella under the title Pafko at the Wall.)

In the film Parental Guidance, Artie Decker (Billy Crystal) plays the broadcast for his grandson Turner (Joshua Rush), as a way of boosting his self-esteem due to his speech impediment.

At the end of the film, Turner delivers the commentary at his sister's recital without a single stutter, receiving a standing ovation.

Some other fights Hodges called include Beau Jack vs. Ike Williams, Joe Louis vs. Ezzard Charles, Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta, Floyd Patterson vs. Hurricane Jackson, and Joe Louis vs. Cesar Brion.

[8] Hodges, who had played halfback for the University of Kentucky before suffering a broken ankle in his sophomore year, also broadcast professional and college football at various times in his career, including several years in which he teamed with Giants partner Lon Simmons to call San Francisco 49ers radio broadcasts.

[11] In 2008, Hodges was elected into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, joining his longtime broadcast partner Simmons, who was inducted in 2006.