[nfbmi-talk] O T FW: Branca, pitcher who gave up 'Shot Heard 'Round World, ' dies at 90

Sun Nov 27 00:39:29 UTC 2016

Hello,

Here is a story for the many baseball fans in our affilliate.  This story
has a michigan connection since the subject player played for the Tigers for
a time.

Warmest Regards,

Fred

From: Vickie [mailto:rolisonv at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2016 12:12 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Fw: Branca, pitcher who gave up 'Shot Heard 'Round World,' dies at
90

Branca, pitcher who gave up "Shot Heard 'Round World," dies AP 

Ralph Branca's career was defined by that one high-and-inside fastball. The
Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up Bobby Thomson's famed "Shot Heard
'Round the World" that still echoes more than six decades later as one of
the most famous home runs in baseball history, died Wednesday. He was 90. 

His son-in-law, former big league manager Bobby Valentine, said Branca died
at a nursing home in Rye Brook,
New York. Branca was a three-time All-Star and spent 12 seasons in the
majors. 

Brought in from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth inning during the
deciding Game 3 of the National League pennant playoff in 1951, he gave up a
three-run homer to Thomson that gave the rival New York Giants a stunning
5-4 victory. The one-out line drive into the left field lower deck at the
Polo Grounds prompted the frenetic call from announcer Russ Hodges, "The
Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" 

The team and its fans celebrated wildly as Thomson breezed around the bases
while Branca, wearing his unlucky No. 13 jersey, trudged off the mound. "You
know," Branca told The Associated Press in 1990, "If you kill somebody, they
sentence you to life, you serve 20 years and you get paroled. ... I've never
been paroled." 

Thomson, who also homered off Branca in Game 1, capped a sensational
comeback for the Giants, who trailed the Dodgers by more than a dozen games
heading toward mid-August. 

For the next 50 years, Branca and Thomson often appeared together at card
shows, corporate events and baseball functions, re-telling the story of the
home run that grew into a sports legend. They always were friendly at the
affairs, sometimes even teaming up to sing about the big moment. 

"I was closer to Ralph than to any other Dodger," Dodgers broadcaster Vin
Scully said in a statement. "He carried the cross of the Thomson home run
with dignity and grace." 

It wasn't until many years later that it was revealed that the Giants had a
little extra help. That's when it came to light that the Giants employed a
telescope-and-buzzer system that season to steal signs from opposing
catchers. With that advantage, Giants hitters got a boost in their swings. 

And for years, the question remained: Did Thomson know the high-and-inside
fastball from Branca was coming? Thomson firmly asserted that, no, he didn't
get a sign in advance. 

A three-time All-Star himself, Thomson stuck to that claim until he died in
2010 at age 86.  Branca, however, wasn't so sure about that. 

In 2001, the Giants' sign-stealing operation was detailed in a story in The
Wall Street Journal. A few days after that, Branca and Thomson saw each
other for the first time at an event in Edison, New Jersey. They talked in
private for five minutes, about a secret they'd both known about but never
shared. Later, they spoke about their discussion. "It's been a cleansing for
both of us," Branca said then. "He knew that I knew. It's better this way." 

"To me, it was a forbidden subject," the right-hander said.  "And I didn't
want to demean Bobby or
seem like I was a crybaby. 

Said Thomson: "It was like getting something off my chest after all those
years. I'm not a criminal, although I may have felt like one at first." 

And then, hours later, Thomson and Branca appeared together in Manhattan at
the New York baseball writers' dinner. In front of a ballroom full of fans,
they took turns singing about the fateful pitch and swing, to lyrics written
to the old standard "Because of You" -- a reprise of the act they performed
when the same dinner was held in January 1952. 

His matchup with Thomson was recounted by Don Delillo in a 1992 Harper's
Magazine story "Pafko
at the Wall," included five years later in the novel "Underworld." 

"Yes. It is Branca coming through the dampish glow. 

Branca who is tall and stalwart but seems to carry his own hill and dale, 

he has the aura of a man encumbered. 

The drooping lids, clodhopper feet, 

the thick ridge across the brow. 

His face is set behind a somber nose, 

broad-bridged and looming." 

One of the last remaining Boys of Summer, Branca was 88-68 with a 3.79 ERA
in his big league career.
He spent the first 11 years with the Dodgers, then played for Detroit and
the Yankees before returning to Brooklyn for a final game in 1956. 

Branca made his debut as a teen in 1944 and went 21-12 with 15 complete
games during Jackie Robinson's first season in 1947. Branca added another
win that year at Yankee Stadium in the World Series. 

"Branca to me was a hero," former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said in a
statement. "Ralph and I became very close,
my family and his family. I always enjoyed being around him. He was a tough
one in every way and I really admired him." 

Branca co-founded the Baseball Assistance Team, which aids members of the
baseball family in need of financial, medical or psychological assistance,
and served as its president for 17 years. He was a pallbearer at Robinson's
funeral in 1972. 

"Ralph's participation in the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' was eclipsed by
the grace and sportsmanship he demonstrated following one of the game's
signature moments," baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
"He is better remembered for his dedication to the members of the baseball
community. He was an inspiration to so many of us." 

Branca is survived by wife Ann and daughters Patti and Mary
-- the latter the wife of Valentine. A funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at
the Church of the Resurrection in Rye.

*****

Ralph Branca, Dodgers great who gave up "The Shot Heard 'Round the World,"
dies at 90: Gabe Lacques , USA TODAY Sports 

Ralph Branca, a key early ally for Jackie Robinson whose Brooklyn Dodgers
career was ultimately best known for giving up the game's most memorable
home run, died early Wednesday morning, according to son-in-law Bobby
Valentine . Branca, 90, was a Mount Vernon, N.Y., native who spent almost
his entire 12-year career with Brooklyn, though he missed out on the club's
only championship in 1955, returning to the Dodgers a year later. 

It was on Oct. 3, 1951, when Branca's significant place in baseball lore was
established, in the final game of the season between his Dodgers and the New
York Giants. Protecting a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning, he gave up a
three-run home run to Bobby Thomson -- "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" --
at the Polo Grounds, giving the Giants a 5-4 victory and the National League
pennant. It capped a Giants rally from a 12-1/2-game deficit on Aug. 10. New
York won its final seven games and Brooklyn lost six of its final 10 to
force a three-game playoff for the pennant. 

One of the greatest guys to ever throw a pitch or sing a song is longer with
us. Ralph Branca Passed this
morning. Branca was the Game 1 loser at Ebbets Field, but came on in relief
in the finale. Thomson's home run, immortalized by Russ Hodges' radio call
"The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! only extended the
legend of the Giants' comeback and final victory. 

The pennant race was in subsequent years shrouded in controversy, as Giants
players acknowledged in 2001 that they used a telescopic lens to steal signs
during games at the Polo Grounds. 

Regardless, Branca wasn't just a speed bump in history. An 88-game winner
over 12 seasons, he won 21 games as a 21-year-old in 1947, a season forever
known for the debut of Robinson, the first African American to play in the
major leagues. Robinson faced slurs, threats and even physical rebukes from
opponents and managers, most famously Philadelphia skipper Ben Chapman, and
even his own teammates, such as Georgia native Dixie Walker. 

While it was Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese's public display of support for
Robinson draping his arm around the second baseman that drew much renown,
Branca aided Robinson behind the scenes. 

"I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends and fellow admirers
of Ralph Branca, a three-time All-Star, a friend of Jackie Robinson and a
former President and board member of the Baseball Assistance Team," baseball
commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "Ralph was a true gentleman
who earned universal respect in the game he loved and served so well.
Ralph's participation in the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' was eclipsed by
the grace and sportsmanship he demonstrated following one of the game's
signature moments. He is better remembered for his dedication to the members
of the baseball
community. He was an inspiration to so many of us. "On behalf of Major
League Baseball, I send my best wishes to Ralph's wife Ann, his daughter
Mary, his
son-in-law Bobby Valentine and his many friends throughout the National
Pastime." 

The son of immigrants from Italy and Hungary, Branca was raised in a diverse
neighborhood in Mount Vernon, N.Y. 

"Where I lived, on 9th Avenue in Mount Vernon, black families lived right
next door to me. They came in my house, I went in theirs," Branca said in a
2014 interview with Westchester Magazine . That upbringing prompted him to
help bridge the gap for Robinson, with whom he often shared meals and
encouraged to assimilate with Brooklyn teammates. He remained close with
Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson. 

"Ralph's always been close to us," she said in a 2014 interview. "There were
players who were hostile to Jack and tried to provoke him. Ralph was one of
the players who supported him openly. Jack liked and admired him as a friend
even after (Branca) left the Dodgers." 

Branca also pitched for the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees, retiring
after returning to the Dodgers for one game in 1956. 

Eventually, his bond with Thomson grew into a friendship, as he gracefully
embraced his moment in history and even turned their connection into a
charitable cause. 

"Ralph didn't run away and hide," Thomson said at a gathering marking the
40th anniversary of the Shot. 

Said Branca: "I lost a game, but I made a friend." 

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