Athletes - Ralph Branca

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	Athletes - Ralph Branca

Ralph Theodore Joseph Branca (born January 6, 1926 in Mount Vernon, New York) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1944 through 1956, Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1944-53), Detroit Tigers (1953-54), and New York Yankees (1954). He batted and threw right handed. Branca was known as a very good starter with his years in Brooklyn. A three-time All-Star, he won 80 games for the Dodgers with a career-high 21 wins in 1947. Unfortunately, he is also remembered for one infamous relief appearance in a 1951 playoff game against the crosstown rival New York Giants. Branca entered the game in the ninth inning and surrendered a walk-off home run known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" to Bobby Thomson, giving the Giants the National League pennant.

Branca was engaged to be married to Ann Mulvey, whose cousin, Father Pat Rowley, was a priest. When Branca asked, "Why me?" Father Pat told him, "Because God knew your faith would be strong enough to bear this cross." Ralph married Ann a few weeks later, and would not only express no bitterness over the gopher ball, but begin a friendship with Thomson that lasted into each man's old age, including many joint television appearances. Branca's experience is in stark contrast to that of Donnie Moore of the California Angels, who gave up a dramatic home run to Boston's Dave Henderson in the 1986 American League Championship Series, and committed suicide three years later. In a 12-year career, Branca posted an 88-68 record with 829 strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA in 1484.0 innings pitched. He would later claim that a back injury suffered during spring training in 1952, and not the reaction to the previous year's home run, cut down on his effectiveness and cut short his career. Branca is a member of the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

“You Can’t Blame Ralph Branca”

In October 2005, ESPN Classic aired an episode of The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... series, in which it examined "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" and explained why Branca cannot be held as the scapegoat:

5. The Giants' comeback. They won 37 of their final 44 regular season games to force the three-game playoff.

4. Tired arms. The Dodgers had used seven pitchers alone in their regular season finale against the Phillies.

3. First baseman
Gil Hodges
was out of position on Don Mueller
's ground ball. After Alvin Dark
singled to begin the inning, Hodges played close to the base when there was little, if any, possibility of a steal. Mueller singled off Hodges's glove to extend the rally; had Hodges not been playing close to the base, the Dodgers could have gotten a fielder's choice or possibly even a double play out of it.

2. Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen
could have had Branca intentionally walk Thomson, who had homered off Branca in Game One, and instead face rookie Willie Mays
. Mays admitted to being nervous at that moment. The trouble with this suggestion is that a nervous, 20-year-old Willie Mays was still Willie Mays. He was named National League Rookie of the Year that season, so it is not as if Branca would have been facing a marginal player.

1. The Giants cheated. During their comeback, they used a unique, if not unethical, system to steal the signs from the opposing catcher. From behind a window of the center field clubhouse at the Polo Grounds, the Giants used a high-powered military telescope and relayed to the batters, electronically, what pitch was coming.

The episode also included a "Best of the Rest" that mentioned the injury to catcher Roy Campanella
. Had Campy been able to play, he might have gotten a hit that changed the outcome, and, as one of the best handlers of pitchers in baseball history, would have told Dressen that starter Don Newcombe
was tired and should be replaced sooner than the ninth inning, and would have recommended Carl Erskine
, with one of the best curveballs of the day, be brought in to face Thomson, a good fastball hitter, rather than Branca, who relied mainly on his fastball.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ralph Branca ]

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Athletes - Ralph Branca

“You Can’t Blame Ralph Branca”

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