Ralph Branca the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up the “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” to Bobby Thomson that sent the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series turns 87 today. Branca was a pretty good major league pitcher from 1944-1956 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees. He was a 3 time All-Star with the Dodgers in 1947, 1948, and 1949. He broke into the major leagues with the Dodgers at age 18. His best season was 1947 when he won 21 games. After giving up that home run to Bobby Thomson in 1951 his career took a nose dive. He only pitched one game after the age of 28. A back injury is what kind of sidetracked his career.

Ralph Branca had an interesting career and life. His daughter married Bobby Valentine who became a major league player and long time manager [recently fired by the Boston Red Sox} Just last year Branca found out that his mother was jewish. I don’t think many people have handled dramatic failure like Ralph Branca did. He would become friends with Bobby Thomson after their careers were over with. They would go to autograph shows together. He didn’t let the home run define who he was.

In Branca’s final appearance in a spring training game he was relieved by Sandy Koufax. The first player that Sandy Koufax struck out in the major leagues would be Bobby Thomson.

There has always been controversy surrounding Thomson’s dramatic game winning playoff home run off of Branca. There are those who believe Thomson was tipped off on what pitch was coming. Thomson always denied it. Branca believed that Thomson was tipped off on it.