You might call THIS particular late Ralph pitcher (who died yesterday on Wednesday, March 16th) "the Ralph Branca of the 1960s".

That's because, just like Branca became a footnote to MLB history when the Brooklyn Dodger ace gave up Bobby Thomson's * walk-off homer which won the Giants/Dodgers 3-game NL playoff series in 1951 and which in turn quickly became the most celebrated MLB home run of the '50s--so did the late Ralph Terry (among several other career highlights for several teams) surrender Bill Mazeroski's bottom-of-the-9th walkoff blast that won the Pirates the 1960 WS at now-razed Forbes Field** in north Pittsburgh, a swing that I think is nowadays considered the most famous homer of the '60s***.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
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* For some inexplicable reason, some baseball mavens--including the usually factually- and dictionally-meticulous Bob Costas in a ESPN documentary--mispronounce the late Thomson's surname as "Thompson".
** The same NL stadium where, as almost all serious students of the game are aware, Babe Ruth while both playing for AND managing the Boston Braves--slammed his [regular-season] career #s 712, 713 and 714...and then promptly retired (the following day or so, if I recall correctly).
*** Though as a lifelong Roger Maris accolyte, I suppose the troubled North Dakotan's #61 into Yankee Stadium's right field stands late in game #162 in 1961--and then so infamously "asterisked" by American League prez Ford Frick--is arguably even MORE legendary.

I fully recognize--admiringly!--that many of y'all herein know MLB history WAY better than my own fragmented knowledge base, so PLEASE FEEL FREE to correct any of the facts above I might have gotten askew; I did it all from memory, and am right now at least 12 hours overdue for some sleep.

STYBLE/Florida

In article <a2b75055-39b0-437c-930a-d66d42270804n@googlegroups.com>,
radioactiveseattle@gmail.com says...
>
> You might call THIS particular late Ralph pitcher (who died yesterday on Wednesday, March 16th) "the Ralph Branca of the 1960s".
>
> That's because, just like Branca became a footnote to MLB history when the Brooklyn Dodger ace gave up Bobby Thomson's * walk-off homer which won the Giants/Dodgers 3-game NL playoff series in 1951 and which in turn quickly became the most celebrated MLB home run of the '50s--so did the late Ralph Terry (among several other career highlights for several teams) surrender Bill Mazeroski's bottom-of-the-9th walkoff blast that won the Pirates the 1960 WS at now-razed Forbes
Field** in north Pittsburgh, a swing that I think is nowadays considered the most famous homer of the '60s***.
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
> ______________________________________
> * For some inexplicable reason, some baseball mavens--including the usually factually- and dictionally-meticulous Bob Costas in a ESPN documentary--mispronounce the late Thomson's surname as "Thompson".
> ** The same NL stadium where, as almost all serious students of the game are aware, Babe Ruth while both playing for AND managing the Boston Braves--slammed his [regular-season] career #s 712, 713 and 714...and then promptly retired (the following day or so, if I recall correctly).
> *** Though as a lifelong Roger Maris accolyte, I suppose the troubled North Dakotan's #61 into Yankee Stadium's right field stands late in game #162 in 1961--and then so infamously "asterisked" by American League prez Ford Frick--is arguably even MORE legendary.

The key difference between Branca and Terry is that Branca didn't have
the redemption that Terry did following "the shot heard 'round the
world". After the 1960 Mazeroski homer, Terry was World Series MVP in
1962, going 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA, including a 1-0 complete-game win in
Game 7.

--
Dave

You made a fine point there, Dave; thanks for doing so.

And your argument ALSO works against another idea I had: declaring Dodgers ace Al Downing--a sometime colleague of mine at KABC/Los Angeles, incidentally, as during the '80s and '90s he occasionally served as sports call-in host there!--the Ralph Branca of the '70s...for he had success after giving up Hank Aaron's [regularly season] career #715 in Atlanta, I think the most celebrated homer of the 1970s.*

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
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* Which I actually consider a rather UNWARRANTED reputation! That's because career-long records (like Ruth's 714, Rose's 4000-odd hits, et al.) are, to my mind at least, not NEARLY as interesting as individual-game achievements. This is actually for more than one reason, but the most vital one is that no one except the ballplayer himself ever witnesses the totality of a career-long record! (Whereas EVERYONE in the stands gets to see what happens in a given single game.) Ergo, I think a STRONG CASE can be made that Carlton Fisk's majestic and towering 11th inning homer to left field, so-furiously-waved-fair by his slugger-catcher's arms, which took the 1975 World Series to Game 7 at Fenway Park** is an even MORE-celebrated 1970s home run..
** And no, I'm NOT letting my critical judgment be swayed here by the simply GLORIOUS fact that that particular and oh-so-memorable Tuesday night [October 21st], I happened to be a mere mile away to the northwest, up in my 16th Floor dorm room*** as a Boston University junior! I mean, SURE one endlessly sees the footage of Aaron rounding the bases and dodging yahooing Braves fans in the base paths replayed all the time in the ever-cloying ESPN channels' ubiquitous promos--but don't you see the clip of Fisk waving his arms even MORE frequently on many all-sports networks?
*** But then the next night, on Wednesday the 22nd, I watched Game 7 amongst a pub crowd in a bar across the street from Fenway...and after Carl Yastrzemski went down swinging in the 9th, immediately slipped in past the departing disappointed Red Sox fans. And then swiftly made my way down to the field past overwhelmed security folk, not only to manage standing on home plate while Joe Garagiola was doing the post-game up in the booth, but also going out the outfield. And NOT merely to grab that clump of Fenway turf--which I retained in a baggie until jettisoning it in Seattle prior my 2010 Florida relocation--but ALSO to stand right smack in the vertex of that nowhere-but-in-Fenway outfield "Point" in that so oddly distinguishes the Red Sox home's right-field wall. Don't know if any NBC camera caught a shot of that, but I don't NEED a tape--the image (and sensation, as I made sure I had one shoulder blade against each wall) is burned into my mind as vividly as the first time I met the guy with the funny nose, the funnier hair and the funniest voice****.
**** That first of my couple dozen--to date, I should always recall!--face-to-face encounters 1975-2005 with The Rock Rasputin happened Sunday, November 2nd, only eleven nights after Fisk's phenominal feat, in nearby Lowell, Massachusetts, where The Rolling Thunder Revue was playing its fourth gig at Massachusetts Technical University.*****
***** But yeah, I was there as well on Thursday, October 30th for his opening-night performance, a quarter-mile east of The Plymouth Rock.