Branca, Pitcher Who Gave up Historic Home Run Dies

Bobby Thomson (L) of the New York Giants, and Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers, engage in horse play before a World Series game at Yankee Stadium in New York on Oct. 10, 1951. AP Photo/File

RYE, N.Y.—Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up the home run dubbed the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” has died at the age of 90.

Son-in-law Bobby Valentine, a former major league manager, says Branca died Wednesday at a nursing home in Rye, New York.

Former baseball player Ralph Branca throws out the first pitch before a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays in Boston on April 15, 2012. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File