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)

The home run that Branca gave up on Oct. 3, 1951, became one of the most famous in baseball history.

Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Branca with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant. Thomson’s heroics put the Giants into the World Series.

Branca, a three-time All-Star, spent the first 11 seasons of his big-league career with the Dodgers. He also pitched for the Tigers and Yankees.