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.
His son-in-law Bobby Valentine, a former major league manager, says Branca died today at a nursing home in Rye, N.Y.
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.