Arriving on the major league scene as an 18-year-old in 1944, former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca led a forceful 12-year career, winning 88 games, totaling 829 strikeouts, and registering a 3.79 ERA. Branca, a Mount Vernon native, died Wednesday morning at a nursing home in Rye at 90, according to a tweet posted by his son-in-law, former major league manager Bobby Valentine.

As with many talented athletes, his injury-shortened career was blemished by a single moment in time: the "Shot Heard 'Round the World." During a 1951 National League playoff game, the 6'3" pitcher gave up a three-run homer to the Giants' Bobby Thomson, resulting in a 5-4 loss and a Dodgers defeat in the pennant playoff series.

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Source: http://www.westchestermagazine.com/