RIP Ralph Branca
 

He surrendered arguably the most famous home run ever.

Bobby Thomson has been waiting for him to arrive.


He also shares my birthday.


Thank You Ralph, for showing us how to cope with failure.


God Speed.



j6

Another Dodgers legend gone... :(

One of the kindest guys in person I've met.

Rip

RIP Ralph. You were a very good pitcher and a great human being.

Prayers to your family.

I have several Branca autographs, but a buddy notified me that he would be at a live signing, maybe in the last 12-18 months. I can't remember exactly when it was, but they were charging $25 per autograph. Branca is pretty easy to get in general, so $25 sounds somewhat steep. I didn't want to go overboard, so I picked out a couple of vintage cards and mailed them off. They turned out nice and well worth the $25 a pop. Wouldn't do it with a 90 Pacific Legends though!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81...ps75692d3d.jpg

RIP Mr. Branca.

I was surprised to recognize him in a small movie role too a few years back…

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047540/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

Never knew l shared his birthday. Only person l knew l shared it with was Malcolm Young. R.I.P. Ralph !

Unbelievable class act. Throughout his life. Stepped up and shook Jackie Robinson's hand when most of his teammates sat glued to the bench and looked away.

Branca easy to get? He was spotty TTM since 2004, and hasnt answered through the mail in 6 years! I guess it depends on what medium you'd want, but his signed 52 topps are not very plentiful.

He was at a show in White plains with Erskine, and I gladly spent the 25$ thrice, for 3 signed 52 topps

We also share our birthday with Early Wynn

- the only HOF born on January 6




j6

Another one of my old friends
 

It's all relative, but there are plenty of Branca autographs to choose from at reasonable prices. If you needed something specific, maybe that was a bit harder. I don't know, never tried and this signing was something that just fell into my lap, so I took advantage. I do prefer the better cards signed and had a 52T already, so figured the RC was the choice.

Great story about the man.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsei.../#7322f050c2f7

Interestingly, despite his mild and gracious personality, he was ejected from a 1952 World Series game for bench jockeying.

Maybe he thought they were stealing signs and he was p*ssed about that?

Sounds like Erskine wasn't up to the task so in went Branca. Not the best choice, but maybe the only one, as Thomson had hit Branca pretty good prior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Branca

It wasn't generally known until years later that the Giants were stealing the signs. Afterwards, Thomson claimed he didn't get the signs on that last at bat, but Branca didn't believe him.

Don DeLillo's semi-fictional but pretty true to the action account of the game is stunning. He weaves together several story lines in addition to the game action including a kid from Harlem who comes up with the ball, Sinatra and Gleason, J. Edgar Hoover and the first Soviet H-bomb test, a Breughel painting, and Russ Hodges.