It’s probably the most indelible moments in baseball historical past, Bill Mazeroski’s game-winning residence run within the backside of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to elevate the Pirates over the Yankees at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The man who threw the fateful pitch was Ralph Terry.
On Wednesday, Terry died at a long-term care facility in Larned, Kan., after having suffered a latest head damage when he slipped on ice, in keeping with his spouse, Tanya. He was 86.
“I don’t know what that pitch to Mazeroski was,” Terry advised Mike Aubrecht within the e-book Yankee Killer. “All I know is that it was the wrong one.”
That would be the most memorable pitch he threw, but it surely was only the start of a powerful profession.
Terry went on to be part of World Series championship groups every of the following two years with the Yankees, which included being named Series MVP in 1962 after going 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 25 innings over three video games. The Yankees defeated the Giants in seven video games, with Terry recording the ultimate out of a 1-0 Game 7 victory.
He was additionally a two-time All-Star.
Terry was born on Jan. 9, 1936, in a one-room, dirt-floor cabin between Chelsea and Big Cabin, Okla. His dad and mom had been simply youngsters on the time. He went on to be a four-sport star for Chelsea High School and was supplied a scholarship to play soccer at Oklahoma State however turned it down and as an alternative was drafted by the Yankees at age 18.
Three years later, in August 1956, he made his main league debut. The Yankees traded him, nonetheless, together with Billy Martin, to the Kansas City Athletics the next June. Terry struggled for a lot of his subsequent two years there and was traded again to the Yankees in May 1959. But he discovered his kind in 1960 and his profession started to blossom.
Between 1959 and 1964, Terry went 76-56 for the Yanks, which included a 16-3 mark in 1961 and a 23-12 report the next yr. Terry was finally traded to the Indians and spent one yr in Cleveland earlier than being dealt to the Athletics after which the Mets, the place he appeared in simply 13 video games over two seasons earlier than retiring.
Terry completed his profession with 107 wins, 99 losses and a 3.62 ERA. He additionally had 20 shutouts and recorded 12 saves.
He is survived by his spouse, two sons, Raif and Gabe, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.