Ralph Terry, Yankee Hurler Redeemed by One Pitch, Dies at 86

Terry rebounded the subsequent 12 months, going 16-3 regardless of lacking six weeks with a sore shoulder. However his postseason woes continued: Cincinnati’s solely win in opposition to the Yankees within the 1961 World Sequence got here off him.

For the pennant-winning Yankees of 1962, Terry went 23-12, essentially the most wins for a Yankee right-hander since Waite Hoyt in 1928. However Jack Sanford of the Giants bested him with a three-hit shutout within the second sport of that 12 months’s Sequence, bringing Terry’s postseason file to 0-4. Solely within the fifth sport did he break his streak, beating the Giants and Sanford 5-3. And after a few rainouts, he was nicely rested for an additional Recreation 7, on Oct. 16, 1962.

Candlestick Park’s well-known winds have been blowing in; for Terry, who’d given up 40 residence runs that 12 months — nonetheless a staff file — it was a blessing. As Don Larsen, who’d pitched the one good sport in World Sequence historical past six years earlier, watched from the Giants bullpen, Terry mowed down the primary 17 Giants he confronted till Sanford collected a single. However the Yankees led 1-0 because the Giants batted within the backside of the ninth.

Matty Alou led off with a bunt single. Terry struck out each Alou’s brother Felipe and Chuck Hiller, however then confronted three future Corridor of Famers. The primary, Willie Mays, doubled to proper; solely Roger Maris’s fast relay saved Alou at third. Then got here McCovey. And out got here the Yankees supervisor, Ralph Houk.

A number of pitchers, together with Whitey Ford, had been warming up, however Houk caught together with his starter — and left it to him whether or not to stroll the left-handed McCovey, who’d already homered off him within the Sequence and tripled earlier within the sport, and, taking part in the odds, pitch to the right-handed Orlando Cepeda.

Terry opted to pitch to McCovey. He’d discovered his quantity, he thought — excessive and tight — and would work his spots. With a Nationwide League umpire behind the plate in a Nationwide League park, he knew he’d get no shut calls, however he’d not less than have a shot at getting him out. And he felt that Cepeda, hitless that day, was due. Terry feared that his second baseman, Richardson, was shading McCovey too near first, however he mentioned nothing.