Until Donnie Moore’s ill-fated pitch to Dave Henderson in the fifth game of the 1986 American League play-offs, it could be argued that no pitcher had ever suffered a more devastating loss than Ralph Terry did on October 13, 1960. 

 

            Unlike Moore, however, there would come a day when Terry would get a second chance, a chance at redemption.  And on that day, he would effectively erase his darkest of days and replace it with a shining moment that would become the crowning achievement of his career.

 

            Ralph Willard Terry pitched for four different teams during his 12 seasons in the Major Leagues, finishing with a modest career record of 107-99 and a 3.62 earned run average that was only a fraction below the league average (3.69).  His name most likely would have been forgotten long ago by all but the most diehard of baseball fans if not for the fact that he threw the final pitch in two of the most memorable World Series seventh games in baseball history.

 

            Signed as an 18-year-old in 1954 by legendary scout Tom Greenwade—the same scout that discovered and signed Mickey Mantle—Terry made his Major League debut with the New York Yankees in 1956, going 1-2 in 13 innings of work.  In June of the next season, he was packaged with Billy Martin, Woodie Held and Bob Martyn in a deal with the Kansas City Athletics for Ryne Duren, Harry “Suitcase” Simpson, Jim Pisoni and Milt Graff.

 

            Pitching for the moribund A’s, Terry went 17-28 over the next two seasons before the Yankees reacquired him in May of 1959, sending pitchers Tom Sturdivant and Johnny Kucks, and infielder Jerry Lumpe to Kansas City in a deal that also netted them outfielder Hector Lopez.

 

            While the Yanks struggled to a distant third place finish behind the Go-Go Chicago White Sox that year, Terry posted a lackluster 3-7 record but a very respectable 3.39 earned run average in 24 appearances for the Pinstripers.

 

            The big right-hander made 23 starts for the Yanks’ pennant-winning 1960 team, posting a 10-8 record and a 3.40 ERA.  But in the World Series against Pittsburgh, Terry’s name would go down in baseball history along with Ralph Branca as one of the game’s greatest goats.

 

            Terry started Game Four of the ’60 Series and pitched well—6.1 innings, 3 runs, 1 walk, 5 strike outs—but lost 3-2.  He didn’t appear again in the Series until two outs in the bottom of the eighth of the decisive Game Seven.

 

            The Yanks had entered the bottom of the eighth with a 7-4 lead.  But a bad hop grounder that struck New York shortstop Tony Kubek in the throat opened the floodgates for a five-run Pirate rally that was capped by back-up catcher Hal Smith’s three-run homer off of reliever Jim Coates, putting Pittsburgh ahead 9-7. 

 

            New York staged a rally of its own in the top of the ninth, tying the game 9-9.  But Terry, who had gotten the final out of the eighth in relief of Coates, threw just two pitches in the last of the ninth, the second a hanging slider that Bill Mazeroski hammered far over the leftfield wall in old Forbes Field for the only Game Seven walk-off homer in World Series history.

 

            Terry and the Yanks bounced back to again win the American League pennant in 1961 and this time took the World Series in five games against the Cincinnati Reds.  Ironically, Terry, who was a brilliant 16-3 with a 3.15 ERA in ’61, suffered the Yanks’ only loss of the Series, a 6-2 setback at the hands of Reds’ right-hander Joey Jay in Game Two.

 

            The 1962 campaign turned out to be the best of Terry’s career as he went 23-12 with a 3.19 ERA and was named to the American League All-Star team.  His 23 wins led the American League while his 14 complete games, career-high 176 strike outs, and three shut-outs were all team highs.

 

            Terry’s streak of World Series bad luck, however, continued in his first start of the 1962 Classic against the San Francisco Giants when he lost Game Two to Giants’ ace Jack Sanford 2-0.  One of the Giants’ two runs in the game came on a tremendous home run to deep rightfield by San Francisco slugger Willie McCovey.

 

            Terry, who was 0-4 in World Series competition following the Game Two defeat, finally notched his first World Series victory in a pivotal Game Five in New York, putting the Yanks ahead in the Series three games-to-two with a 5-3 decision over Sanford courtesy of rookie Tom Tresh’s tie-breaking three-run homer in the last of the eighth.  Terry went the distance for the win, scattering eight hits, walking only one and striking out seven.

 

            The 1962 World Series, which stretched out over 12 days due to rain storms that pounded the San Francisco Bay Area that October, came down to a winner-take-all Seventh Game on October 16, at Candlestick Park and a third match-up of Terry versus Sanford.

 

            Terry was working on a perfect game, retiring the first 17 batters he faced, before Sanford broke the spell with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth. 

 

            The Yanks, meanwhile, could manage only a single tally against Sanford, who was 24-7 that year.  With no one out in the top of the fifth, New York loaded the bases on singles by Bill Skowron and Clete Boyer and a walk to Terry.  Sanford escaped a big Yankee rally by inducing Kubek to bounce into a double play, but Skowron crossed homeplate on the grounder for what would prove to be the game’s lone run.

 

            Through eight innings, the Giants’ lone threat of the game came on a two-out triple by McCovey in the bottom of the seventh.  But the big Giant first baseman was stranded at third when Terry fanned Cepeda.

 

            Entering the bottom of the ninth, Terry was working on a two-hitter.  Pinch-hitter Matty Alou opened the inning with a drag bunt single.  Terry responded by striking out the next two hitters, Felipe Alou and Chuck Hiller, bringing the Giants’ great centerfielder, Willie Mays, to the plate.

 

            Mays promptly slashed a line drive into the rightfield corner.  Alou might have scored the tying run on Mays’ clutch hit if not for the combination of a wet infield and perfect relay throws from rightfielder Roger Maris to second baseman Bobby Richardson to catcher Elston Howard.

 

            McCovey, who was already 3-for-11 against Terry for the Series with a homer and a triple, now came to the plate with first base open.

 

            Yankee manager Ralph Houk called time out and went to the mound.

 

            “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing out here,” the Yankee skipper said to Terry.  “You want to pitch to McCovey or Cepeda?”

 

            “At that time Cepeda was the more established player,” Terry recalled years later.  “I felt McCovey was more to be feared for his home run power than for a single.  Ralph asked me, ‘Do you want to walk McCovey to set up a force and pitch to Cepeda?’  I didn’t want to load the bases.  That’s how the Giants got into the World Series that year—Stan Williams of the Dodgers walked in the winning run (in a play-off between the Giants and Dodgers).  With the bases loaded, anything can happen to get a run in—a hit, an error, a wild pitch, a passed ball.  The umpire can squeeze the strike zone on you.”

 

            The decision was made to pitch to McCovey carefully and to then walk him if Terry fell behind in the count.

 

            On the first pitch, McCovey drove a flyball down the rightfield line that drifted into the stands foul.  After taking a ball on the next pitch, the future Hall of Famer hit a frozen rope that went right to Richardson at second for the final out of the game.

 

            “I’m a very lucky fellow and I certainly thank God for a second opportunity,” Terry said after the game.  “You don’t often get another chance to prove yourself in baseball or in life.”

 

            Terry was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1962 World Series.

 

            He would go on to have a solid 1963 season (17-15, 3.22 ERA) for another pennant-winning Yankee team.  But arm troubles would start to plague him during a mediocre 7-11 season in 1964.

 

            After the ’64 season, Terry (along with lefty Bud Daley) was sent to the Cleveland Indians to complete the deal that brought reliever Pedro Ramos to the Yanks during their stretch run that year.

 

            Terry bounced back to go 11-6 for the Indians in 1965 with a solid 3.69 ERA, but was traded to Kansas City for pitcher John O’Donoghue in April of 1966.  After going 1-5 with a 3.80 ERA for the A’s, he was purchased by the New York Mets in a waiver deal on August 6, 1966.  Released by the Mets in November of that year, he was re-signed by the Mets in April 1967, only to be released by them once again a month later, ending his Major League career.

 

            Following baseball, Terry became a professional golfer, playing in several PGA and Senior tour events.  

 

            Terry has been married to his wife, Tanya, for 48 years and has two sons and two grandchildren. 

 

            Once upon a time, Ralph Terry was remembered only as the man who allowed Bill Mazeroski’s World Series-winning home run.  But fate and the faith of Ralph Houk, allowed him a second chance.

 

            “I was thankful to have the opportunity to pitch a seventh game and have a real shot at redemption,” Terry said years later.

 

            And so were the Yankees.

 

(Sources used include Baseball Reference, The Yankee Encyclopedia by Mark Gallagher, The World Series: A History of the Fall Classic by Ron Fimrite, The 50 Greatest Yankee Games by Cecilia Tan, All My Octobers by Mickey Mantle and Mickey Herskowitz, A Yankee Century by Harvey Frommer, The New York Times and The Kansas City Star)