Currently alive, at 90 years of age.
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1926 – Born on the 6th of January in Mount Vernon, New York. He is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.
1944-1956 – Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1947 – A three-time All-Star, he won 80 games for the Dodgers with a career-high 21 wins.
1951 – He is also remembered for one infamous relief appearance in a playoff game against the crosstown rival New York Giants.
1953-1954 – Played for Detroit Tigers.
1954 – Played for New York Yankees.
1986 – Branca’s experience is in stark contrast to that of Donnie Moore of the California Angels, who gave up a dramatic home run to Boston’s Dave Henderson in the American League Championship Series, and committed suicide three years later.
2001 – Branca later learned from Detroit Tiger Ted Gray that the Giants had stolen the signs to the two pitches he threw Thomson.
– That rumor was confirmed in The Wall Street Journal, when Giant Sal Yvars admitted that he relayed to Thomson the stolen signs for Branca’s fastballs.
2007 – Branca lives at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, where he has been a member for about 40 years. He is also a member of the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.