Ralph Terry was part of two World Series championship teams, a Series MVP and twice made the All-Star Game.
But Terry, who died Wednesday in Larned, Kansas, will forever be linked to former Pirates star Bill Mazeroski in Major League Baseball history.
Terry, who pitched for the Kansas City A’s, New York Yankees, Cleveland and the Mets in a 12-season big-league career, was on the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series in Pittsburgh.
The game was tied 9-9 when Mazeroski stepped to the plate and hit a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence or a World Series walk-off home run.
“I warmed up five times,” Terry told the Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel in 1993. “After the second time I warmed up, I pretty much left everything in the bullpen.”
“You can’t hang up a sign that says, ‘I warmed up five times,’ “ Terry added. “If you play sports long enough, things are going to happen.“
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Terry, who grew up in Oklahoma, made his major-league debut with the Yankees in 1956 and was traded to the Kansas City A’s during the following season. Also part of the seven-player deal was Billy Martin, who later would gain fame as a manager.
After the 1957 season, Terry was involved a car crash that nearly ended his career.
A biography at the Society of American Baseball Research noted: “It was first reported that he sustained a hip injury, minor bruises, and painful cuts. However, one week later, an update to his condition concluded that he was hurt more severely than first thought. His left hip-socket injury would require a few weeks in traction, and several more in a Kansas City hospital.”
Despite missing much of spring training, Terry returned and had an 11-13 record with a 4.24 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 216 2/3 innings for Kansas City, which finished seventh in the American League.
Two highlights from that season: Terry pitched a 13-inning shutout against Washington in June. Two months later, Terry again blanked the Senators, allowing just one hit and no walks. Washington’s only base runner came on a single in the third inning.
Terry opened the 1959 season with the A’s but was traded back to the Yankees in May. The next year, Terry and the Yankees made the World Series, the first of five straight appearances in the Fall Classic.
Although the 1960 World Series ended poorly for Terry, he and the Yankees won the next two titles. He was the 1962 World Series MVP after winning two starts, including a four-hit shutout of the Giants in Game 7 in San Francisco.
The Giants had runners on the corners with two outs in the ninth inning when Willie McCovey lined out to end the Series.
Terry was 56-30 with a 3.19 ERA from 1961-63. He stayed with the Yankees through the 1964 season, then pitched for Cleveland the following year. He re-joined the Kansas City A’s in 1965, then finished his career by pitching two seasons with the Mets.
‘Poor man’s Bo Jackson’
After his playing days ended, Terry became a star in another sport: golf.
Terry told Sports Illustrated in 2017 he took up golf when he was unable to take part in the A’s spring training following the car crash.
By the 1980s, Terry was on the Champions Tour. A Newsday story noted he played in more than 100 pro golf events.
“I got to play with Roger Maris when he hit 61 home runs. I got to play with Mickey Mantle, one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. I got to play for Casey Stengel,” Terry told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. “I played on seven pennant winners, pitched in five World Series. I screwed one up and I won one. That’s a lot to happen to one guy.
“And now I’m out there playing golf with Arnold Palmer, and pretty soon Big Jack (Nicklaus) and Lee (Trevino) will be out there grabbin’ some of the gravy, and I’ll tell you what, it’s such a nice feeling to watch these men play and not have to buy a ticket. I guess you could say I’m an ambassador from one sport to another.
“The poor man’s Bo Jackson.”