Ralph Terry, 1936-2022

Who is the greatest Yankee ever to wear Number 23? Don't tell me Don Mattingly. This man accomplished far more.

Ralph Willard Terry was born on January 9, 1936 in Big Cabin, Oklahoma, about 40 miles southwest of future teammate Mickey Mantle's hometown of Commerce. Other Yankee stars from Oklahoma have included Bobby Murcer, from Oklahoma City; and Allie Reynolds, from Bethany, just outside Oklahoma City.

Terry starred in football and basketball in high school, but, like Mantle, his high school didn't have a baseball team, and he had to find amateur teams on which to play. He was at the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1953, when the Yankees signed him.

He made his major league debut on August 6, 1956, at Fenway Park in Boston. Wearing Number 21, he started, pitched 5 2/3rds innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. He gave up a home run to Jimmy Piersall, and gave up a walk and a single to Ted Williams before retiring him on a comeback grounder. Mantle went 0-for-3, but the Yankees got 2 hits each from Yogi Berra, Elston Howard and Jerry Coleman, and beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3. Terry had his 1st major league win.

Unfortunately, he was destined for "The Kansas City Shuttle": The Kansas City Blues had been the Yankees' top farm team, and when the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955, the Yankees continued to treat the destination like a farm team, sending prospects and/or washed-up players there in exchange for a player or two who could help them win the Pennant that season.

On June 15, 1957, Terry, 2nd baseman Billy Martin and right fielder Bob Martyn were sent to the A's, for pitcher Ryne Duren, and outfielders Harry "Suitcase" Simpson (so nicknamed because he was traded so often) and Jim Pisoni. That trade is far better remembered for Martin's exile from the Yankees, which didn't end until he was hired as manager in 1975. He wasn't punished for his bad behavior off the field: That was just a convenient excuse. The truth was, he simply wasn't hitting, and Bobby Richardson was ready to replace him.

On May 26, 1959, the Yankees brought Terry back, also acquiring outfielder Hector Lopez for pitchers Johnny Kucks and Tom Sturdivant and infielder Jerry Lumpe, a man manager Casey Stengel once described as, "He looks like the greatest player in the world, until you play him."

Now wearing Number 23, Terry had a bad season in 1959, but improved to 10-8 in 1960. In the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Stengel brought him in to pitch. He faced one batter, Bill Mazeroski. He was already known as the best-fielding 2nd baseman in the game, but was not known for his hitting. Nevertheless, he hit a home run, and it gave the Pirates the Series. Terry was now the only man ever to give up a walkoff home run in a World Series Game 7, and still is.

If that awful distinction bothered him, he didn't pitch like it thereafter. In 1961, he went 16-3, and helped the Yankees reach the World Series again. Unfortunately, the only game they lost in the Series was Terry's start, in Game 2.

In 1962, he went 23-12, and made the All-Star Game for the only time in his career. At the time, the Cy Young Award went to the best pitcher in both leagues, and it was given to Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a travesty. (The Dodgers did not win their Pennant.) Again, Terry lost Game 2 of the World Series, this time to the San Francisco Giants. But he won Game 5, and a rain delay meant that he was available for Game 7.

The Yankees scored a run on a double play in the top of the 5th inning, and that 1-0 lead held into the bottom of the 9th. Terry didn't allow a hit until the 6th inning, a single by, ironically, the opposing pitcher, Jack Sanford. He gave up a triple to Willie McCovey in the 7th, but struck Orlando Cepeda out to end the threat. Those were the only 2 hits Terry allowed over the 1st 8 innings.

But Matty Alou led off the 9th with a bunt single. Terry struck out Matty's brother, Felipe Alou, then struck out Chuck Hiller. But Willie Mays doubled down the right field line. A great throw by Roger Maris was the only thing preventing Matty from scoring.

One more out needed to win the World Series. But the tying run was on 3rd base, and the winning run was on 2nd. The batter was McCovey. Yankee manager Ralph Houk had a big decision to make. No one ever talks about the possibility of bringing in a fresh arm to face McCovey: Despite this being the 31st batter of the game that Terry would face (his pitch count is not listed in the box score), he was going to be left in.

The question was: Do we let the righthanded Terry pitch to the dangerous lefthander McCovey, or walk him, setting up a force play at every base, and pitch to the also-dangerous righthander Cepeda? No one yet knew that McCovey would finish his career with 521 home runs, or that Cepeda would finish his with 379, giving the 2 men 900 home runs even between them. Their reputations as hard hitters were already established.

Houk, Terry, catcher Elston Howard, and the infielders talked it over, and they decided to pitch to McCovey. Terry threw, and McCovey hit a vicious line drive that looked like it might drive home the runs to make the Giants the World Champions. But Richardson took 1 step to his left, and snared it. The Yankees had won, 1-0. Terry was fully redeemed for 1960, and was named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

In 1963, he went 17-15, leading the American League in games started for the 2nd straight year. After leading in innings pitched and batters faced the year before, he led in complete games and WHIP. The Yankees won another Pennant, but were swept in the World Series by the Dodgers. Terry pitched only 3 innings in the Series, and did not figure into a decision.

All that throwing caught up with him. In 1964, he only went 7-11, and only pitched 2 innings in the Yankees' World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. On October 21, 1964, Terry was sent to the Cleveland Indians, as the player to be named later in the deal that brought in Pedro Ramos.

He went 11-6 for the Indians in 1965, but felt he was treated poorly by management, and was traded to the A's for 1966. He battled injury, and in mid-season, was traded to the Mets. He made 2 appearances for them, on April 14 and 22, and was released on May 16, never to pitch again. His career record was 107-99, and he had exactly 1,000 strikeouts.

In a 1989 interview, Terry said, “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. 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.”

He left sports to become a professional golfer. He was good at it: He won the 1980 Midwest PGA Championship, qualifying for the 1981 PGA Tour. In 1986, he started playing on the Senior PGA Tour. He retired to Larned, Kansas, where he was an insurance agent. He married Tanya Simmons in 1960, and they were together to the end. They had sons Raif and Gabe, 2 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.

On December 31, 2021, he slipped on a patch of ice and hit his head. He had to be taken to a long-term care facility, where he died this past Wednesday, March 16, 2022. He was 86 years old.

With his death, there are now:

* 3 living players from the 1956 World Champion New York Yankees: Bobby Richardson, Billy Hunter and Lou Skizas.

* 7 living players from the 1961 World Champion New York Yankees: Richardson, Tony Kubek, Hector Lopez, Billy Gardner, Rollie Sheldon, Bud Daley and Jack Reed.

* 8 living players from the 1962 World Champion New York Yankees: Richardson, Kubek, Lopez, Sheldon, Daley, Reed, Joe Pepitone and Jake Gibbs.

* 14 living men who played on the Yankees for Casey Stengel: Richardson, Hunter, Skizas, Kubek, Lopez, Art Schallock, Bobby Shantz, Zach Monroe, Gary Blaylock, Jim Bronstad, Gordie Windhorn, Fred Kipp, Hal Stowe and Johnny James.

* 9 living players who were interviewed for the 1987 documentary New York Yankees: The Movie: Richardson, Roy White, Lou Piniella, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Tommy John, Dave Righetti, Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly. (Footage of interviews with Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson was shown, but they didn't sit for new interviews.)

* And 2 living men who pitched complete-game shutouts in Game 7 of a World Series: Sandy Koufax of the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers, and Jack Morris of the 1991 Minnesota Twins.