MLB
RYE, N.Y. — Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up the home run dubbed the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” has died at the age of 90.
The home run that Branca gave up on Oct. 3, 1951, became one of the most famous in baseball history.
Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Branca with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant. Thomson’s heroics put the Giants into the World Series.
Branca, a three-time All-Star, spent the first 11 seasons of his big-league career with the Dodgers. He also pitched for the Tigers and Yankees.
Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO — Olympic organizers in Rio de Janeiro are trying to hand over almost $3 million in ticket refund payments due to 13,000 people.
However, they can’t find them.
Organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada tells The Associated Press “we are hunting after people. We have the money, but don’t know how to get it to them.”
Andrada says 140,000 people returned Olympic and Paralympic tickets for resale with a value of 80 million Brazilian reals ($23.5 million). He says the official returns were offered in order to keep tickets away from scalpers.
Outdoors
GREEN BAY, Wis. — WLUK-TV reports that Wayne Douville was hunting near Abrams in northeastern Wisconsin on Monday when he shot and killed a 180-pound deer that had eight points on its antlers.
Upon closer inspection, the 68-year-old Douville and his aptly-named friend, Mel Buckmaster, discovered the deer had female genitalia.
Jeff Pritzl, district wildlife supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources, says the doe likely had a higher testosterone level, which might occur in one in 100,000 deer.
Douville says he plans to have the entire deer mounted, though he doubts his wife will let him put it up on the living room wall.
Soccer
ROISSY, France — FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he is warming to the idea of an expanded 48-team World Cup, rather than just 40.
Speaking outside Paris, Infantino says “I like 48 because it gives a little flavor but I’m still really torn.”
Infantino also says tests on video replays that would be accessible to referees have overcome his skepticism about the technology.
Youth Sports
NEW YORK — Three sisters from Brooklyn will be honored as SportsKids of the Year by Sports Illustrated.
The magazine announced Wednesday that track and field competitors Tai, Rainn and Brooke Sheppard will receive the award on Dec. 12.
The sisters medaled at the AAU Junior Olympics in July. Ten-year-old Rainn won the 3,000 meters, and 11-year-old Tai ran the 400, 800 and 80-meter hurdles. Nine-year-old Brooke participated in the 800, 1,500 and high jump.
The three members of the Jeuness Track Club excelled despite living in a homeless shelter with their mother, Tonia Handy, after being evicted from their apartment last year. A philanthropist bought Handy a plane ticket so she could fly to Houston to watch her daughters compete after The Associated Press wrote about the family’s challenges.
Associated Press
