1951 Topps Blue Back #20 Ralph Branca
About Ralph Branca
The 1950 season moved Branca from the rotation to the bullpen. Manager Burt Shotton used him in 43 games but gave him only 15 starts, and he finished 7-9 with a 4.69 ERA, a career-high 7 saves and 100 strikeouts in 142 innings. Branca said a bone infection from a 1948 shin injury had settled in his shoulder and cost him velocity through 1949 and 1950. Brooklyn lost the pennant to Philadelphia on the final day of the regular season, and he later called the year a waste.
Ralph Branca was a right-handed pitcher, 6 feet 3 inches and 220 pounds, who spent most of a 12-season career (1944-1956) with the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Detroit Tigers from July 1953 to July 1954 and five games for the New York Yankees later in 1954. He debuted at 18 and won 21 games in 1947 with a 2.67 ERA, 148 strikeouts and 280 innings, making him the second-youngest National Leaguer to reach 20 wins. He was an All-Star that year and in each of the next two seasons. He started Game 1 of the 1947 World Series against the Yankees and won Game 6 in relief. In 1949 he led the National League in winning percentage at 13-5. On October 3, 1951, he gave up Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the playoff finale at the Polo Grounds. A back injury in spring training 1952 limited him afterward, and he finished 88-68 with a 3.79 ERA. He later ran the Baseball Assistance Team for seventeen years and is a member of the Westchester County Hall of Fame and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 194 | 1 | 29 | 42 | 20 | 16 | 41 | 45 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: Team card Brooklyn Dodgers
More Brooklyn Dodgers cards:
- Red Back #11 Gene Hermanski
- Red Back #16 Preacher Roe
- Red Back #31 Gil Hodges
- Red Back #38 Duke Snider
- Blue Back #42 Bruce Edwards
- Blue Back #48 Billy Cox
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #20 card?
It is Blue Back #20 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1951 Topps Baseball set?
135 cards across five issues - the Red Backs and Blue Backs (52 each), nine Team cards, and eleven each of Connie Mack's All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars. With the Zernial and Holmes variations and both versions of each Team card the master set is 146. All 135 count toward the full set; Jim Konstanty, Robin Roberts and Eddie Stanky, the three rarest Major League All-Stars, are so rarely seen that collectors often count a complete set as 132 without them.
Sources: PSA, BaseballCardPedia, Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-26.