Ralph Wiley, 52, sportswriter

NEW YORK — Ralph Wiley, a veteran sports journalist for more than 20 years who most recently worked as a columnist for ESPN- .com and who coined the phrase ‘‘Billy Ball,’’ died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Orlando, Fla. He was 52.

‘‘He left an unforgettable impression,’’ said ESPN executive vice president and executive editor John Walsh. ‘‘He was one of the first people who was characterized as an ‘angry, young black man,’ but there was nothing further from the truth. He was a gentle, kind soul who cared deeply about his work and colleagues.’’

Mr. Wiley, known for his outspoken views, got his start at the Oakland Tribune in 1975 when he was hired as a copyboy following his graduation from Knoxville College.

He soon had a regular beat covering boxing, the Oakland A’s, and later the San Francisco Giants, and became a regular columnist.

‘‘He invented the term ‘Billy Ball,’ when [Billy] Martin managed the A’s because of the way the team stole bases and bunted and created havoc. He used that term in a story and the editor tried to leave it out. Ralph went in and told him to put it back in or else,’’ said Ron Bergman, a former Oakland Tribune colleague of Wiley’s.

‘‘And that became the whole advertising theme of the [A’s] team.

It was on all their promotions, but Ralph invented the term.