The Pecan Park Eagle

Ted Williams and Carroll Hardy ~ in a mid-1980s memoir moment.

Carroll Hardy’s ability to be in the right place at the right time married well to his dynamic talent for using his skills, talent, intelligence and luck to the best advantage of his on-the-plate opportunities.

1. He lettered in track, football, and baseball at the University of Colorado.
2. He set university records in each sport that survive to this day.
3. He was the most valuable player in the 1954 Hula Bowl
4. He was the 34th pick in the 1955 NFL draft as a running back for the SF 49ers.
5. He was a TD pass favorite receiver of 49ers QB Y.A. Tittle in 1955.
6. In 1958, he hit his first MLB home run as a pinch hitter for Roger Maris.
7. He was the only player in baseball history to pinch hit for Ted Williams.
8. In 1960, he was booed at Fenway for replacing Williams in left in his last game.
9. He was the only player to pinch hit for both Ted Williams.and Carl Yastrzemski.
10. In December 1962 he was traded to the Houston Colt .45s by the Boston Red Sox.
11. After 1963-64 in Houston, he played at Minnesota in 1967 and was done – with baseball.
12. In 1968, he began a two decade run as an executive with the Denver Broncos of the NFL.

Carroll Hardy has sometimes been referenced as “The Forest Gump of Real Life.” Here’s one link to some of the big moments we listed here and, with a little googling of your own, you will find much more on one of the most colorful “name” players to pass through Houston in our city’s early big league days.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/31/sports/sp-crowe-nest31

Well, Carroll Hardy was no Forest Gump ~ and neither was he the twin brother of “Joe Hardy” of “Damn Yankees”, soul-selling notoriety, but he was a bright, multi-talented human being whose dimmest star quality, unfortunately, just turned out to be his measurable performance for the stat-brokers of baseball.

********************

This entry was posted on November 4, 2018 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Baseball, culture, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.