The Dominican-born outfielder who loved to call himself the Beeg Boy got an early humbling from Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. After a rough day at the plate against Koufax, young Rico Carty asked him, "You mad at me, Koufax?"
Ever the gentleman, Koufax replied, "Young man, I don't even know you. But as long as you're hitting ahead of Henry Aaron, you're going to have a tough time with me." Carty's misfortune would also be to have a tougher time in baseball than he should have had.
Carty died at 85 Saturday night in an Atlanta hospital, after being brought there with intestinal issues. He left memories of astounding batting and equally astounding health issues. One moment, he was derided as a hypochondriac, but the next he'd be pitied for another injury, another ailment, and in one case a prospectively life-threatening illness.
No one saw coming the almost-grave climax of his early-career injury jinx when Carty was forced to sit the entire 1968 season out battling tuberculosis. That was a full decade after another Brave, Hall of Fame second baseman Red Schoendienst, was forced to battle the same illness after playing a World Series without knowing that illness was leaving him out of breath running the bases.
When he was healthy, Carty was a force at the plate. Enough to become the game's first write-in all-star in 1970 (his name hadn't appeared when the ballots were printed that spring training) and earn dispensation from Atlanta' then-mayor, Sam Massell in 1971, after an incident provoked by two police officers using racial slurs toward Carty and his brother-in-law. Massell ordered the two cops suspended post haste.
That was during the same season a blood clot in his leg ended a second full season in four years. It came to the point where anyone suggesting Carty was receiving too many bad breaks might have been shushed on the spot for fear of jinxing the talented batsman into yet another injury, possibly a fracture, but who knew what.
After a 1972 in which he hit well, but missed yet more significant injury time, Carty was finally traded to the Texas Rangers. Managed at the moment by Whitey Herzog. The White Rat shrugged off the difficult side of Carty's image. "I'm looking for ballplayers, not Boy Scouts," Herzog insisted.
Playing Dominican ball in the offseason, Carty incurred yet another injury, when Pedro Borbon hit him in the jaw with a pitch. Then Herzog thought Carty would be ideal for the new designated hitter role, considering his defensive play was once described politely as "amusing." Carty thought otherwise.
Seen too often as a troublemaker while he insisted he was doing nothing much more than standing up for himself, Carty would travel through four more teams (including a pair of return engagements to two of them, the Blue Jays and the Athletics) before his major league days expired.
Legendary New York columnist Dick Young once described Carty as perfect for any team "looking for a big bat and willing to accept a big headache." Carty's Society for American Baseball Research biographer, Wynn Montgomery, took a far more nuanced view:
The flamboyant, self-described "Beeg Boy" made more comebacks than a boomerang, and few who saw him play will ever forget his aggressive right-handed swing and his trademark one-handed catches. He was a study in contrasts — known for his infectious grin and also for his fierce glare at the plate; popular because of his cheerful banter with fans yet branded a troublemaker. Carty argued that the latter reputation was unfounded, claiming he simply "stood up for his rights." The record shows that he defended those rights frequently and that he was an equal-opportunity combatant, engaging in physical and/or verbal conflicts with teammates, managers, umpires, fans, local police, and at least one front office.
One minute, Carty might fall into a fight with his Hall of Fame teammate Aaron. The next, Aaron would be amazed that Carty lost to Mets outfielder Tommie Agee as the National League's 1969 Comeback Player of the Year: "[Agee] only came back from a bad year. Rico came back from a hospital bed." He had a .962 OPS during the Braves' 1969 National League Championship Series sweep out by the Mets; he led the entire Show with his .366 batting average and .454 on-base percentage in 1970.
Yet he played Dominican winter ball for every year he was in the major leagues, saying he owed his country "a lot," and he stayed involved in baseball well after his playing days ended. Whatever the battles he fought in the U.S. Show, Carty managed to leave behind two outstanding memories, his room-brightening smile and a reputation for generosity not always allowed to breathe from beneath his battles.
Not to mention achieving a milestone that could only happen once: Carty nailed the first base hit by a Brave in Atlanta itself, following the team's move from Milwaukee after the 1965 season — a leadoff single against Pirates pitcher Bob Veale in the second inning. He went 2-for-5 with a walk in a game the Pirates won in 13 innings, 3-2.
One way or the other, the Beeg Boy let you know he was in the house.
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