General
Rico Carty, Exceptional Hitter Who Was Stymied by Injuries, Dies at 85
A Dominican baseball star, he had a dazzling rookie year and became a pioneering designated hitter, but injuries and tuberculosis held him back.
Rico Carty, a Dominican baseball star whose early exceptional promise was thwarted by untimely injuries, died on Saturday. He was 85.
His death was reported by Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves, one of his former teams. . They did not specify where he died or the cause.
After a blazing hot start in the major leagues that included a dazzling rookie year, his progress was impeded by broken bones, hamstring problems and even tuberculosis. Carty, who was 6-foot-3 and called himself the Beeg Boy, nevertheless played until he was 40, amassing 1,677 hits and 204 home runs.Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo Carty was born on Sept. 1, 1939, in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. His father, Leopoldo, worked in a sugar mill, and his mother, Olivia, was a midwife. He had 15 brothers and sisters.
After dabbling in boxing, he turned his focus to baseball and soon attracted the attention of major league scouts.
“I had no idea how serious those offers really were,” Carty said in a 2008 interview with Baseball Prospectus. “I said yes to everyone that gave me one, just in case the others didn’t work out. In the end I signed with nine major league and three winter ball teams.”
His rights were eventually awarded in 1959 to the Milwaukee Braves, who have since moved to Atlanta. The team converted him to an outfielder from a catcher.
