Where have you gone Rico Carty?

By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press

According to the Baseball Almanac, Rico Carty is the 257th oldest living former Major League Baseball player, right between Dooley Womack at 256 and Tom Parsons at 258. 

For the record, I have never heard of Womack or Parsons. (In case you are interested, the list – from 1 to 1,000 – is online at https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/Oldest_Living_Baseball_Players….)

Carty, 84, was an outfielder, mostly for the Milwaukee Braves and the Atlanta Braves. At 6-3 and 200 pounds, he was nicknamed "Beeg Boy." 

He was one of the first prominent Major Leaguers from the Dominican Republic – and that was significant.

Carty represented the Dominican Republic in the 1959 Pan American Games and signed a contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1959. He was an excellent hitter, but not a great defensive player. Originally a catcher, Carty was converted into an outfielder in order to lessen his defensive liabilities and to get his bat into the everyday lineup.

He made his Major League debut for the Milwaukee Braves in September 1963 – and no, I do not remember it. My baseball interest (back then an obsession) started a few years later.

Carty had an impressive first full season in 1964, finishing second to Roberto Clemente for the National League batting title with a .330 average and finishing the season as runner-up to Dick Allen in the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year Award ballot.

Carty played in the Major Leagues from 1963-79, mostly with the Braves, where he helped the franchise win its first National League Western Division title in 1969. Carty had a career batting average of .299 and was the 1970 National League batting champion with a .366 batting average. He earned a starting role in the 1970 All-Star Game as a write-in candidate.

Carty's best season was in 1970, when he hit 25 home runs with 101 runs batted in and won the National League batting title with a .366 batting average, the highest average in the Major Leagues since Ted Williams – the greatest hitter who ever played the game – recorded a .388 batting average in 1957 when he was almost 40 years old.

Despite not appearing on the All-Star ballot, Carty was voted to be a starting outfielder for the National League as a write-in candidate in the 1970 All-Star Game, playing alongside Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Willie Mays in the outfield. It would be the only All-Star appearance of Carty's career.

It always bothered me that Carty's lifetime average ended at .299. A career average of .300 or higher used to be a strong consideration for the Hall of Fame. Carty fell just short.

Carty’s career-best 171 OPS+ from the 1970 season is the third-highest mark ever by a Braves player over at least 130 games during the Atlanta era. Aaron topped this four times in his career, including twice (1969 and 1971) after the club moved from Milwaukee.

As I recall from watching and attending Cincinnati Reds games vs. the Atlanta Braves with my dad, Carty always seemed to be one of the best hitters in the game – for either team. He had an aggressive stance at the plate, like he was ready to crush whatever Jim Merritt or Gary Nolan had to offer.

In addition to his Braves career, Carty also played for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. 

His career was marked by battles with injuries, illnesses (tuberculosis) and teammates. Carty’s tenure was tarnished by a clubhouse fight he had with Ron Reed, and the punches he exchanged with Aaron on a team flight in 1967. 

In 1996, Carty was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame as part of their inaugural class, and in 2023 he was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame.

Where Rico Carty is today, I have no idea. Maybe my friend and fellow baseball fan Jeff Ryan might know. Jeff (no relation) and I had good conversations about baseball and its many changes through the years when I was a newspaper publisher in West Union a quarter of a century ago.

Carty was good. There can be no doubt about that. And he paved the way for many, many future players from the Dominican Republic – including the Reds talented and popular shortstop Elly De La Cruz.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County's only locally owned and operated newspaper. He can be reached at roryeryan@gmail.com.