bkohatl
03-20-2004, 05:55 AM
When I was about 12, I went to an Atlanta Braves game with my brother. After the game we waited by the clubhouse to get an autograph. After a few minutes some of the players came out and began signing. After a few minutes, they all left except Rico Carty. Rico Carty won the Batting championship in 1970 with a .366 average. Only a couple of years before he had nearly died from undiagnosed tuberculosis. His career would be plagued by repeated injuries, including several dislocated shoulder injuries. But no one who ever saw him play would ever doubt that he always gave 100%, a 100% of the time. He was exciting to watch and an inspiration to every kid of my generation in Atlanta...and this was long before the age of steroids.
Rico Carty became a hero the old fashioned way, he earned it.
Rico Carty stayed until everyone got his autograph who wanted it. Rico took a few minutes to say something to every kid that came to him. I will always remember what he said to me in his thick Dominican Republic Accent, "It is just as important to play baseball as to watch it." I guess I looked like an intellectual geek.
I got a real sense that he played baseball because he loved the game; he stayed to sign autographs because he loved us.
In my book that is what a hero is.
It has been 30 years, but I know that Rico Carty is what a hero to a kid should be and what baseball should be about.
Rico Carty would understand what "Field of Dreams" meant because he lived it...
Rico Carty became a hero the old fashioned way, he earned it.
Rico Carty stayed until everyone got his autograph who wanted it. Rico took a few minutes to say something to every kid that came to him. I will always remember what he said to me in his thick Dominican Republic Accent, "It is just as important to play baseball as to watch it." I guess I looked like an intellectual geek.
I got a real sense that he played baseball because he loved the game; he stayed to sign autographs because he loved us.
In my book that is what a hero is.
It has been 30 years, but I know that Rico Carty is what a hero to a kid should be and what baseball should be about.
Rico Carty would understand what "Field of Dreams" meant because he lived it...