The Beeg Hoppy Fella

Who is an All-Star? According to the official list of nominees for this year's All-Star baseball game on July 14 in Cincinnati, it might be Tommy Helms of the Reds, who is hitting .207, but not the Chicago Cubs' Jim Hickman, who has a .341 average. Though the Cleveland Indians' Ken Harrelson has been sidelined with a broken leg since mid-March, he is still a candidate for the game, crutches and all, while the California Angels' Alex Johnson, who has a .348 average, is not. In fact, almost half of the top 20 hitters in the major leagues have been omitted from the ballot, including Leftfielder Rico Carty of the Atlanta Braves. He is batting .395--25 points ahead of his closest competitor in the National League.

The omission of Carty is the most ludicrous inconsistency in what has come to be known as "Bowie's booboo." To keep people "involved" in the All-Star game, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn decided last winter to again let the fans make the selections instead of the players. To prevent ballot stuffing, Kuhn arranged to have the voting policed and tabulated by computer. Trouble was, to allow enough time for programming the computer, managers and player representatives had to select the nominees last spring, which is about as reliable as trying to predict the Dow-Jones averages eight months in advance. Spaces were left on the ballot for write-in votes--but how many fans will take the time or trouble to spell Billy Grabarkewitz, a surprise .339 hitter on the Los Angeles Dodgers?

Not Counting on It. Nonetheless, some fans are doing something like that. Especially in Atlanta, where a write-in campaign for Rico Carty is gaining such headway that Braves Manager Luman Harris predicts: "Rico will get more votes than anybody on the National League team." Carty is not counting on it. He has been snubbed more times than a door-to-door salesman. In 1964, his first season with the Braves, he hit 22 homers, knocked in 88 runs, batted .330 --and lost Rookie of the Year honors to the Phillies' Richie Allen, a .318 hitter. Last season, after a six-month bout with tuberculosis, he suffered through three shoulder separations and still managed a .342 average. The Comeback of the Year award, however, went to the Mets' Tommie Agee, who hit .271.

It is true enough that only in recent seasons has Rico learned to judge fly balls. Still, it is incredible that Carty, now 29, has been overlooked by the supposedly knowledgeable men of baseball. He started the season with a lifetime average of .311, the fourth highest among active players in the N.L. Now he is threatening to become the first major leaguer in 29 years to hit .400. Ted Williams, who last did it with a .406 average in 1941, says: "I think he'll make it."

Back in the Dominican Republic, hardly anyone ever thought that Ricardo Adolfo Jacabo Carty would even make it to the majors. "They put me in left field when I was a kid," he recalls, "and the ball went over my head. They put me to catch, and the ball went behind me." One thing Rico could always do, though, was "heet the ball." That is what impressed major league scouts when, at 18, Carty came to the U.S. to play in the Pan American Games. Unable to speak a word of English, he was quick to give his autograph to any man who smiled at him. "I think I sign twelve contracts," he says, "eight to play in the U.S. and four for the Dominican Republic."

Hot Dog, Not Hothead. It was finally ruled that Carty belonged to the Braves. During his rookie season he subsisted mainly on hamburger (the first English word he mastered), but today he is known to rival players as a "hot dog"--locker-room lingo for showoff. Ever smiling, Carty always catches the ball one-handed, waves to the fans, and tosses balls to them. He wants to be known as a "hoppy guy," not as the hotheaded player who once slugged Teammate Hank Aaron.

Known to teammates as "the beeg fella," the 6 ft. 2 in., 210 Ib. Carty describes himself as "a crazy hitter until two strikes, then I look for the strike . zone." Bat cocked straight up like an exclamation point, he hits with power to all fields. In a recent game against Philadelphia, he pounded three home runs to three different fields. That may be just the beginning. In past seasons, Rico notes, he has always done his best hitting in July and August.

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