Hardy was a journeyman outfielder for the Red Sox, Indians, Colt .45s, and Twins who hit just .225 with 17 home runs and 113 RBIs in 433 games over an eight-year major league career.
But he received baseball immortality on Sept. 20, 1960, in the first inning of a game in Baltimore.
“Skinny Brown was pitching this particular day. He threw knuckleballs. He could make ’em dance,’’ says Hardy, moving his fingers up and down as if he was playing a clarinet.
“Ted fouled the first pitch off his instep,’’ Hardy recalls. “It hurt him so badly he just limped off the field. He didn’t even stop in the dugout. He just headed straight for the clubhouse. Oh, he was really hurting. He had a foul mouth, no question about it.’’
Hardy laughs heartily, looking out his window at the Rocky Mountains. “The manager, Pinky Higgins, said, ‘Hardy, get a bat, you’re the hitter.’ I didn’t have any forewarning or nothing. So I grabbed a bat, hit into a double play, and no one thought anything about it.’’
He shrugs. “I knew I pinch hit for him, but I didn’t know it was a big deal,’’ he says. “It was just another at-bat. I never thought about it, nobody did.’’
But a Boston sportswriter later discovered that no one had ever hit for the Splendid Splinter, perhaps the greatest hitter of all time and the last man to bat .400. Hardy would forever be the answer to a trivia question.
Celebrity status
The attention Hardy received intensified after Williams died in 2002. “I started getting people sending me a lot of balls asking me to sign ’em ‘Carroll Hardy - the only man ever to pinch hit for Ted Williams, Sept 20, 1960’ and I do it for them.’’
He says the neighbors now know who he is. “They say, ‘My God, we didn’t know we were living next to a celebrity.’ ’’
