Blast From the Past: Jim Ray Hart

Several readers have commented on the shout out to Jim Ray Hart in my biographical sketch. I thought I would do a retrospective on Jim Ray's career, and maybe start a series looking at some of the less well-known Giants of yesteryear.

JIm Ray Hart was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent in 1960 out of Hookerton, NC. He had a rather rough introduction to major league baseball in 1963 at the age of 21, when in his second MLB AB, he was hit by a Bob Gibson fastball that broke his left scapula. In his fourth game back from that injury, he was beaned by Curt Simmons and sat out the rest of the season. Injuries would continue to play a major role in Jim Ray's career. In 1964, he was coming into second base against the Dodgers and Maury Wills skulled him with a relay throw that hit him square in the forehead. Hospitalized overnight for observation, Jim Ray came back to play the next day. I remember listening to the second game of a doubleheader in 1966, I think, when the Giants needed a hit late in the game. Jim Ray had suffered a hand injury in game 1, and came up as a pinch-hitter in that spot with his thumb bandaged, delivering the key hit that the Giants needed. Another shoulder injury in 1969 contributed to the rapid decline of his career, although injuries may not have played the key role most biographies attribute to them.

For 5 seasons, from 1964-1968, Jim Ray Hart could hold his own in any discussion of who were the best Giants players, even in who the best hitters in baseball were!:

1964: .286/.342/.498 with 31 HR's.
1965: .299/.349/.487 with 23 HR's, 30 doubles and 6 triples.
1966: .285/.342/.510 with 33 HR's.
1967: .289/.373/.509 with 29 HR's.
1968: .258/.323/.444 with 23 HR's. Remember, 1968 was The Year of the Pitcher after which they lowered the mounds and made other rule changes.

During this run, Jim Ray finished second to Richie Allen in the 1964 Rookie of the Year voting. He was top 20 in MVP voting in '64, '65 and '67, and played in the All-Star game in 1966. He was league top 10 in many offensive categories during that run. On July 8, 1970, long after his career had started to decline, Jim Ray showed that he had something left by hitting for the cycle including a HR and triple with 6 RBI's in ONE INNING! Jim Ray was not a good fielder, and hated playing third base. "It's just too damn close to the hitter," is one quote attributed to him. Although he made a lot of errors, and seemed to have limited range, he was involved in 24 DP's in two of his seasons, which is a lot for a third baseman. I remember as a kid not understanding why the shortstop was considered part of a double play combination because it seemed like all the Giants DP's were started by Jimmy Ray from 3B!

Ages 27-32 are the peak years for most baseball players, but Jim Ray's playing time started to fall way off in 1969 at age 27, and he was out of baseball by 1974 at the age of 32. The mid-late 60's were part of a second "dead ball era" in baseball which may have also held down his offensive stats. Another factor in holding down his stats was the wind at Candlestick Park. In the afternoon and evenings, the wind would blow straight out to RF, sometimes at gale force, which tended to blow balls hit to straightaway LF out toward CF where they would be easily caught by the centerfielder. Willie Mays could compensate for this by driving the ball to right-center and RF, but Jim Ray was a dead pull hitter, and it affected his numbers. I found a chart of his Home-Road Splits:

PA: Overall- 4236, Home- 1987, Road- 2249.
HR: Overall- 170, Home- 72, Road- 98.
BA: Overall- .278, Home- .258, Road- .296.
OBP: Overall- .345, Home- .329, Road- .360
SLG%: Overall- .467, Home- .430, Road- .500!

While his relatively short career has been often attributed to an accumulation of injuries, another factor probably played a much larger role. I found an article from Baseball Digest, June 1991 where Jim Ray talked about what might have been had he not had an addiction to alcohol. He admitted that in later years, he was much more interested in collecting his paycheck for drinking money than in playing the game, and often came to the park hung over or drunk. At one point in his life, he lost everything and was basically on the streets of SF picking up lost change just to buy drinks. He passed out on a flight to Toronto for an old-timer's game, and that was the wake-up call he needed to get his life back. He entered and successfully completed a rehab program in San Mateo. As of the 1991 Baseball Digest article, Jim Ray was sober, working at a warehouse in Sacramento, and living there with his family. That is the last reference I was able to find in my internet search.

How much could the Giants use a hitter like Jim Ray Hart now? When I see Giants prospect Thomas Neal play, he reminds me a lot of Jim Ray, the stocky yet athletic build, the ability to hit for average, power and plate discipline. The Giants will be very fortunate if Thomas has a career resembling Jim Ray Hart's. Hopefully, Thomas will take better care of himself and enjoy a much longer career.