Former Atlanta Brave Rico Carty passed away on Saturday; he was 85 years old. The story of Rico’s career would make a good chapter in any book on Murphy’s Law. While playing in the minor leagues in 1963, Rico hit two home runs in one at-bat. The first homer was wiped out because time had been called. Unfazed, he stepped back into the batter’s box and hit the next pitch into the seats.

As a rookie in 1964, Rico hit .330 with 22 home runs and 88 runs batted in. His 6’-3” frame earned him the nickname, “The Big Boy.” In 1965, Rico suffered chronic back problems, missed half of the season, but still managed to hit .310. In 1966, Rico put in a full season and continued to hit well, batting .326. The following season, he missed 18 games after severely injuring his shoulder. He finished the season at .255, and the injury plagued Rico for the rest of his career.

During an examination by the team physician for a slight fever in the spring of 1968, it was discovered that Rico was in the early stages of tuberculosis. He missed the entire season. In 1969, Rico returned to spring training and proclaimed, “The Big Boy is back.” And the Big Boy backed it up by hitting .340 and helping lead the Braves to the National League Western Division title.

The biggest year of Rico’s career was 1970. He started the season on a tear and never let up. Rico reeled off a 31-game hitting streak and became the first player to be selected to the All-Star squad as a write-in candidate. He won the National League batting title with a .366 average, clubbed 25 homers, drove in 101 runs, while also leading the league in on-base percentage at .454. Then during the off-season, Murphy’s Law came calling again.

Rico suffered a fractured kneecap when he collided with Matty Alou in a Dominican Winter League game and missed the entire 1971 season. Then in August of 1971, he suffered a fractured kneecap during a beating by two Atlanta Police officers who stopped him for no apparent reason. Despite vision problems associated with the beating, Rico returned to the Braves in 1972 and hit .277 in 86 games.

The Braves traded Rico to the Texas Rangers after the season. He modeled three different uniforms in 1973, logging time with the Rangers, the Chicago Cubs, and the Oakland Athletics, battling injuries at each stop. Rico spent most of 1974 in the Mexican League but returned to the majors with the Cleveland Indians and hit .363 in the final 33 games of the season. Rico was such a popular player with the fans in Cleveland that management immediately had to swing a deal to get him back the day after the Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the expansion draft in 1976.

Rico hit .290 with 90 homers with three different teams over the last five seasons of his career before retiring in 1979 at the age of 40. If he could have managed two more hits somewhere along the way, he would have finished his career as a .300 hitter.

I’ll always remember Rico from the photo on the cover of the 1967 edition of the Atlanta Braves Illustrated Yearbook. On our first ever trip to a big-league park, my older brother, Cush, and I both purchased a copy. I still have mine.

Rico Carty’s broad, smiling face and his ability to hit hard line drives made him one of the most popular players ever to wear an Atlanta Braves uniform.