Remembering the Giants hard-drinking slugger Jim Ray Hart

Jim Ray Hart played the game of baseball in a form of isolation because he was not very educated and he had an unfortunate speech impediment that made him embarrassed to start or join a conversation. But he was, as one teammate called him, “A kindhearted, childlike presence in the clubhouse.”

Hart was a drinker, he loved bourbon, drank it every night in the hotel bar or in his room. His elbow bending earned him a nickname from his teammates: “Old Crow” after his favorite whiskey. He was tremendously strong, his arms were impressive and it was said that once he had a man by his hands there was no getting away. No one messed with Jim Ray Hart. But he had those two sides: the childlike countenance and the whiskey drinking ballplayer. One teammate was sure that if Hart had tamed his drinking, he could have been a Hall of Famer.

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I had the honor and privilege of working with Jimmy Ray out at the Safeway warehouse for about 15 years, and a nicer guy you'll never meet - a hard worker and friendly towards everybody, just a really good guy that always had a smile on his face when he looked at you. 

When I started out there, the warehouse was completely empty while they were shutting down their other warehouses in the Bay Area, so they gave us make-work jobs like picking up litter, sweeping floors, washing the trucks, shit like that, and they teamed me and Jimmy Ray up shortly after we started work out there.

Now I'm not a sports fan at all, so when one of the other guys came up and asked if I knew who I was working with, I said "Yeah, his name is Jimmy Ray."

"But do you know who he is?"

"Yeah. Jimmy Ray." Is this guy stupid or what?

"Hey man, That's Jim Ray Hart! He played for the Giants!"  

Okay, whatever. Later in the day, just to make conversation, I asked, "Hey, did you play ball for the Giants?" and he said "Yeeeeah, heh heh heh" which was pretty much his standard reply to anything.

"Yeah? I played ball too," I said.

"Really? What team?"

"The Tigers," I said.

"You played for the Tigers?"

"Yup, the Schwäbisch Gmünd Tigers. Little League ball in Germany."

"HAHAHAHA!!! The Shabish Mooned Tigers! All right!" He got a big kick out of that.

It wasn't until I read the above article that I realized he had a speech impediment. I always figured it was just a real deep accent, but it explains why he was so quiet.

I had heard he had a drinking problem, but he must've gotten it under control by the time I met him or he was a highly functional drunk because I never knew him to call out from work. 

He did take a few days off every year with the Company's blessing when the Giants had special events like an Old Timer's Reunion and shit like that, but other than that, he worked every day he was scheduled.

He passed away right about the time we moved out here and it really saddened me to hear of that. If I'd been able, I'd have surely attended his service.