Clint Hartung – Baseball Player Biography, Career, Net Worth Information

Clint Hartung’s name doesn’t pop up much for most baseball fans these days, but honestly, his story is one of the most fascinating cases of hype versus reality in Major League Baseball. They called him “the Hondo Hurricane” after his Texas hometown, and for a while, people seriously believed he might be the next Babe Ruth. The New York Giants paid a huge $35,000 signing bonus for him in the 1940s.

Hartung played his last MLB season in 1952 after six years with the Giants. He started out with sky-high hopes but ended up with modest results.

At 6-foot-5, Hartung stood out as a right-hander who could pitch and hit—something you don’t see every day. That rare combo got everyone excited when he joined pro baseball. Even his military service in World War II boosted his legend, with wild stories about his pitching and batting while playing for Army teams.

But the leap to the majors turned out to be a lot tougher than anyone guessed.

From his early days in Texas, through his Army years, and into the big leagues, Hartung’s journey really shows the crazy pressure that comes with massive expectations in pro sports. His story is a mix of highs and lows, position changes, and the lasting label of being one of the most overhyped prospects of the 1940s.

Early Life and Background

Clinton Clarence Hartung was born August 10, 1922, in Hondo, Texas. That small town shaped both his identity and his baseball career.

He found baseball success in high school, which set him up for bigger dreams. His connection to Hondo became a big part of how people saw him.

Family Origins in Hondo, Texas

Clinton Clarence Hartung came into the world in Hondo, Texas, and that town stuck with him throughout his baseball life. Born in 1922, Hartung grew up in a close-knit community where baseball mattered a lot.

The Hartung family put down deep roots in Hondo. The town’s influence went beyond just a place to live—it really shaped who he was.

Hartung grew into a big guy for his era. He reached 6 feet 5 inches and weighed 220 pounds, towering over most of his peers. That size helped him stand out on the baseball field.

High School Baseball Achievements

Hartung started turning heads at Hondo High School. He quickly became known for his skills as both a pitcher and a position player.

The real highlight came in 1939 when his team won the state baseball championship. That was a huge deal for Hartung and his school.

Winning that championship under pressure showed he could handle big moments. It also put him on the radar for college and pro scouts, opening doors for his future.

Impact of Hometown on Nickname

Hartung’s bond with Hondo, Texas, ended up shaping his baseball identity thanks to his nickname. As his reputation grew, sports writers and fans started calling him “the Hondo Hurricane“.

The nickname just fit—capturing where he came from and his playing style. It stuck, showing up in newspaper stories, on baseball cards, and in team materials.

Even after he left Texas to play pro ball, Hartung kept close ties to the area. He eventually settled in Sinton, Texas, not far from Hondo.

The “Hondo Hurricane” name became so much a part of him that musician Terry Cashman even wrote a song about it.

Minor League and Military Career

Clint Hartung’s road to the majors included a promising start in the minors and military service during World War II. He kicked things off with the Eau Claire Bears in 1942, then spent four years in the Army Air Forces, playing on military teams.

Eau Claire Bears and Early Success

Hartung’s pro career began with the Eau Claire Bears in 1942. He didn’t waste any time showing off his skills during a two-month stretch with the team.

He hit for a .358 average and slugged .596—not bad at all. As a pitcher, he picked up three wins for the Bears.

Scouts definitely noticed. His performance proved he could handle both pitching and hitting at the pro level.

Those brief months with Eau Claire gave Hartung his first taste of professional baseball. He made it clear he belonged there.

Service in the Army Air Forces

World War II put Hartung’s baseball dreams on pause when he got drafted into the Army Air Forces. He served from 1942 to 1946.

While in the military, Hartung played on several service teams. He spent a chunk of time with the Hickam Field Bombers and put up some wild numbers.

Pitching for the Bombers, he went 25-0—not a single loss. Even more eye-popping, he hit .567 for the team.

Sure, those stats weren’t against MLB-level talent, but they kept his reputation growing. Hartung’s dominance on military teams helped build the legend of his two-way abilities.

Achievements with Minneapolis Millers

The Minneapolis Millers first signed Hartung before he went into the military. Later, the New York Giants bought his contract from the Millers in 1946 for four players and $25,000.

After his big league run ended in 1952, Hartung went back to the minors and played for the AAA Minneapolis Millers in 1953.

The Millers bookended his pro career—they gave him his start and a place to finish. That connection to Minneapolis stayed important throughout his baseball life.

Major League Career with the New York Giants

Clint Hartung spent six seasons with the New York Giants from 1947 to 1952, playing both as a pitcher and outfielder. He arrived with massive expectations, but his results were more down to earth. At one point, he even switched from the mound to right field—a pretty unusual move in the majors.

MLB Debut and Early Promise

Hartung made his MLB debut on April 15, 1947, for the New York Giants at age 24. The Giants had signed him for $35,000 before he even left the Army, showing just how much they believed in him.

Sportswriters compared him to Babe Ruth because of his pitching and hitting. One even joked they should just send him straight to Cooperstown.

His rookie season looked promising. He posted a 9-7 pitching record and hit .306. Unfortunately, those would turn out to be his best numbers in the majors.

The hype machine ran wild, and the “Hondo Hurricane” nickname stuck. At 6’5″ and 220 pounds, he definitely looked the part.

Role as a Starting Pitcher

Hartung started for the Giants from 1947 to 1950. His pitching didn’t hold up after his rookie year—he went 8-8 in 1948, and things kept sliding from there.

By the end, he had a 29-29 win-loss record, a 5.02 ERA, and 167 strikeouts. Not terrible, but nowhere near what folks expected.

Hartung struggled with curveballs, which hurt both his pitching and hitting. His fielding wasn’t really up to major league standards either.

Transition to Right Fielder

After 1950, the Giants moved Hartung to right field. They wanted to use his bat but take him off the mound.

Hartung became just the 11th player in MLB history to hit home runs as both a pitcher and a position player. Before him, only Babe Ruth had done it, and the next wouldn’t come until Rick Ankiel decades later.

He did a bit better at the plate as an outfielder, but he never became the slugger scouts had predicted.

The switch gave him two more years in the majors. He wrapped up his career with 14 home runs, 43 RBIs, and a .238 batting average.

Performance at Polo Grounds

Hartung spent all six of his big league seasons at the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants. His time there became almost a symbol of unfulfilled promise.

He played a role in one of baseball’s most famous moments, running for third base during Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951. Hartung scored the winning run that sent the Giants to the World Series.

Oddly enough, Hartung always seemed to shine during spring training, but couldn’t carry it over to the regular season at the Polo Grounds. That frustrated Giants fans and management, who kept waiting for him to break out.

Baseball historian Bill James even named the “Clint Hartung Award” after him—it’s given to the most overhyped rookie of each decade. Hartung got the nod for the 1940s, which pretty much cemented his legacy as a cautionary tale.

Highlights and Notable Moments

Clint Hartung’s career had its wild ups and downs. His rookie year brought crazy expectations, and he still managed to be part of one of baseball’s all-time great moments.

Rookie Year Expectations

The hype around Clint Hartung in 1947 was off the charts. Life magazine ran a feature on him in February, and Time magazine followed in March, both calling him the next superstar pitcher.

At 6’5″, with the “Hondo Hurricane” nickname, Hartung brought rare two-way talent to the Giants. He hit multiple home runs in Spring Training, which only made the buzz louder.

Hartung’s debut on May 9, 1947 against the Brooklyn Dodgers lived up to the hype. He threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, though he didn’t get the decision. In his next game, he picked up his first major league win against the Cubs.

He started strong, winning his first four decisions and throwing two complete games. But the pressure got to him—he lost three straight in June.

Still, he finished 9-6 with a 4.40 ERA and hit .309 with four home runs as an occasional outfielder. Not bad, but not quite Ruthian.

The ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’

Hartung found himself in the middle of baseball history during the 1951 National League playoff finale. He’d spent most of the season in the minors but came back in October as the Giants chased the Dodgers.

In the bottom of the ninth of Game 3, Don Mueller hurt himself sliding into third. Hartung replaced him as a pinch runner, standing on third with the Giants down 4-2.

Then came the moment every fan knows. Bobby Thomson stepped up against Ralph Branca with Hartung at third. Thomson hit the legendary “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” a three-run homer that won the pennant.

Hartung crossed the plate with the tying run on the most famous home run in baseball. He went 0-4 in the World Series after that, but his connection to that iconic play stuck with him for life.

The Clint Hartung Award Legacy

Hartung’s playing career wrapped up in 1952, but his name still pops up thanks to an award that captures both hope and letdown. People started calling it the “Clint Hartung Award”—a kind of baseball shorthand for guys who get hyped up but just can’t quite deliver.

Fans and the media really latched onto Hartung’s story. Honestly, his rise and fall show just how risky it is to heap too much praise on young athletes.

He never turned into the superstar everyone expected, but you know what? Hartung still put together a 29-29 career pitching record and hit .238—not bad at all. He spent six seasons with the Giants, and there were some moments that meant more than just stats.

The award idea might be a little unfair to Hartung, but it stuck around in baseball circles. It’s a reminder that raw talent and big dreams don’t always add up to long-term success.

Late Career and Retirement

In his last years in Major League Baseball, Hartung moved from pitcher to outfielder. He left the majors in 1952 but kept playing in the minors through 1955, even suiting up for the Havana Sugar Kings in the International League.

Final MLB Years and 1952 Retirement

For his last two seasons with the New York Giants, Hartung became an outfielder. In 1951 and 1952, he mostly played right field.

The 1951 season really tested him at the plate. Hartung just couldn’t get comfortable as a full-time position player, and his batting average showed it.

He bounced back a bit in 1952. That year, Hartung posted a slugging percentage of .385, which wasn’t far off from the team’s .399 mark.

1952 Final Season Stats:

• Position: Right fielder exclusively
• Batting performance: Better than 1951
• Team context: Giants slugged .399 as a team

Hartung played his last major league game on September 28, 1952. All six of his seasons were with the Giants, and he finished with a 29-29 pitching record and 14 home runs in 403 at-bats.

Minor League Stints Post-MLB

After leaving the big leagues, Hartung spent three more seasons in the minor leagues from 1952 to 1955. He started off in Minneapolis, playing there in 1952 and 1953.

Hartung’s 1952 season in Minneapolis was a standout. He smacked 27 home runs and led a team packed with former and future major leaguers.

In 1953, he stayed with Minneapolis but didn’t have quite the same impact. Hartung hit 19 home runs, and other players started to take the spotlight.

By 1954, Hartung had joined the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League. He kept showing off his power in Cuba, proving he could still hang at a high minor league level.

His final professional season was in 1955. Hartung bounced around three different teams that year, closing out his organized baseball run at age 33.

Semi-Pro Career in Sinton

When Hartung retired from professional baseball, he headed back to Sinton, Texas. He left the pro game but stayed close to baseball, playing locally and in semi-pro leagues.

By 1983, Texas Monthly caught up with him working as an oil field tool pusher in Sinton. He’d built a new life in the oil industry, sticking close to his South Texas roots.

Hartung kept things quiet in Sinton for decades after his playing days. He stayed in that small town until he passed away on July 8, 2010, at age 87.

The “Hondo Hurricane” finally found some peace in Sinton, far from the spotlight and the pressure that came with his baseball career. His life after baseball was all about getting back to his Texas roots and working hard.

Personal Legacy and Life After Baseball

Once his major league days ended, Clinton Clarence Hartung went back to Texas and settled into a quieter routine working in the oil fields. People often remember him as a symbol of unfulfilled promise, but Hartung himself kept a pretty modest attitude about it all. He stayed humble about his fame.

Life in Texas and Community Involvement

Hartung made his home in Sinton, Texas, not far from Corpus Christi, and worked for an oil company. He even played for the company’s semi-pro baseball team, keeping his love for the game alive on a smaller stage.

He lived a mostly private life in Sinton. Hartung married three times and divorced twice, and his third wife, Carolyn, died in 2004.

He treated some local kids like family, including Kati Curry and her sister Liz Hutchins. The Hartungs helped raise them, and Curry later said Hartung and his wife treated her like a granddaughter.

Hartung didn’t talk much about his time in the majors. Curry remembered, “he felt really lucky to have gotten to play,” which just shows how grateful he was for the chance, even if things didn’t go as planned.

Media Coverage and Cultural Impact

Hartung’s label as an overhyped prospect stuck with him for years. Baseball historian Bill James even created an unofficial award in his name, given to the most overhyped rookie of each decade—the “Clint Hartung Award.”

In 1987, New York Governor Mario Cuomo joked about Hartung when he criticized his fantasy baseball partner. Cuomo called his partner “perhaps the worst judge of baseball ability since a scout signed Clint Hartung.”

Texas Monthly visited Hartung at home in Sinton in 1983. The reporter found him quiet and modest, with no real regrets about his career.

“When the bubble bursts, that’s it,” Hartung said. “When it’s over, it’s over.” That pretty much sums up his down-to-earth view of how his baseball journey ended.

Passing and Remembrance

Hartung died on July 8, 2010, in Sinton, Texas. He was 87.

Congestive heart failure took his life.

Major newspapers reported his death. The New York Times, which once called him “The Faded Phenom” back in 1951, covered the news.

Most obituaries pointed out how he symbolized unfulfilled potential, not so much his accomplishments.

Hartung leaves behind several children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The family has kept most details private.

Curry and Hutchins, who spent part of their childhood in his home, spoke for the family after he passed.

Even with all the disappointment about his career, Hartung’s story still lingers in baseball lore. His name sticks around as a reminder of how expectations and reality can clash in professional sports.