August 28, 1970: Some men are born to play baseball. Tony Horton appeared to be one of them. As it turned out, he was not, with nearly tragic results.
Anthony Darrin Horton was born on December 6, 1944 in Santa Monica, California, outside Los Angeles. At L.A.'s University High School, he starred in baseball, but was even better in basketball. He debuted with the Boston Red Sox in 1964, still only 19 years old. In 1967, during their "Impossible Dream" American League Pennant season, the Red Sox traded him to the Cleveland Indians. He became their starting 1st baseman, and in 1969, he batted .278 with 27 home runs and 93 runs batted in.
Despite going 62-99 in 1969, the Indians went into the 1970 season with lots of hope. Certainly, manager Alvin Dark had plenty of talent. Horton, right fielder Ken Harrelson and catcher Duke Sims were power hitters. Ray Fosse was a rookie catcher showing a lot of promise, to the point that Sims was moved to left field. Center fielder José Cardenal had stolen 36 bases in 1969. Their starting rotation had the AL's top strikeout pitcher, Sam McDowell, and the crafty Cuban Luis Tiant, as good a lefty-righty combination as anyone in the major leagues had at the time.
But Harrelson broke his ankle during Spring Training, and neither he nor the team ever recovered. Over the previous 2 seasons, he had 65 home runs and 192 RBIs, but, at age 28, he was essentially done, and moved into a broadcasting career that did what his playing probably wouldn't have done: Put him in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Horton thought he had been short-changed in salary negotiations, in that era before free agency and player power. This stuck with him through the season. On May 24, he hit 3 home runs in an 8-7 loss to the New York Yankees in the 2nd game of a doubleheader at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, but was reported as being upset about not hitting a record-tying 4th. The Yankees also won the 1st game, 6-5, and the Indians already trailed the Baltimore Orioles by 12 1/2 games in the AL Eastern Division.
On June 24, in another doubleheader, this one at Yankee Stadium, he batted against Steve Hamilton in the 1st game. Hamilton had developed a blooper pitch he called "the folly floater." He threw it to Horton, who fouled it off. Horton asked for another, and got it, but again popped it up foul, this time behind home plate, where Thurman Munson, on his way to becoming the AL's Rookie of the Year, caught it. Either embarrassed, or play-acting, Horton crawled back into the dugout. At the time, the action was considered no weirder than the pitch itself. But it might have been a warning sign.
The Indians won that 1st game, 7-2, but lost the 2nd game, 5-4. They trailed the Orioles by 12 games.
On July 2, Horton hit for the cycle -- hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game -- in a 10–9 win over the Orioles. On July 14, with the Indians 15 1/2 games out, Fosse was catching for the American League in the All-Star Game, when Pete Rose crashed into him with the winning run. Fosse didn't miss a game, but his shoulder bothered him for the rest of the season, and he played his last game of the season on September 3. In the 1st half of the season, he batted .312 with 16 home runs and 46 RBIs. In the 2nd half, he still batted .302, but hit 2 home runs, and just 15 RBIs.
On August 28, with the Indians 21 games out, Horton was batting .269 with 17 home runs and 59 RBIs. He was 25 years old, and it looked like he had a good career ahead of him. That day, the Indians hosted the California Angels in a doubleheader. The Angels won the opener, 3-2. In the nightcap, Horton popped up to shortstop in the 1st inning, grounded to 2nd in the 3rd, and fielded 5 chances without an error. But he took himself out in the 5th inning. The Indians went on to win, 5-1.
He never played baseball again. He drove back to the motel where he lived and, sitting in his car in the parking lot, he slit his wrists. It was a suicide attempt. He was found, and taken to the hospital. He survived.
On September 9, the Los Angeles Times reported that Horton was sent home to Santa Monica due to "physical exhaustion." This was a cover story. Hollywood studios would frequently use the terms "exhaustion" or "emotional exhaustion" as a reason why an actor was hospitalized, to cover for a suicide attempt, or what would now be called rehab for drug addiction or alcoholism -- or, in the case of an actress, a secret pregnancy, or, at the other extreme, a botched abortion. Rarely had such terminology had to be used for a professional athlete.
But the public did not immediately find out about Horton's suicide attempt. Such a cover-up would have been nearly impossible in today's atmosphere of camera phones and social media. This was not exactly a golden age for mental health, or for the public's reaction to mental health issues, but he was lucky that his struggle could be kept out of the public eye, and he could recover without ESPN, Deadspin, TMZ or Barstool Sports butting in.
On January 21, 1971, the Indians announced that Horton would miss Spring Training, and likely the entire season, with "an emotional disorder." His father, Troy, who had played baseball and football at UCLA, insisted that Tony was doing well, and denied any speculation that his career was over. He reported that the doctors thought he needed some time off, but that he would be ready to play again in 1972.
Before the 1972 season, Indians general manager Gabe Paul visited Horton in Santa Monica, and reported that Tony was doing fine, though not yet ready to make a comeback. In July, speaking for himself, Horton told The Sporting News that he was 100 percent recovered, but not really thinking about baseball. He said he had a job with the stock exchange, and was playing some golf, and reading a lot.
In 1980, Dark published his memoir, When In Doubt, Fire the Manager. In it, he called Horton's departure from baseball "the most sorrowful incident I was ever involved in, in my baseball career." But he did not elaborate. He was still willing to keep Horton's secret.
In 1997, New York Daily News sportswriter Bill Madden attempted to interview Horton about what happened. In an article in Baseball Digest, Madden broke the 27-year-old secret about the suicide attempt. He wrote that Horton was working in telecommunications and living in Pacific Palisades, California, but would not talk about his baseball career.
As of August 28, 2022, Tony Horton is still alive, but has never gone public with his side of the story. He has never been back to a ballpark, has never attended a memorabilia show, does not give autographs or answer mailed-in requests for them, and couldn't sign his baseball cards if he wanted to -- because, oddly, he never signed a card contract with Topps, so there are no baseball cards of him. If you see one, it's a fake.
He seems content with how his life turned out, and with baseball fans not really knowing what happened. Unless and until he changes his mind, or has written a memoir intended for a posthumous release, we'll have to live with that.
*
August 28, 1970 was a Friday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 and 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Fritz Peterson pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener, outpitching Jim Kaat. Thurman Munson went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
The Yankees won the nightcap in the bottom of the 9th when Ron Perranoski threw a wild pitch, with Gene Michael at bat, allowing Bobby Murcer to score. This wasted a nice performance for the Twins by Luis Tiant, as Mike Kekich went the distance for the Yankees. Over the 2 games, Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-7 with a walk. Rod Carew did not play in either game.
Peterson started the 1st game, Kekich the 2nd game. The next time the Yankees played a doubleheader, those pitchers swapped assignments. (No, they didn't. That's just a joke.)
* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Wade Blasingame outpitched Tom Seaver.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Boots Day singled Mack Jones home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Pete Rose went 1-for-5. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.
* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Milwaukee Brewers won the 1st game, 2-1. The Baltimore Orioles won the 2nd game, 8-4. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4, but drew 3 walks; and Frank Robinson went 0-for-4 in the 1st game, without playing in the 2nd game.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Reggie Jackson did not play. Al Kaline went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5.
* A doubleheader was split at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The Washington Senators won the 1st game, 2-1. The Kansas City Royals won the 2nd game, 3-1.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 8-4 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Ernie Banks did not play. Fergie Jenkins went the distance for the win.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jerry Reuss, later a Dodger himself, pitched a 2-hit shutout, to outpitch Don Sutton. Joe Torre hit a home run in the top of the 9th inning.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal went the distance for the win. Willie Mays did not play. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell both went 1-for-4.
No comments:
Post a Comment