How Grady Hatton Became a Manager

What's always incredible to me, even after all this time and all these interviews, is how different people might answer the same question in such different ways. Some guys gave me one word answers, while others gave me a detailed explanation that really shed a lot of light on the subject. It's partially dependent on the person and personality, and also on the strength and quality of their memory.

Grady Hatton, who I spoke to in 2012 and who has since died, told me the story of how he came to be manager of the Astros. His reference below to being in the minors for the first time in 1957 is a reminder that he was one of those rare non-bonus players who began his pro baseball career in the majors directly after signing. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was early in 1946, and a great many wartime players had not yet returned from the service:

“I went out to San Francisco [in 1957], it was the first day I played in the minor leagues. The Boston Red Sox asked me to go out there and win a pennant, because the Giants were going to move out there the next year. I went out there, and we won the pennant and made everybody happy, and then the Red Sox called me and said “Do us a favor,” and I said “What do you want?” And they said “Go to San Antonio and manage for a friend of ours who’s got an independent club; they’re having a tough time. And people in Texas know you. So I went to San Antonio, that’s the first one I went to, to manage. I managed there two years, and then in 60 I started that year but then the Cubs called me up as a pinch hitter and a major league coach. I ended up playing about 45 games. That got me to the Cubs, and then Houston got a franchise and Gabe Paul, the general manager there, asked the Cubs would they release me and let me come down there, ‘cause I only lived 100 miles from the stadium. So I went down there. And when I got down there I did several odd jobs, scouting, coaching, all that stuff, and then they had a change in leadership; Gabe Paul left and Paul Richards came there, and of course Paul brought all his people that he had been with all these years, so he asked me to go manage Oklahoma City. I went over there and managed Oklahoma City for three years. And then when they had another change, they asked me to come up to Houston and manage the Astros. So that’s how it all got started.”