Connie Ryan

Sport: Baseball

Induction Year: 1993

Induction Year: 1993

By Peter Barrouquere
The Times-Picayune

When Connie Ryan is inducted to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on June 26, he won’t have to look far for familiar company. Former major-leaguers Rusty Staub and Vida Blue preceded Ryan, a former major-league infielder, manager, coach and scout into the Hall.

Ryan helped start Staub and Blue toward the Hall of Fame. He scouted Staub extensively when he worked for the Houston Colt .45s and Astros and Staub played for Jesuit High.

“Paul Richards (the general manager) came over from Houston and did the actual signing, because it involved a lot of money,” Ryan said.

Discovered Blue

Ryan also discovered and signed Blue, who was pitching and playing quarterback for Mansfield High.
“I was working for Kansas City then,” he said. “I had (Blue) already signed, but the owner (Charlie Finley) was a publicity guy, and he wanted to get credit for signing him.”

Baseball career

Ryan didn’t need the credit. His baseball career can stand on its own. He was an All-Stater at New Orleans’ Jesuit High, and received the first full baseball scholarship to LSU. He didn’t get to play varsity sports then, and Ryan signed with the Atlanta Crackers of the Class AA Southern Association instead.

The Crackers sold him to the New York Giants, then managed by New Orleans native and 1958 Hall of Fame inductee Met Ott, in 1942. He also played for Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox. Ryan played for 12 years in the majors, building a lifetime batting average of .248. He was also a member of the Boston Braves, who played in the 1948 World Series, and made the National League All-Star team in 1944. He says making the All-Star team was the highlight of his major league career.

“All the time, the All-Star team was named by the managers,” Ryan said. “So that was quite an accomplishment.”

Ryan played all nine innings. He went 2-for-5 and stole a base as the National League won 7-1.

“I was also very lucky to participate in two World Series,” he said. “There are a lot of player who never get the opportunity to be in a World Series.”
Ryan also coached with the Milwaukee Braves, including 1957, when they defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series. Also on that club was 1975 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee Joe Adcock.

“I guess you could say I never have been real fortunate,” he said. “I had a chance to associate with a lot of great players… the (Warren) Spahns, the (Johnny) Sains, the (Lew) Burdettes, the (Eddie) Mathews. Guys like Big Jim Tobin, who was a great pitcher for the Boston Braves. The memories you have of those people overshadow any personal memories you might have of any accomplishments of your own.

“Mainly, I’m proud of the fact that I participated for a number of years at a high level.”

Ryan had a big season for the Red’s in 1961, hitting 16 homeruns. That would be enough to earn a modern-day player a big enough raise to get a second home.

“I had trouble getting a $500 raise after that year,” said Ryan. His top salary as a player was $15,000 or $16,000.

“I’d come back home from work in the department stores in the off-season,” he said. “I’d work wherever I could get a job in the winter time.”

If Ryan had any regrets, he says it was not taking advantage of the chances he had to be a major league manager. He was interim manager of the Atlanta Braves in 1975 and Texas Rangers in ‘77.

“I thought I was going to get the Atlanta job,” he said. “I would have taken that job if it had been offered to me. When the Texas job was offered to me in 1977, I made a mistake by not accepting it.”

Ryan said by the time the Rangers offered him the job on a fulltime basis, he had lost interest.

“I think I had lost the desire to manage a big-league team,” he said. “For so many years, I had a burping desire to manage a big-league team. Then it slowly dwindled. But I think I still should have taken that Texas job.”

Ryan will gladly take his induction into the state Hall of Fame.

“Being from Louisiana, it means a great deal,” he said. “It is a very great honor, especially considering many of the people who are already in there.”

Especially two of those.