However, the former major leaguer was remembered as someone who chose to shun the limelight in his later years.
Hartung, a former pitcher and outfielder for the New York Giants who made his home in Sinton, died on Thursday. He was 87.
Hartung was the 11th player in major-league history whose first home run came as a pitcher and later homered as a position player. He was the last to achieve the feat until St. Louis’ Rick Ankiel in 2007.
Hartung’s brush with baseball history came in the third game of the 1951 National League playoff between the Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. He had entered the game as the pinch runner at third base and scored when Bobby Thomson hit his famous “Shot Heard ’Round the World” to win the pennant.
After his pro baseball career ended in 1955, Hartung moved to Sinton to work for the Marathon Oil Company, for whom he was a foreman. He also played for the Sinton Oilers, the company-sponsored baseball team.
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