Grady Hatton

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Grady Edgebert Hatton (born October 7, 1922) was an American baseball player, coach, manager and executive. Although the bulk of his playing career was as the third baseman of the Cincinnati Reds, Hatton is most identified with his native Texas: he was born in Beaumont, attended the University of Texas, managed minor league teams in Houston and San Antonio and was an important contributor to the early years of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros.

A left-handed hitter who came to the majors in 1946 without any minor league seasoning, Hatton batted .254 with 91 home runs in a 12-year big league career with Cincinnati, the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs, for whom he served as a player-coach in 1960 at the end of his playing career. From 1957-61, he managed in the Baltimore and Chicago Cubs systems before joining the nascent Houston Colt .45s (as the Astros were first known) as Director of Player Personnel in their maiden 1962 season. Hatton then moved back into uniform as manager of Houston's AAA Oklahoma City farm in the Pacific Coast League from 1963-65.

Named to succeed Luman Harris as the Astros' manager for 1966 - and also carrying the unusual (for a field manager) title of club Vice President - it was expected that he would be able to harness the young talent he had developed at AAA. But the Astros compiled a record of only 164-221 in 2 1/2 years, and Hatton was replaced as skipper by Harry Walker midway through the 1968 campaign.