A Living Legend in Softball, Hank Carrillo

English

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Hank Carrillo, 75, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Kansas City for his 59 years of playing softball. The induction, he said just blew his mind. “I felt so great they’d honor me in their hall of fame. We don’t have one here in Davenport, Iowa, so I’m honored and grateful they’d put me in theirs. It was absolutely great and I was warm all over,” he said.

Carrillo was born in Bettendorf and currently resides in Davenport. His father is from Guanajuato and his mother from Arizona. His uncle, Manny introduced him to the game of baseball at the age of seven. “I was pretty good. He’d tell I was so good, I had to get out and play,” he said.

After growing up with baseball, Carrillo fell for softball. “I watched them play (soft) ball in the park and I’d try I do it. I got into it in 1949 and enjoyed it so much, I kept on playing,” Carrillo said.

He remembers the Mexican league being started around 1969 with an old timers game, which led to 7-8 other teams. Until this time, Carrillo had been an outfielder for twenty years. “Perry Ramirez and my compadre, Jeff Carrillo told me to meet them and said I couldn’t play in the outfield. ‘We don’t need an outfielder, we need a pitcher.’ I laughed saying yeah right, I guess I’m not going to be on the team. They walked like 20-39 yards and I said you dirty rats, I guess you are serious, so I’ll do it under one condition, tell the other guys that if I hit them they can’t go out to the mound. They said ok, no problem. The first pitch went over the backstop and the second pitch hit the guys, then I got 19 strikeouts,” Carrillo said.

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Some of his other accomplishments were playing in two other leagues in Davenport and Rock Island. He faced Jerry Roth who had won the world tournament around that time and Gary Hutchinson who played in the world tournament 27-28 times, Carrillo said. As a result of being a part of the best team when Eddie Feigner known as the King and his court came into town, the two teams battled off at John O’Donnell Stadium, now known as Modern Woodmen Park. “The King and his court are known all over the world. They play with four guys, a pitcher, catcher, 1st basemen, and outfielder. They come into towns and play the team with the best record. We ended up beating them 8-4. They said I had a good arm,” he said.

Carrillo considers his greatest accomplishment to be going to the World Tournament in Victoria, Canada in 1990. “It was quite a deal, I’d already played ball for almost 50 years and had never been there. It was big moment for me,” he said.

James Terronez, a really good friend and fellow player said via email, “Hank’s a walking legend. He still pitched for us this season when we played in the Tri-County Fast pitch League at age 75,” he said.

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Carrillo loves softball so much, he even tried getting married on a field in Omaha, Nebraska, ten years ago. “My wife, Cora tells me, I know how much you love this game, how bout you marry me on the mound. I call them up and they say the town’s yours, do what you want. There was a little rain in the tournament, so we couldn’t get married on the mound. We got married in the park. There were 2-3 hundred people there, it really blew my mind,” he said.

Carrillo thanks the players and sponsors who have helped him make his softball memories possible.  He says that the fans are very important on how he performed in each game.  “It always made me feel good. I also want to thank my family because without them we couldn’t go anywhere,” he said.

At the state of Iowa tournament in Walcott, Carrillo got to throw out the first pitch for his induction into the Kansas City softball hall of fame. “Pitching’s been good to me; I’ve loved every second of it.

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