This Famous New York Mets Player Was Allegedly Given An Amphicar Because He Was So Damn Cheap

I’ll be honest: I know Jaqueline Squat about most sports, baseball included. The only baseball players I know anything about are Terry Forester (because David Letterman called him a “fat tub of goo“), Rusty Kuntz (you know why), and one of my personal heroes, Dock Ellis, who pitched a no-hitter while high as a Georgia pine on LSD. Other than those players? I’m as ignorant as a nicely-sanded piece of plywood. Happily, this isn’t the case for an Autopian named John who emailed us a fascinating bit of information about a major league baseball player named Ron Hunt, who passed away a few days ago. It’s an anecdote that not only involves a car, but something even better: an Amphicar.

Yes, an Amphicar! I’ve long maintained that the world is sleeping on the idea of amphibious vehicles, as I think they would be far easier to own and maintain than a recreational small boat, but so far, I’ve not found many converts. The Amphicar came the closest to success, being the most popular (non-military, that honor goes to the VW Schwimmwagen) amphibious vehicle ever sold, with about 4000 copies being built.

I think they were genuinely cool! Unironically, I’m being wildly sincere here! I got to drag race one on land and water once, even:

Here, watch a more Amphicar-focused promotional film, just to really drive the point home:

Glorious, right? Of course it is. Now, even though I’m certain you’ve been enjoying this reverie about the Amphicar, you’re likely wondering what the hell this has to do with baseball great Ron Hunt? I’m getting to that, I promise.

You see, Ron Hunt, became a member of the New York Mets in late 1962, where he soon became second baseman. Hunt was a good player, and was runner-up to Pete Rose for the National League Rookie of the Year. Even if he missed out on that honor, the New York sportswriters voted him as Most Valuable Met, an accolade that came with a very particular prize: a brand new Amphicar.

There was a reason for the Amphicar as a prize, the explanation of which seems to have been most notably recorded in David Pietruza’s book, Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia:

Sure, that entry mistakenly called the Amphicar an “Aqua-Car” but aside from that, everything else is accurate. Hunt was known for complaining, with what must have been an impressive amount of regularity, about the 50 cent toll he had to pay to use the George Washington bridge to get from his home in Fort Lee, New Jersey to New York to play for the Mets. There and back, that’s a buck a day! And in 1963 dollars, that would equate to, oh, almost $11! That’s a pretty good chunk of change, I don’t blame Ron for kvetching about that.

So, maybe as a joke – the motives aren’t really clear – the prize awarded to Hunt was an amphibious car that he could use to avoid the George Washington Bridge and its absurd 50 cent toll altogether. Even if it was intended as a joke, Hunt took the car across the Hudson to his home. The actual route isn’t recorded other than he entered the water at “the foot of Dyckman Street,” and then “drove it up the Palisades” which led me to estimate his route as perhaps looking like this:

I think the Englewood Marina would be the most likely place to be able to make landfall, and from there he must have found a way to get onto the Palisades Parkway, which he could then take right into Fort Lee. Take that, George Washington Bridge!

I haven’t found any reporting that he did this on a regular basis, but I choose to believe he did. I mean, after the first time, why wouldn’t he keep doing it? The Hudson is about a mile wide where I suspect he crossed, and an Amphicar could hit about 7 mph on the water, so that’s what, about eight and a half minutes? I bet that compares favorably with driving across the George Washington Bridge, especially with traffic. And besides, what could be cooler than to be a major league ball player driving your amphibious car across the Hudson?

I’ve always thought that for just the right person with the right sort of commute, an Amphicar could be an ideal solution, and perhaps Ron Hunt was just such a person. He was also known for saying

“Some folks give their bodies to science, I gave mine to baseball.”

… because he was one of the most hit-by-pitches players of all time. He lead the league in being smacked by pitched balls seven times, including 1971, when he was hit by pitches 50 times. Over his career, he was clocked by pitches 243 times, placing him in sixth place of all-time. That’s a pretty impressive record.

So, rest in peace, Ron Hunt, and even if I’d been ignorant of your baseball career, I have nothing but respect for a man who would commute across a river in an Amphibious car to avoid an annoying toll.

(top image sources: Amphicar, Society for American Baseball Research)