Hadley Heads to California

Pasadena City College 1953

Hadley, on the advise of Yankee scouts packed up after a summer of minor league ball and headed to Pasadena City College. After a year of tearing up JC pitching he got a Yankee scholarship at USC. He lead the Pacific Coast Conference in homeruns in 1956 and was named first team All-American.

1959 Kansas City Athletics went 66-88

The 1959 Kansas City Athletics played 154 games during the regular season, won 66 games, lost 88 games, and finished in seventh position. They played their home games at Municipal Stadium where 963,683 fans witnessed their 1959 Athletics finish the season with a .429 winning percentage.

Hadley Hits Winning Home Run in Japan Series

Hadley Swings Big Bat in Japan Majors
In 1964 Hadley hit .263/.328/.470 with 29 home runs and a league-high 99 strikeouts. He hit a dramatic game-ending game-winning home run in game 4 of the Japan Series that year, taking Minoru Murayama deep. The blow and his colleague Joe Stanka's stellar pitching helped the Hawks to a 4-3 Series win over the Hanshin Tigers - it would be the last Japan Series title for Nankai.

As Nankai's 1B in 1965 Kent batted .239/.274/.492, again cracking 29 home runs and driving in 86 runners. His power began to fade the next season but he picked up his average as his line read .279/.340/.443 with 18 HR. In his final season for the Hawks, Hadley hit just .213/.266/.341 with 14 homers. Inn the opening game, he hit one homer that made him the first foreigner to hit 100 career home runs in Nippon Pro Baseball. At his final game, he was celebrated by his teammate with doage (tossing a person in the air for a few times), which was rather unusual for non-Japanese players.

Hadley, 13, named Cardinal Batboy for 1947 Season

Kent Hadley proudly poses in his authentic Cardinal batboy uniform. The uni was custom made and shipped from St. Louis.
Idaho State Journal June 1947
The annual Welcome Pocatello Cardinal banquet was a huge success. At the session which was held at the Hotel Bannock, the new Card batboy was present. He is Kent Hadley who was selected from a group of six finalists in the Cardinal Batboy contest held recently.
Kent will wear a regular Cardinal Uniform, fitted to his size, receive a regular bi-monthly paycheck and in general he’ll be the envy of all youngsters in Pocatello.

The Winning Cardinal Essay

Hadley's winning essay

Probably the happiest lad in Pocatello last night was Kent Hadley, of 408 North Tenth Ave.
Why?
The personable 13 year old was named this year’s Pocatello Cardinal batboy at the Annual Banquet in the Hotel Bannock. Steve Detmer 145 Washington came in second and was awarded a gold watch from Nate Morgan jewelers. –Pocatello Tribune

Hadley's disappointing Yankee season

"New York was a bad break for me," Hadley told the Idaho State Journal in 1984. After spending nearly the entire season on the Yankee roster in 1960. Hadley was left off the teams World Series roster in favor of Dale Long. Long went 1-3 in the series and the Yankees lost to Pittsburg in game 7 of the series. A series that still haunts some Yankee fans.