Carroll Blackstock
Carroll joined the San Jose Police Department in 1961. He worked several units within the department until he retired in 1983. Carroll played high school baseball at five different high schools in Michigan, Texas, and California. He also played baseball at San Jose City College.
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Carroll joined the San Jose Police Department Fast Pitch Softball Team in 1962. He played for manager Jim Guido. Carroll started his fast pitch career as a catcher. While warming up the pitchers, he would sometimes return the ball using a pitching motion. The pitchers then were Ernie Vasquez, Merle Wheatley, Glen Brewer, and Bobby Sheppard. Bobby noticed Carroll had a coordinated delivery and could generate a lot of speed. Bobby suggested Carroll start practicing pitching more seriously and consider being one of the pitchers. Guido started using Carroll as a spot pitcher. Carroll started off being pretty wild and he hit a lot of batters. Eventually he was able to improve his control and learned how to throw pitches with movement and speed changes. After four or five seasons, Carroll became the team’s main pitcher.
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Carroll’s SJPD Fast Pitch Softball Team played in the City of San Jose Recreation League and in police tournaments throughout California. He pitched against teams from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, Fresno PD, Modesto PD, Marin County Sheriff’s Office, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office, Los Angeles PD and San Francisco PD. Players from these teams respected Carroll for being such an outstanding pitcher.
Carroll also participated in the California Police Olympics and the World Police & Fire Games, winning several medals. Carroll once pitched against the world famous The King and His Court and struck out Eddie Feigner’s son.
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Carroll played for the San Jose Police Department Fast Pitch Softball Team for 24 years.
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For his outstanding athletic accomplishments, Sgt. Carroll Blackstock is inducted into the Police Amateur Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.