After five seasons of playing centerfield in the minor leagues, Hardball came to the realization that the big league scouts just weren't interested in athletic prowess; they wanted star quality. The Joe Team was more interested in team-players than in stars, and they had a real need for a guy who could judge distances accurately and react quickly with deliberation.
"Grenade launchers are fitted with adjustable, graduated sights, calibrated in 25 meter increments. In a firefight, nobody wants to start readjusting sights-especially the blooper man. Hardball can drop a 40mm frag into a bucket from 75 meters, simply by eyeballing it. The man's a natural."
Hardball is a G.I. Joe team operative in the A Real American Hero line. First released as a Hasbro carded action figure in 1988, with 1 distinct figure version produced across the 1982 to 1994 vintage run.
Hardball did not appear by name in the Sunbow or DiC cartoon series synopses. Original Hasbro file-card lore and Marvel ARAH comics appearances are the primary characterization sources.