Joe Bauman Dies

[Brownian Motion]

The New York Times

September 22, 2005

Joe Bauman, 83, Who Hit 72 Homers as Minor Leaguer, Dies

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Joe Bauman, who hit 72 home runs in 1954 playing for a minor league team in Roswell, N.M., setting a single-season record for professional baseball that stood for nearly half a century, died Tuesday at a hospital in Roswell. He was 83.

The cause was pneumonia, which developed after he incurred a broken pelvis in a fall last month at a ceremony naming a Roswell ballpark for him, his sister-in-law, Mary Ramsey, said.

He was a career minor leaguer who never envisioned reaching the bleachers at Yankee Stadium, figuring he would make out just fine running a gas station in the years to come. But at age 32, Bauman, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound, left-handed-hitting first baseman, produced one of the most spectacular seasons at the plate in baseball history. He became the biggest celebrity in Roswell since aliens supposedly emerged from a flying saucer near the town in 1947, spawning an enduring saga of American pop culture.

Appearing in 138 games for the 1954 Roswell Rockets of the Class C Longhorn League, one rung above the minors' lowest level then, Bauman not only hit 72 homers but also batted .400, drove in 224 runs and drew 150 walks.

Playing home games at Roswell's Park Field, Bauman took aim at a 10-foot-high right-field fence, 329 feet down the line, driving baseballs into a rodeo grounds when he wasn't pumping gas at Joe Bauman's Texaco Service in town.

His single-season home-run record for all of organized baseball endured until Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs for the San Francisco Giants in 2001. "I never thought it'd last this long," The Associated Press quoted Bauman as saying then. "I was watching on TV when Barry Bonds hit that last one. It didn't bother me or anything. I just thought, 'There goes my record.' "

Bauman, who grew up in Oklahoma City, made his minor league debut in 1941. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he alternated between the minors and semipro ball and played for a time in the Boston Braves' organization.

"There was thousands of minor leaguers then," Bauman once told The Los Angeles Times, "and we knew most of us would never get to the big leagues. Some were bitter, some were philosophical and accepted it, using the minor leagues to get into doors that might have been closed otherwise."

Bauman retired during the 1956 season, having hit 337 home runs in his nine-year minor league career, spent mostly in low-level leagues. He settled in Roswell, running his gas station and serving as a manager for a beer distributorship.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy.

"It was easy to hit balls out here, in a sense," Bauman told Bart Ripp in recalling his 72-home-run season in the 1980 journal of the Society for American Baseball Research. "The ball carries so good here. Plus, we got a free ham for every home run. We had the best-fed ball club in the country."

[JSngry]

Yep, minor league baseball used to be everywhere. Small, SMALL towns would have a team. Class B, Class C, whatever. Some of the towns in East Texas still have remnats of their old stadia in use for various purposes. Pretty cool, and definitely no longer even remotely viable. Not enough talent, not enough interest, and too many other things for people to do. Kinda sad, really, but whatcha gonna do?

[Chuck Nessa]

Yep, minor league baseball used to be everywhere. Small, SMALL towns would have a team. Class B, Class C, whatever. Some of the towns in East Texas still have remnats of their old stadia in use for various purposes. Pretty cool, and definitely no longer even remotely viable. Not enough talent, not enough interest, and too many other things for people to do. Kinda sad, really, but whatcha gonna do?

←

Whatchoo talkin bout!

I cheer for the Lansing Lugnuts.

Look here: An organ trio in the crowd

[Indestructible!]

Yep, minor league baseball used to be everywhere. Small, SMALL towns would have a team. Class B, Class C, whatever. Some of the towns in East Texas still have remnats of their old stadia in use for various purposes. Pretty cool, and definitely no longer even remotely viable. Not enough talent, not enough interest, and too many other things for people to do. Kinda sad, really, but whatcha gonna do?

←

Whatchoo talkin bout!

I cheer for the Lansing Lugnuts.

Look here: An organ trio in the crowd

←

Hi Chuck,

Yep, I've been to a couple of their games in the past. Hell, ya gotta love a team that encourages you to yell "GO 'NUTS"!!!

Cheers,

Shane

[DukeCity]

Don't know much about the Roswell Rockets, but I've been digging the Albuquerque Isotopes (named from an episode of the Simpsons where their beloved Springfield Isotopes are purchased by a group of businessmen from ABQ). Cool new stadium, good beer, and yes, the ball does carry up here at 5,000 ft. altitude.

[JSngry]

When I lived in Albuquerque, the were still the Dukes. Dodgers AAA team. Is this the same team under a new name? Still a Dodgers affiliate? Or am I'm a-bein' joshed here?

[JSngry]

Yep, minor league baseball used to be everywhere. Small, SMALL towns would have a team. Class B, Class C, whatever. Some of the towns in East Texas still have remnats of their old stadia in use for various purposes. Pretty cool, and definitely no longer even remotely viable. Not enough talent, not enough interest, and too many other things for people to do. Kinda sad, really, but whatcha gonna do?

←

Whatchoo talkin bout!

I cheer for the Lansing Lugnuts.

Look here: An organ trio in the crowd

←

What is that, AA? AFAIC, anthing with one A or more doesn;t count. Hell, Kilgore and Gladewater both had Class D teams IIRC. THAT"S what I'm taking about. MINOR minor leagues.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Does this help?

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-minor...agues-and-teams

Mike

[JSngry]

No, but it led me to here http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessi...rque%20Isotopes , which does!