From the much more interesting and rare than valuable department, a few weeks ago I picked up three team signed balls from the 1946-1948 Amarillo Gold Sox directly from an estate in Amarillo.
Playing in Class C of the old West Texas-New Mexico League during the post WWII minor league expansion boom, the Gold Sox were owned by former 1930s journeyman “Suitcase” Bob Seeds and loosely affiliated with the Boston Braves in the beginning.
The 1946 team were headlined by sluggers Joe Bauman and Bob Crues, as well as Bill Evans, who played 13 games in the majors, and Seeds, who played part-time for the team he owned.
In the extreme hitter-friendly league that lacked quality pitching and high winds that carried many balls out of the park, Bauman broke out for a league-leading 48 HRs and 159 RBIs. Crues contributed a more modest 29/120.
The 1946 ball features both Bauman and Crues’ signatures on the same panel.
In 1947 Bob Crues hit an absurd .380 with 52 HRs and 178 RBIs, but didn’t even lead the league because rival Lubbock’s Bill Serena hit .374/57/190. Joe Bauman “slumped” to 38 HRs and 128 RBIs but hit .350 and was invited to the upper levels of the Braves system for 1948.
Crues was offered a chance to play in the upper minors for 1948 but by this time was 29, was not considered a real prospect and had a life settled in Amarillo, so he declined the offer and returned to the Gold Sox for 1948 without Bauman.
The 1947 ball was signed by both Bauman and Crues, on different panels:
With brief major leaguer Buck Fausett as player-manager, the 1948 Gold Sox won the league championship behind Bob Crues’ legendary minor league season. Crues hit an insane .404 with 69 HRs and 254(!) RBIs in only 140 games.
Crues had a chance to be the first person in organized ball to hit 70 HRs in a season on the last day’s doubleheader with national media on hand but was unable to do so and faded into obscurity. Nobody at the time cared to acknowledge his 254 RBIs which still stands as an all-time organized baseball record that most likely will never be broken.
Crues played around western Texas until 1953 but never came close to that magical 1948 season.
Six years later in 1954, Joe Bauman had settled back in the area with the Roswell (NM) Rockets of the Longhorn League after failing to advance to the MLB with the Braves. Still playing in extreme hitter-friendly environments, Bauman became a brief national hero by hitting 72 HRs, the first player to finally crack 70 HRs, and put up 224 RBIs, which is still second all-time behind Crues’ 254.
Though he also faded into obscurity with time, Bauman’s HR record would stand until Barry Bonds eclipsed it on the highest level with 73 HRs in 2001. This brought footnote exposure to Bauman once again, but Bob Crues and his 69 HRs and 254 RBIs remain almost entirely forgotten.
Thus these 3 balls feature the 2 players with most single-season RBIs in organized baseball history (on one panel no less) as well as some of the highest single-season HR totals in history. Pretty neat!
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