BOB CRUES- 60 HOMERS CLUB MEMBER

BOB CRUES -

Given name: ROBERT FULTON CRUES
Played : 1939 - 1949
Borne Dec. 31, 1918 Celina, Texas
Died Dec. 26, 1986

In 1948, Crues went on a rampage through the dusty and windswept ballparks of the Southwest, driving in 254 runs in just 140 games, dwarfing the major league record of 191 RBI set by Hack Wilson with the Cubs in 1930. Playing for the Amarillo Gold Sox of the class C West Texas-New Mexico League, Crues drove in almost two runs per game that summer. Two! The closest anyone ever came to his total was former teammate Joe Bauman who drove in 224 one season. Tony Lazzeri, who set the old record with 222, had to play in 197 games in 1925 to reach that mark at Salt Lake City in the Pacific Coast League. As the 21st century dawned, it seemed possible that Crues' RBI record will be one of the rare ones never to be broken. Bob tied Hauser's record of 69 with two games left in the season. His try for the 70th drew a record crowd of 4,851 for a season-ending Labor Day doubleheader with Lubbock. Ironically, Secory, the umpire who might have cost him a home run in Abilene, was working behind the plate

Before the 1943 season, like most other men his age, the 24-year-old Crues went into the Army. Bob contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized before seeing a day of duty. After the illness he was sent to Texas to play baseball, keeping him in the United States. But he was playing in the outfield, not on the mound.

1949 would be his last big season. He hit .365, 28 homers and drove in 129 runs. He continued to play at San Angelo in the Longhorn League, then at Lubbock, Amarillo, and Borger in the WT-NM again. But his output declined, and in 1953 he retired at age 34, just 11 games into the season. He was hitting only .195, but four of his eight hits were home runs, and he had batted in 12 runs, an average of more than one a game.

In five full seasons and parts of five others, Crues hit 232 home runs and drove in 905 runs.