KEN GUETTLER, 60 HOMERS CLUB MEMBER

Saturday, September 12, 1998

Texas League mark of 62 likely to stay untouched

By David King

San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO -- Ken Guettler, the man who set the Texas League record for home runs with 62 in 1956, might have reached even higher had it not been for some small factors:

-- He suffered through a month-long slump in June, hitting only six the entire month.

-- He struggled at the end of the season, hitting only seven the final four weeks.

-- He had his specially designed glasses pilfered from his locker during a series in Houston, costing him a handful of games there and in San Antonio as he awaited replacements.

Guettler, who died in 1977, played only briefly above the Texas League and never made it to the majors. He hit 330 homers in 15 seasons, but never more than five in a season after his run with the Shreveport Sports in '56.

"I'm not sure what happened to bring on the slide," said Davis Barker, a baseball historian whose specialty is the Texas League. "But it appears to be an almost common thread among many of the post-war minor leaguers who cranked out the 60-plus homer seasons."

He hit three homers for two teams in 1957, five for three teams in '58 and four for two teams in '59.

But his Texas League mark remains unchallenged, probably forever. And it's a mark that he deserved in an era when the ball sailed out of a lot of ballparks.

"Unlike most of the other (records), which took place in smaller parks in light air, Ken's was accomplished in Shreveport's SPAR Park, which was never known as a hitter's park," Barker said.

Hitting in Shreveport probably did hamper his progress, though, since the Sports were not affiliated with a major-league organization in 1956. Also limiting his publicity was the fact that he didn't even lead the minors in homers -- Dick Stuart hit 66 for Lincoln (Neb.) in the Western League in 1956.

Frosty Kennedy hit 60 for Plainview in the Southwestern League that season, including a record 23 in June and 17 more in July.

But beyond his 62 homers, Guettler probably will be most remembered for a midseason incident in Houston, when the Sports were playing the Houston Buffs. The story was retold 10 years later by Clark Nealon in the Houston Post.

"Guettler wore prescription glasses, lens so strong they looked like bubbles," Nealon wrote. "He could get along with less strong glasses off the field, but he was almost harmless as a hitter without his special specs.

"So Guettler was hitting home runs by the bushel about midseason when the Sports checked into Buff Stadium for a big series. Kenny murdered the Buffs a couple of times with homers, then the next morning all the devil broke loose. Guettler's glasses had disappeared, his special glasses.

"(Sports manager Mel) McGaha stormed that the specs had been in Kenny's locker one night, were gone the next when the Sports got to the ballpark. Mel didn't accuse anyone directly, but he wanted everybody around the stadium questioned -- groundskeeper George Myers, crewman Ruey Moore, Manager Harry (The Hat) Walker, even General Manager Art Routzong. All firmly denied any knowledge of the missing specs . . . the impish Walker said: 'I don't know a thing about it, but it was a great idea.' "

Guettler had only one pair, so a replacement set had to be ordered from the factory in Rochester, N.Y. He had to sit out the rest of the series in Houston and at least two games in San Antonio, the next stop on the road trip.

"I still don't know what happened to those glasses and I'd still like to know," McGaha told Nealon. .