Bob Crues - 60 Homers Club Member

Robert Fulton Crues was born the last day of 1918 at Celina, Texas. On the day after Christmas in 1986, just short of his 68th birthday, he died north of Dallas.

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.

But even when he was setting it, Bob's RBI record was being overshadowed by his home runs. Besides driving in runs at a record pace, scoring 185 runs and hitting .404 that summer, he also was hotly pursuing Joe Hauser's all-time home run record of 69 set with the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in 1933. It was Crues' assault on that record that attracted fan and media interest and prompted fans to call him "Round Trip."

In fact, there is evidence that Crues was the first ever to hit 70 homers in a season. But one of them didn't count because an umpire may have ruled incorrectly at a game in Abilene, Texas.

On June 30, Amarillo played the Blue Sox in Abilene. Crues smashed a towering hit toward the scoreboard that bounced back on the field. Umpire Frank Secory, who three years earlier was in a World Series with the Cubs, ruled that the ball hit the fence and held Crues at third. After the game, the Abilene outfielders, scoreboard operator, and official scorer said the ball hit the scoreboard, not the fence, and should have been a home run.

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