A look back to 1998

Despite 60 Homers, Mark Mcgwire Is On The Bottom Rung Among Some Sluggers Of Yesteryear.

Major Feats By Minor-leaguers

September 07, 1998
By Michael Rosenberg, Tribune Staff Writer.

The media frenzy around Mark McGwire is reaching a crescendo, and it's hard to figure why. All this fuss, and McGwire isn't even close to Joe Bauman's record.

That's not to say McGwire can't catch Bauman. If the St. Louis Cardinals slugger has a hot September, he might surpass Bauman's historic mark of 72 homers. But really, even that would have to go into the record book with some kind of asterisk, for McGwire has 162 games to slug 72, while Bauman did it in just 138 games.

Of course, most of you older fans already knew that, having spent that magical summer of 1954 following Bauman's Roswell (N.M.) Rockets through the Class C Longhorn League.

McGwire may not reach Bauman, but he can continue his climb up the all-time list. Having hit No. 60, he has caught Forrest "Frosty" Kennedy (Plainview, Southwestern League, 1956), Tony Lazzeri (Salt Lake City, Pacific Coast League, 1925) and Babe Ruth (New York, American League, 1927). Then he'll try to pass someone named Roger Maris, also of New York of the American League, who hit 61 in 1961.

After that come the really big boppers: Ken Guettler of Shreveport in 1956 and Moose Clabaugh of Tyler (Texas) in 1926 at 62, followed by Joe Hauser of Baltimore of the International League, who hit 63 in 1930. Then come Bob Lennon (Nashville, 1954) at 64 and Dick Stuart (Lincoln, 1956) at 66.

Finally, McGwire will be staring down Bob Crues (Amarillo, 1948) and Hauser again (Minneapolis, 1933), both of whom hit 69.

If McGwire catches Crues and Hauser, then--and only then--can he start thinking about Joe Bauman.

Like McGwire, Bauman felt the pressure of his chase. He hit No. 69 with five games left in the season, then hit a dry spell. When he woke up on the morning of a final-day double-header, Bauman was still tied with Hauser and Crues.

In his first at-bat of the double-header, Bauman pulled one down the right-field line to make the record his own.

"It created quite a stir," recalled Bauman, now 76 and still living in Roswell. "I was glad it was over."

Like many of today's sluggers, Bauman received extra money for every home run. But the method of payment was rather unconventional.

"The fans would just poke it in the chicken wire in the fence, and you would go around and pick it up," Bauman said. "I'd make $40, $50, maybe up to $100, sometimes more. The night I broke the record I got $800 or $900."

Backed by that kind of loot, Bauman could do what he really wanted to--get out of baseball. He retired a year and a half after breaking the record so he could work full time at his gas station and tire distributorship. Bauman had been in the Boston Braves organization earlier in his career, but he quit after he was told his salary would be cut by a third.

Bauman has no regrets about missing out on the majors.
"Best thing I ever did," he said. "I went ahead and played baseball, then I made a living."

Unlike some flying objects reportedly seen in Roswell, Bauman's 72 homers have been confirmed. The Minor League Register acknowledges them as a professional baseball record.

Bob Lennon played the part of Sammy Sosa to Bauman's McGwire that year, hitting 64 for Nashville. But that wasn't the highlight of Lennon's playing career. Lennon played 38 games in the majors, including a 3-for-21 stint with the Cubs that included his only major-league home run. Lennon, a Brooklyn native, hit a three-run shot off Sal Maglie at Ebbets Field.

"That's something I dreamed of doing as a little boy," said Lennon, 69, who lives on Long Island. "I grew up dreaming of hitting one in Ebbets Field."

Lennon played that season with an arm injury that would force him to retire. But at least he reached the majors, which is more than Bauman and three other members of the 60-homer club can say. The Baseball Encyclopedia lists a Doc Kennedy and a Snapper Kennedy, but Frosty is nowhere to be found. Guettler never made it to the majors, and neither did Crues.

Lazzeri went on to a standout career with Ruth's Yankees, and Hauser hit 79 homers in his six-year career, including 27 for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1924--second in the American League behind Ruth. Stuart took his powerful stroke to the majors and hit 228 homers over 10 seasons, including 23 for the World Series champion Pirates in 1960 and 42 for the Red Sox in 1963. But alas, "Dr. Strangeglove" was best known for his fielding misadventures. Clabaugh had 14 homerless at-bats for the 1926 Brooklyn Dodgers, and that was it.

But they all left at least a small imprint on the game with their 60-homer seasons. In some cases the imprint was larger than it appears.

In 1955, an Indianapolis outfielder was impressed enough with Lennon's power to ask him how he pulled the ball to right field so well.
"You have to get out in front and pop your wrists," Lennon said.

It's hard to know if the guy took the advice, but he did show some power after that. His name was Roger Maris.

Prited in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE on Sept. 7, 1998