AN ARTICLE FROM THE BASEBALL
MAGAZINE:JUNE
ONEMOREINNING
BEFORE
BONDS.JOE BAUMAN
…..THERE
WAS THIS CRASH AND IT WAS A FLYING
SAUCER AND ALL
THE ALIENS DIED AND WHAT HAPPENED
WAS THAT THE GOVERNMENT GOT THEIR HANDS ON THE SHIP
AND
WHISKED ALL
THE
BODIES AWAY TO STUDY
THEM AND CAME OUT
WITH
SOME
COCK
AND BULL
STORY ABOUT
EXPERIMENTAL WEATHER
BALLONS BUT
THOSE
WHO REALLY
KNOW
ARE
AWARE THAT IT
WAS
AN
ALIEN INVASION
THAT WENT WRONG AND ALL THIS
HAPPENED IN ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO…
IT’S A GOOD
STORY! IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I KNEW THERE WAS ANOTHER THING ABOUT ROSWELL
BUT COULDN’T RE- MEMBER WHAT
IT WAS. THEN IT CAME TO ME.
WHY
SURE, JOE BAUMAN HAD HIS TEXACO GAS STATION THERE.
THAT’S ALSO THE PLACE WHERE
JOE BAUMAN HIT 72 HOMERUNS IN 1954. IT’S A RECORD THAT ONLY RECENTLY
HAS BEEN ECLIP-SED BY BARRY BONDS.
JOE BAUMAN LIVES
IN RELATIVE OBSCURITY NOW IN ROSWELL,
NEW MEXICO.
THE FLYING
SAUCER STORIES GET MUCH MORE
PLAY THAN HE DOES, BUT EVERY
ONCE IN
AWHILE HE
GET’S
SOME
ATTENTION,
ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE
IS AN ASSAULT
ON THE SINGLE SEASON
RECORD. LIKE
A SINGLE BEACON THAT’S NOT REALLY CONSIDERED AS BEING
SIGIFIC-
ICANT, IT WILL
BE POINTED OUT THAT, YEAH, HE HIT THE SECOND HIGHEST TOTAL OF HOMERUNS IN
A SEASON, BUT OF COURSE IT’S JUST AMINOR LEAGUE RECORD AND IN CLASS
C BALL FOR THAT MATTER.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE
DON’T MENTION IS THAT IN 1954 THE BASEBALL WAS NOT THE NAMBY-PAMBY
JACKRABBIT THAT SAMMY SOSA AND BARRY BONDS ARE FACING TODAY. THERE WERE NO
STEROIDS AND DRUG ENHANCING SOURCES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AND PROGRAMS WITH
STATE OF THE ART MACHINES WERE
NOT IN EXISTENCE THEN.
IN MY BOOK
BAUMAN’S PERFORMANCE WAS EXTRAORDINARY. NOT ONLY FOR THE HOMERUNS BUT
HIS SEASON IN GEN-ERAL. IN THOSE DAYS IN CLASS C YOU PLAYED A 138 GAME SCHEDULE.
BAUMAN’S HOMERUN RATIO WAS AN
EXCEPTION- AL ONCE IN EVERY
6.9 TIMES AT
BAT. HIS SLUGGING
PERCENTAGE WAS .916. EVEN THE
GREAT BOMBINO
COULD NOT MATCH
IT. HIS
HIGHEST WAS .847 IN
1920. LET’S THROW IN
A .400 BATTING AVERAGE,
224 RBIs, 150 WALKS
AND A MIND BOGGLING 456
TOTAL BASES.
PRIOR
TO HIS 72 HOMERUNS THE
RECORD FOR
PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL
HAD BEEN SET BY JOE HAUSER IN 1938
AND BOB CRUES IN 1948. IN BAUMANS LAST DAY OF THE SEASON HE WAS PLAYING
IN A DOUBLEHEADER. IN THE FIRST
GAME HE BROKE HAUSERS RECORD WITH HIS 70th HOMERUN. THE BEST WAS
YET TO COME. IN THE SECOND GAME, JOHN GOOD-
ELL
SERVED
UP BAUMANS
71st AND
FRANK
GALARDO WAS
NAILED FOR THE
72nd. AN
INTERESTING NOTE TO THIS WAS THAT GALLARDO WAS THE UNCLE OF JOSE GALLARDO
WHO GAVE UP JOE BAUMAN’S 70th
HOMERUN.
BAUMAN WAS 32
YEARS OLD AT THE TIME. THE HIGHEST HE WAS TO REACH IN HIS CAREER WAS CLASS
C. HE WAS FOR- CED TO RETIRE
FROM THE GAME IN 1956
WITH
A CHIPPED
BONE INJURY. HIS MINOR LEAGUE
CAREER INCLUDED OVER 300 HOMERUNS.
DURING HIS
MARCH
TO 72 HOMERS
HE R ECEIVED A
BIT OF
ATTENTION.
HE WAS FOLLOWED BY LIFE MAGAZINE
AND THE LOCAL REPORTERS. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT HIS STORY WOULD BE LIKE
NOWADAYS.
ABOUT THE ONLY
THING HE RECEIVED FOR HIS ACHIEVEMENT WAS A BLACK, GOLD ENGRAVED BAT
FROM LOUISVILLE SLUGGER AFTER
DONATING HIS BAT TO THEM.
