OCT. THE 139th ARTICLE FOR BASEBALL GURU

                                                    ONEMOREINNING

GREAT MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS

         SECOND AND FINAL PORTION

 

JOE HAUSER:

   In a two year period in the Minor Leagues (of a total of 9) Joe Hauser amassed  an astounding 132 homeruns (63 in 1930 and 69 in 1933). All told while in the Minors he ended up with one short of 400 round trippers.

   That kind of homerun barrage didn't translate itself into his Major League career. He did hit 27 in 1924. In his six seasons as a Major Leaguer he ended up with just a total of 80. 

 

IKE BOONE:

Four .400 seasons, and a Minor league lifetime batting average of .370 with 217 homeruns, makes his Major League .321 for the few seasons he was there pale in comparison. Overall he ranks as one of the very best players to have been in the Minor's

 

JOE DiMAGGIO.

Forget about DiMaggio's Major League 56 game hitting streak……try a 61 game streak in the Minor Leagues!!

DiMaggio spent 4 years  in the Minors and besides his 61 game hitting streak he amassed a .361 batting average. While in the minors at least 5 different clubs tried to sign him up but he was firm about only signing with the Yankees

 

STEVE  BILKO: Bilko played 10 years in the Major Leagues and hit a total of 76 home runs. Not so hot.

Ah but in the Minor's it was a different story!

in 1956 and 1957 he hit 50 homeruns each and a total of 313 homers while he played there.

He was only 20 years old when he became a Major Leaguer and then was up and down with both the Major and Minor leagues.

Nat Hiken, who created the Phil Silvers Show, named Sgt Bilko after him

 

LEFTY GROVE:

   In the Major Leagues Lefty Grove won a total of 300 games. However in 5 seasons in the Minors his won and lost record was 111 and 39 with an ERA was of 2.90. Four out of Five of those seasons he led the Minors in wins and least amount of losses.

Like DiMaggio he was highly sought after by  Major league teams. He ended up with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics.