Left on Base in the Bush Leagues

Legends, Near Greats, and Unknowns in the Minors

Gaylon H. White

There was a time when no town was too small to field a professional baseball team. In 1949, the high point for the minor leagues, there were 59 leagues and 464 cities with teams, two-thirds of them in so-called bush leagues classified as C and D. Most of the players were strangers outside the towns where they played, but some achieved hero status and enthralled local fans as much as the stars in the majors.

Left on Base in the Bush Leagues: Legends, Near Greats, and Unknowns in the Minors profiles some of the most fascinating characters from baseball’s golden era. It includes the stories of players such as Ron Necciai, the only pitcher in history to strike out 27 batters in a single game; Joe Brovia, one of the most feared hitters to ever play in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), who had to wait 15 years for a shot in the majors; and Pat Stasey, a mellow Irishman who “Cubanized” minor league baseball in Texas and New Mexico, helping to bring down the walls of segregation. Compelling and timeless, their stories touch on many issues that still affect the sport today.

Left on Base in the Bush Leagues provides an entertaining glimpse into a time when baseball was a game and the players were regular guys who often held second jobs off the field. Featuring hundreds of personal interviews with the players, their teammates, managers, and opponents, this bookcreates a colorful tapestry of the minor leagues during the 1950s and 60s.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 380 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-5381-2365-2 • Hardback • May 2019 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-2366-9 • eBook • May 2019 • $42.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General

Left on Base in the Bush Leagues

Legends, Near Greats, and Unknowns in the Minors

Hardback

eBook

Summary

There was a time when no town was too small to field a professional baseball team. In 1949, the high point for the minor leagues, there were 59 leagues and 464 cities with teams, two-thirds of them in so-called bush leagues classified as C and D. Most of the players were strangers outside the towns where they played, but some achieved hero status and enthralled local fans as much as the stars in the majors.

Left on Base in the Bush Leagues: Legends, Near Greats, and Unknowns in the Minors profiles some of the most fascinating characters from baseball’s golden era. It includes the stories of players such as Ron Necciai, the only pitcher in history to strike out 27 batters in a single game; Joe Brovia, one of the most feared hitters to ever play in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), who had to wait 15 years for a shot in the majors; and Pat Stasey, a mellow Irishman who “Cubanized” minor league baseball in Texas and New Mexico, helping to bring down the walls of segregation. Compelling and timeless, their stories touch on many issues that still affect the sport today.

Left on Base in the Bush Leagues provides an entertaining glimpse into a time when baseball was a game and the players were regular guys who often held second jobs off the field. Featuring hundreds of personal interviews with the players, their teammates, managers, and opponents, this bookcreates a colorful tapestry of the minor leagues during the 1950s and 60s.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 380 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-5381-2365-2 • Hardback • May 2019 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-2366-9 • eBook • May 2019 • $42.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General

Author

Gaylon H. White was a sportswriter for the Denver Post, Arizona Republic and Oklahoma Journal before working in the corporate world for nearly forty years. He is the author of The Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels (2014) and Singles and Smiles: How Artie Wilson Broke Baseball’s Color Barrier (2018), and co-author with Ransom Jackson of Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer (2016), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Table of Contents

Foreword Wes Parker
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: Bushes and Bushers: Three Bush League Legends and Two Unknowns
2: Following a Dream: Walter Buckel and the “Biggest Little Baseball City in the United States”
3: Round Trip to Nowhere: Bob “Round Trip” Crues
4: The Man Who Wore the Texaco Star: Joe Bauman
5: Father, Son, and Little League: Tom and Tommy Jordan
6: The Mellow Irishman’s Merry Band of Cubans: Pat Stasey and the Big Spring Broncs
7: The Bobo and Jojo Show: Bobo Newsom and Joe Engel
8: “A Boy Named Kingston”: Al Pinkston
9: Playing Drunk: Joe Taylor
10: A Whiff of the Big Time: Joe Brovia
11: Unwanted: Bob Dillinger
12: Made for Hollywood: Carlos Bernier
13: A Tale of Two Legends: Ron Necciai and Steve Dalkowski
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

. . . there are compelling personalities to savor. Among them are Joe Bauman (“the most famous baseball player never to set foot on a big league diamond”), who held the single-season professional record for home runs until Barry Bonds broke it, and frenemies Joe Engel and Bobo Newsom, whose partnership kept the also-ran Chattanooga Lookouts on the sports pages for years. Bob Dillinger’s self-destruction and Joe Brovia’s “cup of coffee” are the saddest, most thought-provoking stories. Devoted fans of baseball will find this book a diverting read. Reccomended.
— Choice Reviews

Immerse yourself in the magic of being a bush league fan . . . [stories] range from Joe Bauman breaking the all-time single season professional homerun record by hitting seventy-two home-runs in 1954 [to] Ron Necciai [who] struck out 27 batters in a nine-inning game . . . [White] engulf[s] each baseball milestone or accomplishment with the tortuous pathos that the ballplayer endured during their attempt to succeed.
— Baseball Almanac

. . .an outstanding book that took me back to my childhood . . . White has written a fascinating account of a better time in baseball, the minor leagues during the 1950s and ’60s when any town that was big enough to have a bank was large enough to have a ball club.
— Joe Guzzardi, Syndicated Columnist

White has a way of turning colorful phrases when appropriate to the narrative but the pleasure is the fact finding mission likely lost on even the most die-hard historians, some of it culled from local and now defunct newspaper archives. . . .Could each and every one of [the players] fill their own book? Maybe not, but White fleshes out everything to make that seem possible.”
— Tom Hoffarth's "The Drill"

Meticulously researched and compellingly presented, Left on Base in the Bush Leagues is the best book on 1950s minor league baseball ever, a milestone worthy of sharing the same bookshelf with The Glory of Their Times.
— Jim McConnell, former sports columnist for the San Gabriel Valley News Group, two-time recipient of the SABR Research Award, and author of the critically-acclaimed biography Bobo Newsom: Baseball's Traveling Man

Once again Gaylon White brings to life forgotten heroes of baseball as only he can tell. A captivating read.
— Ransom Jackson Jr., two-time Major League Baseball All-Star, Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers

I love the stories in this book. They provide great insight on the life of pro baseball players in the fifties and early sixties.
— Jack McKeon, two-time National League Manager of the Year, Cincinnati Reds and world champion Florida Marlins

Ron Necciai and I are long-time friends. In 1955 at Hollywood in the Pacific Coast League, I played with Carlos Bernier and against Joe Taylor, Joe Brovia, and Bob Dillinger. Left on Base in the Bush Leagues stirs fond memories of those days by taking you back to the fifties. It’s a trip worth taking.
— Bill Mazeroski, 10-time National League All-Star second baseman, Pittsburgh Pirates, and National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, 2001

Exhaustive research always gets my attention. It signals the author demands accuracy. Gaylon White's storytelling and writing are excellent and his attention to detail nails it.
— Bob Wirz, former chief spokesman for two Major League Baseball commissioners and author of the autobiographical The Passion of Baseball

Having played in the minor leagues for eleven years from 1947–1957, I knew many of the players covered in Gaylon White’s book personally and could relate with fondness to life in the minors. Reading Left on Base in the Bush Leagues was exciting and brought back many great memories and recollections of awfully good players.
— Ed Mickelson, former St. Louis Cardinal, St. Louis Brown, and Chicago Cub and author of Out of the Park

Baseball fans love a good story about those who once played the game. In his book, Gaylon White has captured this in the short biographies of some of these most colorful and unique individuals. I had the pleasure to play the game with and against these men in my eleven year baseball career. Enjoy!
— Paul Pettit, baseball’s first $100,000 bonus baby, Pittsburgh Pirates

A classic . . . With this work, White weaves a heartfelt narrative from over 200 interviews that form a comprehensive look into an era of minor league life that demands remembering.
— Forbes