-
Bartee Haile
Two weeks after breaking the Texas League home run record that had stood for 32 years, Ken Guettler hit his sixtieth round-tripper of the season on Aug. 26, 1956.
Still alive and kicking in Fort Worth, Clarence “Big Boy” Kraft had no comment on the day his best known achievement was erased from the record book. Like his legion of fans, the legendary slugger of the 1920’s probably believed it would last forever.
Kraft got his start in professional baseball on his hometown team in Indiana.
After knocking around in the lower levels of the minor leagues with clubs named the River Rats, Merchants, Vehicles and Swamp Angels, he received a call from the Boston Braves in May 1914.
Kraft appeared in three games for Beantown’s National League franchise going to plate three times and getting one hit, a single. Two weeks later, he was sent back down to the minors never to return to the big leagues. The six-foot, 190pond first baseman everyone called “Big Boy” found a permanent home in 1918 with the Fort Worth Panthers of the Texas League. With the introduction of the “livelier” baseball in 1921, his home-run production increased by leaps and bounds.
In the 1924 season, Kraft was a power-hitting machine. Besides his 55 homers, he finished with 196 runs batted in, 96 extra base hits and 414 total bases, all Texas League bests that have stood the test of time.
At the age of 36 “Big Boy” decided to rest on his laurels. He turned down a contract from the Panthers that would have paid him more than most major- leaguers and bought a Ford dealership in downtown Fort Worth hoping to cash in on his celebrity status.
Kraft’s many admirers did indeed pack the place, but they came to talk baseball not buy cars. As much as “Big Boy” loved the limelight – he once considered punching somebody in the nose just to keep his name in the papers – all the attention did not pay the bills.
So he got out of the car business and went into politics, another field where personal popularity was an important qualification. Elected county judge, he kept the voters happy enough to stay in office for a number of years.
When the Piedmont League folded after the 1955 season, the owner of the defunct Portsmouth (Virginia) club asked his counterpart in Shreveport to give Ken Guettler a try. Even though the 28 year old veteran had never seen the inside of a major-league ballpark without a ticket, his 41 homers against Class B pitching proved he could hit with power.
With a partially crippled right arm he could not fully extend and glasses as thick as Coke bottle bottoms, Guettler did not make a good first impression. However, when opening day rolled around in April 1956, he was in right field for the Shreveport Sports.
That night against the visiting Houston Buffs, Guettler blasted a pitch over what was to become his favorite target – the left field fence at Texas League Park. He followed that impressive debut with an eye-popping, three home run performance the following day.
The series moved to Houston, and Guettler hit his fifth homer in three games. But when he opened his locker in the visitors dressing room the next day, his glasses were gone.
Since their near-sighted slugger could not see a pitch “until it was halfway to the plate” without his “cheaters,” the Sports understandably suspected the Buffs of skullduggery.
Harry Walker, the former batting champion five years into a second career as a manager, did not help Houston’s case with his quick-witted denial: “I don’t know anything about it, but it was a great idea.”
Thanks to a San Antonio optometrist who specialized in 24-hour service, the dirty trick blinded Guettler for only a single game. Armed with a new pair of glasses, he picked up right where he had left off.
After two weeks, Guettler had seven home runs to his credit. May was a memorable month, as he added 18 more with round-trippers in nearly every park in the league. On the 28, he tagged three Tulsa pitchers for his second “hat trick.”
June was the closest Guettler came to a slump as his home-run output dropped to six. But just when opposing clubs thought he might be cooling off, he heated up again with 17 more in July.
Guettler passed Kraft on Aug. 13 with his fifty-sixth base-clearing swing and hit Number 60 on the 26th. His sixty-second and last homer of the season came on Sep. 2.
An argument can be made that Guettler actually should be credited with 64. His home run in the all-star game did not count, and a ball he clearly hit out of La-Grave Field in Fort Worth was ruled a double.
Ken Guettler was not the only ballplayer on a Texas team to hit 60 or more home runs in 1956. Frosty Kennedy reached that magical milestone with the Plainview Ponies of the Southwestern League. Like Guettler he too never wore a major-league uniform.
n
“Murder Most Texan” is a must read for fans of true crime and Texas history. Order your copy for $24 by mailing a check to: Bartee Haile P.O. Box 130011 Spring, TX 77393.