Leading the Senatorial power surge with 11 home runs was 32-year-old Ray Demmitt, a left-handed batting outfielder who hailed from Illiopolis, Illinois located roughly 25 miles south of the state’s geographic center and lying 360 miles west of Columbus along the same line of latitude.

Demmitt enjoyed a productive season with the New York Highlanders in 1909 (claiming exactly 500 plate appearances), with a solid four-year stretch as a Montreal Royal to follow. He resumed his major league career in 1914 with the Chicago White Sox, then spent time with three teams in 1915. 

As a player new to the Columbus Senators’ roster in 1916, the compact Demmitt was especially valuable.  Amassing a league-leading 275 total bases with a team-high 11 home runs, 36 doubles and 14 triples, he slugged .477 while batting .308, a career year for the Illinois native. By comparison, the team’s 1915 leader was first baseman Ray Miller with five; the league’s 1916 home run champ was Kansas City outfielder Beals Becker with 15. Demmitt averaged one circuit clout every 13.8 games for the seventh-place Senators.

Demmitt hit the Senators‘ first home run of the season April 21 at Neil Park in Columbus against Kansas City in a 10-2 loss. His final swat of the year came August 19 in game two of a doubleheader at Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, an 11-5 win over the Millers.

Demmitt was most productive against Indianapolis with four homers against the Hoosiers (all at home). August was his most productive month with five homers through Aug. 19. He hit four long balls on the road, 36 percent of his total. Demmitt experienced a 50-game home run drought from June 16 (his fifth), ending July 30 against Toledo. He homered twice Aug. 3 in an 8-6 win over Indianapolis at Neil Park, the start of a four-homer string ending Aug. 6, the single-player maximum for the Senators. Ten of Demmitt’s 11 home runs were unopposed. (please see Demmitt's 1916 homerography below)

His two-homer game Thursday, Aug. 3, was against Indianapolis pitcher Clint Rogge who made his season debut at Neil Park. Down, 2-0, Lady Luck smiled on the Senators when Demmitt “made a hard, bounding drive inside the line” toward the right-field bleachers. After its first bounce the ball “took a twist and disappeared through the bleacher wire screen for a homer,” according to Robert Read, special correspondent to the Indianapolis Star. The hosts grabbed a 4-2 lead with three runs in the third. In the fifth, Demmitt faced Rogge again. In Read’s words, “With three on and none out, Demmitt first pulled a foul around on top of the clubhouse and then drove one through left center for a homer…,” plating Joe Leonard, Hugh “Corns” Bradley and Larry Chappell. His grand slam furnished the fuel for an 8-6 victory, the team’s 40th of the season against 57 losses.

In the second game of their twin bill with Indianapolis on Sunday, Aug. 6, Demmitt’s bat once again rose to the occasion. In the third inning, the Senators had the bags full with one out. Demmitt stepped in against lanky Nick (Paul) Carter, owner of the league’s top ERA at 1.91. Four thousand rooters dressed in their Sunday best were eager for a hit to boost their seventh-place Senators as they battled one of the league’s hottest contenders. Demmitt scorched the second pitch he sees, sending it hissing past Dutch Zwilling in right, all the way to the scoreboard. He rounded the bases to complete the circuit on an inside-the-park grand slam, giving the Senators a 5-1 lead. Indianapolis came back to tie the score in the eighth but darkness forced the game to end in a 5-5 tie. Demmitt’s final circuit clout of the season on the home grounds was a dramatic statement, one of few highlights for Senators’ fans that year.

According to Baseball Necrology, Demmitt became an inspector for the U.S. Naval Ordnance plant in St. Charles, IL. He died suddenly at his home Feb. 19, 1956 at the age of 72.

(background image of Neil Park in Columbus)

                                           ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For each of the homerographies below, the following abbreviations are used:

SG# - season game number; HG# - home game number; @ - away

OP/UN - Opposed/Unopposed; Vs. - Opponent; C .# - Career Number; C. #* - career # based on incomplete data.

Please note: An "opposed" home run is one hit in a game in which the opposing team also homered.

Dutch Zwilling, ca. 1927

• • •

In 1916, his first season with Indianapolis, his star dimmed. He batted just .244 in 80 games, but he continued to improve. Zwilling’s course as a home run hitter was checkered, having peaked early with 16 clouts during a standout season with the Feds in 1914. As an Indian in 1920, Zwilling’ delivered 12 to lead the Tribe, while Kansas City’s Bunny Brief led the league with 23 that year. But it was three more than his total the previous year as the team’s HR leader, both seasons in 144 games. He averaged one HR per 9.0 games in 1920.

Zwilling produced eight long balls on the road, and four at home at the very unfriendly confines of West Washington Street Park (aka Washington Park II).

With most of his homers during the first half of the 1920 season, Zwilling belted nine from the time of his first HR May 14 at Milwaukee until July 10 at Kansas City. 

His final home run came at home September 24 in a win against Minneapolis. Zwilling was responsible for both the Tribe’s first home run of the 1920 season, and the team’s final blow.

Nine of his home runs were unopposed, a factor which contributed to the theoretical scoring value of Zwilling’s home run production.

Few teams either registered a home run or gave one up as late as Indianapolis in 1920. Zwilling’s May 14, four-bagger came in game 20, and was the first that season in a game involving either Indianapolis or the opposing team.

Zwilling promptly homered for the second time May 16, but then went another 21 games before going yard June 8 for the Tribe’s first homer at Washington Park. It seemed to kick-start his most productive stretch of the season, resulting in five HR in June. From June 24 to July 10 he collected five of his 12, including claim to three consecutive Indianapolis long balls (June 24 to July 3).

He owned no multi-homer games.

A significant homer-less period ensued from July 23 (game 92) to August 20 (game 120), and then finally his most significant drought from Aug. 20 to Sept. 24 (game 160).

In games in which Zwilling homered, Indianapolis owned a record of 17 wins, 10 losses and one tie.

(background image of outfield and bleachers at West Washington Street Park in Indianapolis)

Mike Grady

•

1903 Kansas City Blues

Mike Grady was a key cog in the Kansas City machine in 1903, having a career year by hitting a league-leading 16 home runs, and slugging .567 with 241 total bases. Coming to the Blues in 1902 at the age of 32, Grady had a solid career in the major leagues, marked by a WAR of 17.6, to which he returned after his two-year stint in Kansas City.

Michael William Grady was born at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the “mushroom capital of the world,” Dec. 23, 1869. He stood 5’11” and weighed 190 lbs. He was in his third season with the Philadelphia in 1896 before finding his home run stroke; as an excellent overall hitter his first two seasons with the Phillies, he’d copped only one long ball in over 100 games. Between Philly and St. Louis in 1897 he posted seven, typical of most deadball era batters with "pop."

With Kansas City in 1902, he was a standout, bringing his major league experience to bear with team-highs in hits, triples, home runs, tied with teammate Mike (Elmer) Smith, batting average, slugging pct., and total bases for player/manager Dale Gear’s Blues which finished in fourth place with a record of 69-68.

Mike Grady, ca. 1900

• • •

During the 1903 season, he continued in his role as difference-maker, appearing in 120 games at Association Park, the Blues’ new home venue. So it came as little surprise that he would rise to the top as a home run hitter. A right-handed batter and thrower, Grady played 88 games at first base, 21 catching and 11 at third base, very similar to his 1902 contribution.

On Thursday, April 23, 1903 Grady had himself a day against Minneapolis: two home runs at the local yard and and a single in a 13-3 rout. Both his homers contributed to a five-run inning; facing Archie “Lumbago” Stimmel, his seventh-inning blast cleared the fence as a Thursday crowd of 1,500 looked on. Blues’ ace James Durham (not to be confused with Bull (Louis) Durham picked up his first of 22 wins that year (two teams).

Two weeks later, in game 16, Grady clubbed his next home run, this time an uncontested shot in a losing effort against Milwaukee that prevented a shutout. It was game 43 before his next clout, this time in a dramatic slugfest Thursday, June 19 at Toledo’s Armory Park, in an 18-9 win over the Mud Hens. Grady collected four hits before a crowd of 1,000; it was his final two-homer day of the season. For good measure, he swatted another knock in the next game, this time in a losing effort, 8-2, as Toledo delivered three circuit clouts.

Twenty games later he collected his seventh of the season, the final HR of the first half,  this time in a 12-3 effort at home against Indianapolis. Playing first base and batting cleanup, Grady registered three hits on the day, but his first was his best. Facing Tom Williams, a 24-game winner in 1902, Grady homered over the left-field fence for his first grand slam of the season. After July 19, ending the mathematical first half of the season, Grady added to his season total with another nine circuit clouts, easily out-homering his teammates in the second half.

With 16 home runs in his 120 game appearances, Grady averaged one every 7.5 games. His most productive stretch came during the end of his run, from Aug. 15 to Aug. 30 with six HR in 19 games. His longest homer-less string of 28 games began with game 17 and ended with game 45 on June 19 with his pair against the Mud Hens. His longest stretch homering in consecutive games took place at home in games 99-101 (Aug 15a-16b) against Indianapolis, playing third base.

His August 15 long ball at Association Park, a solo shot, that was truly of the long variety. An uncredited game report in the Indianapolis Star stated, “Grady broke the ice for Kansas City in the fourth round, when he scored the first run of the game with the longest hit ever made over the Prospect Avenue fence. The ball went over about thirty feet south of the scoreboard and cleared the fence by about twenty feet, hitting the wire cable strung on the telegraph poles. This rap of raps gave the locals courage and from that time on, Otto Newlin’s slants were easily solved.” The Blues won their 46th game of the season, 7-4.

Grady’s 16th and final circuit clout of the season came, once again, at the expense of the Indians, Sunday, Aug. 30, at Interurban Park in Muncie (Sunday ball was prohibited at Indianapolis). Once again facing the tough Tom Williams, Grady’s wallop was truly unique. According to a report by Ed Bingham in the Indianapolis News, “The grounds were heavy, due to recent rains, and the ball traveling over the skimmed diamond early became heavy, but this did not affect the tapping of two home runs over the fence into the clover beyond.” In the third, Grady knocked in Kid Nance with an "extra-strength" wallop, swatting the sodden sphere for four bags and give the Blues a 4-1 lead; Gear’s men went on to win the affair, 9-6, before a gathering of 1,150.

Grady passed away at his home town of Kennett Square, PA, Dec. 3, 1943 at the age of 73.

(background image of fans lining the outfield at Association Park in Kansas City)

Fred Odwell

•

1903 Louisville Colonels

Louisville’s Fred “Fritz” Odwell, the club’s team leader with nine documented home runs (eight by official count) in 1903, was not the prototypical slugger. At 5’9” and 160 pounds, the native of Downsville, NY connected for 17 circuit clouts his first six years of organized ball. In his first season with Louisville the previous year, he had but one, his single-season career low to that point. But at the age of 30, Odwell experienced a resurgence which resulted in a career year, batting .318, slugging .455 and amassing 245 total bases. He’d earned his way into the major leagues, debuting with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904 where his home run total plummeted, once again, to just one. But he blossomed again for the Cincinnati Reds in 1905 with nine, capturing the National League’s home run crown that year.

In 1903, the lefty-batting outfielder appeared in nearly every game for Bill “Derby Day” Clymer’s Louisville Colonels, batting cleanup for much of the season beginning in early June. A glance at the box scores reveals he batted in various positions in the order, mostly in the top-half, after starting the season batting second behind outfielder Dan Kerwin, then being bumped to the low-to-mid-portion of the order in early May.

Fred Odwell, ca. 1905

• • •

Odwell’s first long ball of 1903 came April 22 during the season opener against arch-rival Indianapolis at Eclipse Park in Louisville. While getting credit for a home run on a play which called for interference (on the part of fan on the field due to standing-room-only rules), Odwell’s catchable fly ball into the Indians’ outfield nonetheless went for a two-run four-bagger that sent the game into extra innings.

Regardless of the outcome, this example points out how many homers were hit resulting in what was called a home run differed greatly from how most modern interpretations of the term.

His next bid for a “clean” home run was at Toledo, May 13, in a game featuring five circuit clouts, and was one of two by the visiting Colonels. Facing reliever Harry German, with Louisville well in the lead, fifth-batting third baseman Bob Schaub brought in two runs with his first wallop of the year, followed by Odwell’s, for “back to back jacks,” a rare occurrence in any era, one that was highly exceptional during the deadball years.

In addition to his nine clouts, Odwell led the team in triples (19) and stolen bases (47), both career highs. In addition, his 99 runs and 171 base hits were career highs as well. These accomplishments suggest he successfully adapted his playing style to suit the environs of Eclipse Park, a confirmed triples park with one of the deepest outfield in the league. He averaged one home run every 15.6 games.

Among the 10 players who claimed home runs for Louisville in 1903, Odwell was perhaps the most persistent, as reflected by his five clouts the first half and four the second. By comparison, Kerwin, with seven all told, hit only one homer in the season’s second half. It was a credit to Kerwin that in games in which he homered, Louisville won five, lost two, while in games featuring Odwell, the team was 6-3. Eight of Odwell’s HR were unopposed, as were five of Kerwin’s.

Odwell’s final blast of the 1903 season came Sept. 5b in game 126, road game 62, in a doubleheader sweep of the Mud Hens at Toledo. Facing big Ed Walker, the British ex-pat weighing in at a reported 300-lbs., Odwell collected three hits on the day, including his ninth clout of the season during the nightcap decided by the score of 9-2.

“Fritz” Odwell lived to the age of 75, passing away at his hometown of Downsville, NY Aug. 19, 1948.

(background image of scoreboard at Eclipse Park in Louisville)

Joe Hauser

•

1920 Milwaukee Brewers

Left-hander Joe “Unser Choe” (Our Joe) or “Zip” Hauser joined the Brewers in 1920 at the age of 21. The 5’10”, 175 lb. outfielder contributed 15 home runs to a team on the rebound, nearly 26% of the team’s total that year. Hauser homered in 13 contests (with two multi-homer games), nine involving a Brewer win. Milwaukee scored 76 runs in games in which Hauser homered, while opponents tallied 43, or 5.8 to 3.3 runs per game.

The slugger made his appearance as a Brewer at just the right time during his climb up the ladder to the majors. Born in Milwaukee on January 12, 1899, he entered pro ball at the age of 19, appearing in 39 games with the Providence Grays of the Eastern League (Class B) in 1918. In 1920, Hauser played in 156 games for Milwaukee, his first full season as a pro, and he put his best foot forward with a .284 batting average with 22 doubles and 16 triples. His batting average continued to climb the next few years until peaking in his first season with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922 when he batted .323 in 111 games.

Not since catcher Happy (Oscar) Felsch lugged the lumber for the Brewers in 1914 had Milwaukeeans seen a homer hero like Hauser. Felsch set a new club record with 19 circuit clouts during Milwaukee’s first season as the reigning American Association champion.

As a 21-year-old in 1920, Hauser joined a cadre of Brewers who led the team in circuit clouts at a very young age. In 1912, outfielder Larry Chappell, with five, was 22 years of age; outfielder Larry Gilbert with 10 in 1913 was 21, and Felsch was 22.

Joe Hauser, ca. 1933

• • •

Hauser’s American Association HR record began on an auspicious note. In town for a Decoration Day doubleheader, the Kansas City Blues, struggling in last place, squared off against third-place Milwaukee at Athletic Park (later re-named Borchert Field) after defeating the Brewers the previous day, despite pitcher Lou North’s only long ball of the year. Playing in right field, Hauser batted fifth before the holiday crowd, just behind hard-hitting first baseman Emil Huhn and in front of little Dinty Gearin in left field for the festivities. 

The day’s pitchers: Doug McWeeny for Milwaukee and Frank Woodward for the Blues. After Hauser’s two-run triple to the right-field corner in the first inning, Woodward’s day was on a short leash. With a 3-0 lead, Huhn doubled to open the third inning, later scoring when “Choe” brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Woodward was still in the box in the fourth and wisely walked Hauser to fill the bases after one run was already in, but Gearin spoiled the strategy and drove in two runs with a single to center, giving the Brewers a 7-0 lead and ending Woodward’s outing. Cuban Oscar Tuero, 26-year-old right-hander, came on in relief, and thwarted the uprising. 

But in the sixth, Brewer second baseman Artie Butler doubled to open the frame, and after Huhn was retired, Hauser lifted “a herculean clout which fell among the denizens of the center field seats for a home run,” in the words of Manning Vaughn of the Milwaukee Sentinel. 

Hauser’s first four-bagger of the season on the home grounds was likely met by maniacal exuberance on the part of a host of friends and relations gathered at the park that day. It helped push the Brewers to a 10-1 victory over Kansas City, Milwaukee’s 22nd win of the season. The homer was Milwaukee’s 14th of the year and their tenth at home. It was also Hauser's first of three Milwaukee home runs in three straight games (the other two were on the road).

While Hauser’s blast was inconsequential, given Milwaukee’s hefty lead in the game, it was the start of something big. With 266 clouts to his credit, Unser Choe went on to become one of the American Association’s true home run kings. All-time, he was second only to Bunny Brief whose 276 long balls in the league were leveraged over a span of 13 seasons between 1913 to 1928. Hauser’s tenure in the league extended from 1920 to 1935 with a total of nine seasons.

Brief, who spent spent nine seasons with Kansas City, became a Brewer and called Milwaukee home from 1925-1928 to cap his Association career. Hauser, spending six of his nine Association seasons with Minneapolis, averaged .229 home runs per game in the league, while Brief averaged of .152.

In 1920, Hauser averaged one homer every 10.4 games. Hauser and Brief did not homer in the same game that year.

Meeting the ball squarely once again in Columbus, Hauser homered twice in a June 11 Brewer win at Neil Park in game 52. The team was at Minneapolis for four games beginning June 29 when Hauser belted another clout to assist in a win to open the series. His blast in the series finale two days later, in a losing effort, gave him six first-half homers.

With his first second-half long ball in game 86 (July 16), Zip was off to a good start with HR number seven as the Brewers defeated the Mud Hens at home. Then he fell into a funk. It was not until game 116 (Aug. 15a) that he tagged number eight, again in a win at home, this time over Columbus. Another 16 games passed before he repeated the act, going yard at Nicollet Park in Minneapolis for the fourth time as the Brewers defeated the Millers in game 132 (Aug. 29a).

Hauser erupted for 40 percent of his season total during September. From game 140 (Sept. 4) at Kansas City, through game 156 (Sept. 18) at Toledo, Hauser belted six round-trippers, but Milwaukee won only two of those tilts.

With 10 of his 15 home runs coming unopposed, Hauser’s theoretical productivity value was boosted.

“Unser Choe” was 98 years of age when he died July 11, 1997 at Sheboygan, Wis. having served the professional baseball community so richly right up until his passing.

(background image shows crowd outside Milwaukee Athletic Park in Milwaukee)

Southern California native Gavvy “Cactus” Cravath came to the Millers in 1909 as an outfielder at the age of 28 after a thorough seasoning with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League (1903-07) and trials with the Boston Red Sox (1908) and Chicago White Sox (1909). 

In 125 games with Minneapolis he led the team during its first legitimate pennant drive in 1909 by collecting four home runs on a team with just 15 for the season that year. 

In 1910 he led the league with 14 clouts, batting .327 in 164 games and averaging one HR every 11.7 games. With his new league record 29 HR in 1911 he averaged one every 5.8 games and shattered the previous Association record of 18 held by Millers’ outfielder John Frank “Buck” Freeman set in 1907. Millers’ third baseman Hobe Ferris was the team runner-up with 14 HR; including these two players, nine Miller batters contributed to their total of 68, a new another new record for HR in one season.

The elevated home run totals of 1911 were due in large part to the trial of a new type of baseball, called a “live” ball, which was wound tighter than standard balls. As a result of their tighter winding and cork center they traveled greater distances upon being struck. In addition, Nicollet Park, the home of the Millers, underwent a renovation in 1910 which promoted distance hitting, especially to the right- to right-center field portions of the outfield.

In 1911, Cravath waited until the season’s 19th contest before belting his first clout of the year. It came at Nicollet Park May 1, their seventh home game of the season, against arch-rival St. Paul in an 8-2 loss. Including his May Day long ball, Cravath contributed 15 of the team’s 31 home runs in a stretch ending July 15.

Batting third and playing left field, Cravath’s first clout in a contest won by the Millers came May 3, facing Columbus Senators’ pitcher Carl Sitton. His solo home run, a drive over the right-center field fence in the third inning, was the difference in the Millers’ 9-8, 13-inning win at Nicollet Park. Cravath collected three hits in six at-bats that day. Minneapolis lost the next three games, each of which included a Cravath long ball.

Gavvy Cravath, ca. 1910

• • •

Cravath posted 12 round-trippers during the first half of the season (ending July 11). In that time, the Millers were 3-8 in games when Cravath homered. During the second half, Cravath produced 17 HR, in which games the team was 11-4.

Cravath’s first clout away from home came May 22 at Toledo’s Swayne Field where the Millers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Mud Hens. It was his fifth homer of the year.

After nearly two weeks without a clout, he homered twice against the Kansas City Blues in an 18-3 victory, the team’s 27th of the season, at Association Park, a venue known as a homer haven for its short right field fence (enhanced by a 30-ft. screen,  as was Nicollet Park's), Cravath collected eight of his 29 homers there in 1911 (please see details in table below).

Three of his final five swats of the first half came at Nicollet Park. One came at Neil Park in Columbus, one at Swayne Field.

Cravath opened the mathematical second half of the season homering in a loss at Association Park July 13. He connected for a pair in an 8-4 win against the Blues July 15. From that point the Millers did not lose a game in which Cravath went yard.

In accomplishing the league’s new record 29 HR, the months of July and September were his most productive. With eight in July and seven in September, Cravath clinched his bid as the league’s reigning king of swat. Five HR in both May and June, with four in August, contributed to his total.

Twice Cravath homered twice in a game. During the contest June 5, Cravath, batting third and playing left field, delivered a grand slam, a shot to left which came within feet of clearing the bleachers and gave the Millers an 8-0 lead in the second inning. His second blow was icing on the cake as the Blues took a hard beating, 18-3 the final score. On July 15, Cravath authored a two-run blow in the third inning to provide a 2-0 lead; then in the ninth, Cravath came to the plate with two runners aboard and a one-run lead, then delivered a three-run jack to the bleachers in left-center field, capping a five-hit day in an 8-4 Miller’s 45th win against 42 losses.

Cravath was more successful at home than on the road, with 17 clouts at Nicollet Park, or 58.6 of his output. Of his 12 HR on the road, eight were at Kansas City, where the Millers registered nine all told). He had two at Swayne Field in Toledo, and one each at Columbus’ Neil Park and Milwaukee’s Athletic Park (later re-named Borchert Field).

On the home grounds, Cravath walloped five long balls against the Louisville Colonels. Indianapolis Indians’ hurlers gave up three, while Columbus, Kansas City, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Paul Saints each gave up two. Toledo allowed only one of Cravath’s 29 wallops in 1911.

The theoretical production value of Cravath’s clouts was enhanced with 18 unopposed home runs (an unopposed HR is one that is hit in a game in which no opponent homered). Minneapolis won seven and lost 11 of those 18. He hit consecutive unopposed HR twice, Sept. 19-20 against Louisville at home (first a loss, then a win) and on the road at Kansas City Sept. 30-Oct. 1 (first a loss, then a win) in the first game of a season-ending twin bill.

With their 68 home runs in 1911, the Millers’ offense underwent a transfiguration, due in large part to Cravath’s contribution. His .363 batting average and preposterous .636 slugging, was something to behold. He gave a high octane jump-start to the Millers’ scoring machine, providing 42.6% of their home runs and scoring over 15% of their runs. 

Cravath’s home run Oct. 1 was his final blow of the decade in a Millers’ uniform, but he wasn’t quite done. He returned to Minneapolis in 1922 after a stellar career in the majors, producing four more long balls, giving him a four-season total of 51 HR as a member of the team.

Cravath died in his sleep at his home in Laguna Beach, CA, May 23, 1963 after 36 years as Justice of the Peace for Orange County, CA, according to Baseball Necrology.

(background image of action on the field in a contest between the host Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints at Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, ca. 1914)

The Toledo Mud Hens began the 1903 season having suffered through a miserable 1902 season with only 43 wins and a .304 winning percentage. But in the second game of the 1903 season at Armory Park, Red Owens, the pride of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, wasn’t daunted by past failures. Primarily a shortstop that year, he collected the team’s first of 65 home runs in a 5-4 win against the Columbus Senators April 23, batting fourth and assigned to the second base position. It was a deposit on his collection of a career-best 10 HR for the year. In 1905 Toledo outfielder Watty Lee posted 13 of the team’s combined 22 homers, relegating Owens’ record to the history books.

A veteran of the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War, Thomas Llewellyn Owens joined the Mud Hens as a 27-year-old in 1902, appearing in 37 games. He appeared with the 1899 Philadelphia Phillies in eight games at the age of 24, but since then his first experience above Class D was with Class-A Toledo in 1903. And the Hens made the most of it, pressing him into service for 137 games, more baseball than he’d played in one season, according to his incomplete record on baseball-reference.

Red Owens, ca. 1900

• • •

As shown by his record in 1903, Owen was a steady hitter who specialized in hitting doubles. He led the Mud Hens with 40 that year, a career-high he matched in 1910 with Class-D Quincy (IL). In addition to leading the club in home runs and doubles, he also led in triples (8), total bases (239), runs (84) and hits (153), underscoring his exceptional value to the team that year, despite the Mud Hens’ poor showing in the standings. He batted .279 with a .436 slugging percentage. All in all, 1903 was a career year for the Pennsylvanian. Even with his comparatively low average of one home run every 13.7 games, his balanced approach at the plate made him a versatile asset to the team.

In the 10 games in which Owens homered, the Hens won five and lost five, a vastly superior percentage than their overall record of 48-91, or .345.

Armory Park, the Hens’ home grounds, was configured within the existing parameters of a city block at Orange and Spielbusch Streets in Toledo which resulted in a very short right-field fence. This required a high-fence to be installed in order to prevent excessive home run hitting, but Toledo took advantage of it that year to lift 54 of its 65 HR at home. Owens registered all but one of his long balls at Armory.

Owens posted clouts in consecutive games just once, Aug. 5b to Aug. 6, both against Milwaukee at Armory Park. The first was in a win, while the second was in a loss. His second and third homers of the season were both in losses against St. Paul June 10 and 12 within a span of three games.

After homering April 23 against Columbus in game 2, his next wallop was June 10, game 41. That 38-game stretch was rivaled between his fourth and fifth HR, from July 1 when he homered in game 59 against Louisville until July 29b in game 88 against Minneapolis, for a net of 28 tilts. The Hens won both contests. The final blow of his 1903 season came in a 9-5 win against the Columbus Senators Sept. 5.

Interestingly, three of Owens homers came against the St. Paul Saints who became the league champion that year; however, each was in a losing effort.

Owens was followed closely in home run production by catcher Red Kleinow (8) and outfielder Billy Smith (8). Outfielder/pitcher Bill Cristall collected seven documented homers (six officially), and first baseman Dan “Tuck” Turner was officially credited with seven.

Owens was one of 16 Toledo batters who combined for 65 home runs in 1903, while the opposition (40 players in all) combined for 65 home runs against Toledo that year. Funny how the numbers align for such anomalies.

Only five of Owens’ 10 clouts were unopposed, theoretically diminishing the potential scoring value of his home runs.

Nonetheless, he was a bright spot in one of the most dismal seasons in the history of Toledo baseball.

Owens died, according to Baseball Necrology, after an extended illness Aug. 21, 1952 having served the Moose Lodge in Harrisburg, PA as night watchman. He was 77.

(background image of Armory Park in Toledo)