Smoaky Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 One of the most prodigious sluggers in eastern Texas professional baseball history died this month in San Francisco, California at the age of 91. Merv Connors, who played with Tyler as a thirty-six year old firstbaseman in 1951, died on January 6, 2006. He was 91 years of age. He also played in the majors for two seasons in the late 1930’s, logging 52 games for the White Sox. Connors broke into O.B. with Oakland in the Pacific Coast League in 1934 and concluded his career with Carlsbad in the Longhorn League in 1953. He logged eighteen seasons in professional baseball, missing two years, 1944 and 1945, serving with the 1st Battalion in the U.S. Army during World War II. He finished his career with 400 minor league homeruns (and eight in the majors), good enough for fifth place all-time in the minors. Besides playing for Tyler, he also played in region with Palestine in 1935, Longview in 1936, 1937 and 1947, Texarkana in 1941, Paris in 1948, and Kilgore in 1949 and 1950. In all, Connors hit almost half, 199, of his 400 lifetime minor league homers while playing in the parks of East Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheaptrick77 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Connors hit .254 in 32 games with one home run and 7 RBI with the 1951 Tyler East Texans (Big State League) His complete Major and Minor League statistics: http://www.reocities.com/wildcatter94/merv_connors.html 1939 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five0pd310 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 His 2 best seasons (average-wise / in minors) came in Longview. .300 and .324. 2 of his 3 best seasons (homerun-wise) came in Longview as well. He liked Lobo Land, apparently. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheaptrick77 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 The last team he played for, the 1953 Carlsbad Potashers, is my new favorite all-time Minor League nickname !! :whome: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five0pd310 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Originally posted by cheaptrick77The last team he played for, the 1953 Carlsbad Potashers, is my new favorite all-time Minor League nickname !! :whome: Did this mascot come from the act of removing potash (I had to go to dictionary.com for that one) or was it from a person's name (yes, I found this was an actual last name of people when I did an MSN search)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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