The handsome switch-hitter did not reach the majors until he was 32, despite an awesome
minor league record. In his one ML year with the Phillies, he hit well but was a
lackadaisical fielder. The 6'3" 225-lb Californian began as a pitcher with Oakland
of the Pacific Coast League in 1918 and won 108 before becoming a full-time outfielder
in 1923. When he retired after 1937, his minor league career marks included a .341
BA and 432 HR. He hit four home runs in a game on two occasions with Baltimore (International
League) in 1932. In 1984, the Society for American Baseball Research voted him the
outstanding player in minor league history.
(LRD)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»June 30th, 1930: Brooklyn, in need of an OF, buys Ike Boone from the San Francisco Missions (PCL) where he was hitting .448 through 83 games. In 1929 Boone compiled an all-time
record of 553 total bases while hitting 55 homers and batting .407. Boone wasn't even Brooklyn's first choice; the Robins preferred another PCL batting star, Buzz Arlett, who had his eye injured in a postgame fight with umpire Chet Chadbourne, who slugged the Oakland OF with his mask.
»January 26th, 1931: Another Oakland star, Buzz Arlett, long coveted
by ML teams and long withheld by Oakland, is sold
to the Phillies.
»June 2nd, 1932: Buzz Arlett hits four consecutive HRs for Baltimore, as they edge Reading 14-13 in an IL game.
»July 4th, 1932: Baltimore's (IL) Buzz Arlett again hits four HRs in a game, one grand slam from the right side of the plate, and the other three HRs from the left side, with Reading again the victim. It is the second time Arlett has accomplished the feat in five weeks.
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