I was reading an article about Dick Stuart who hit 228 homers in a 10-year MLB career (1958-69). But - in addition - he hit 66 homers with the class A Lincoln team in 1956.
We know about Joe Bauman’s 72 HR season in 1954 with the class C Roswell NM in 1954 (in 138 games). But how many other minor leaguers hit 60 or more HR’s in a season? I can’t find a list, and there can’t be many.
(and then we have Mike Hessman, who hit 433 homers over 19 minor-league seasons (1996-2015). Add an asterisk for Hector Espino who hit 484 in the Mexican league).
Back in the day (particularly before widespread television viewership, and the movement of MLB teams to the West Coast), there were many minor-league teams, particularly the “low minors,” which weren’t farm teams for the majors. Those teams were a primary source of sports entertainment, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, as well as the western U.S., in an era where no MLB team was located further west than St. Louis.
A guy like Bauman (mentioned by the OP) never played in the majors, and of his ten seasons playing in the minors, only one of those was on actual farm teams; he played 1948 primarily with a AA farm team, in which his performance wasn’t nearly as impressive as it was when he was playing in lower levels, where he was batting against weaker pitching, and in some very small ballparks.
But, yeah, in the more modern era (i.e., after the early '60s), when minor leagues – particularly the higher levels – were largely, if not entirely, farm teams – you’d be unlikely to see a guy hitting a ton of home runs, before being called up, or at least promoted to the next minor-league level.
Two guys on the list in the OP’s link who crushed the ball in AAA in the '70s and early '80s (Gorman Thomas, 51 in AAA in 1974) and Ron Kittle (50 in AAA in 1980) got called up to the big league club late in the season.
And, Kittle was the last minor leaguer to hit 49+ in a season, 44 years ago.
It occurs to me that being a minor league manger must be really stressful. If you have bad players, it’s on you to suffer through improving them. If they’re good, they get promoted away! Sounds awful.
AIUI, it’s a different kind of role, compared to a major-league manager. The parent club will be looking more at how well you’re developing their prospects, than purely wins and losses; if your players keep getting promoted off of your team, you’re doing your job well.
I hope so. It seems logical to view managing as instructional even at the high minor league levels. Still, don’t they do a minor league World Series? Must be frustrating to lose your best players around that time.
Prior to 1958, the Pacific Coast league was almost major-league status - many of their players were never brought up to the majors, so lots of records were set there (often due to a longer season - as many as 180 games).
Bauman made lots of money from tips - fans pushing money through the screen backstop every time he came to bat. He claimed he wouldn’t have made as much in the majors.
He also had 224 RBIs in that 1954 season (30+ more than the MLB record).
Sort of; league champions are named for each minor league (sometimes based on regular-season record, sometimes based on playoff series), and there are some additional playoffs between the champions of different leagues.
The “Little World Series” (from 1904 - but known by other names after being held sporadically after 1975) was played between the champions of the AAA International League and the AAA American Association (rarely was the Pacific Coast league included until after 1975 - must have been the threat of those long train trips)
Here’s an article on “The 25 greatest baseball players who never played in the majors,” but I’m not sure if it directly answers your question (or at least, not in the way you may be thinking). Every member of the list either was a Negro Leaguer, or played exclusively outside of the U.S. (Japan, Cuba, and Mexico).