Ike Boone, A Minor League Legend

He won five batting titles in four different minor leagues. He may have played eight seasons in the major leagues with New York, Boston, Chicago, and Brooklyn but Ike Boone is remembered as a legend, not in the majors, but as the best pure hitter in minor league baseball history.

Boone was born in Samantha, Alabama on February 17 ^th , 1897. Growing up in Alabama, he and his older brother Dan took an interest in baseball. While Dan excelled as a pitcher, Ike became a great hitter despite his lack of speed. In 1918, Dan enrolled at the University of Alabama and, in 1919, Ike joined him in Tuscaloosa.

Ike stayed at the university for two years, starting in left field for the Crimson Tide for both seasons. After his 1920 collegiate season, Boone joined the Cedartown Cedars of the Class D Georgia State League. While the Cedars struggled on the field, Boone did not, leading the league with a .403 batting average while slugging 10 home runs.

His hitting ability caught the eye of New Orleans Pelicans’ manager Johnny Dobbs, who convinced Boone to join the team, which played in the Class B Southern Association. The team finished second, seven games back of the pennant-winning Memphis Chicks, but Boone again enjoyed a great season. He won his first of several minor league batting titles, leading the SA with a .389 average.

Once again, Boone caught the eye of another team after a magnificent season; this time it was the eye of the National League’s New York Giants. After getting his contract purchased from New Orleans, Boone was invited to spring training in San Antonio and hit well enough that manager John McGraw kept Boone as the club’s fifth outfielder. Nonetheless, Boone found himself on the bench and because of his lack of speed and defensive ability; he found his way into only two games, going 1-for-2 in his only two plate appearances.

In 1923, Boone found himself back in San Antonio, this time not for spring training with the Giants but as a member of the San Antonio Bears of the Texas League. Once again, Boone proved himself to be a tough out for minor league pitchers, leading the league in average (.402), runs scored (134), hits (241), doubles (53) and RBIs (135). Boone remains the only player in Texas League history to bat over .400. Thanks to his great season, Boone found himself in a major league uniform at season’s end, having his contract purchased by the Boston Red Sox. He went 4-15 in the five games in which he appeared.

1924 was a different story. Lee Fohl replaced Frank Chance as the Red Sox manager and did some reshuffling in the lineup. Fohl gave Boone the chance to win a spot in the starting line-up during spring training and Ike took advantage of the opportunity. In return for giving him a spot in the line-up, Boone gave Fohl and the Red Sox a .337 average, hitting 13 home runs while driving in 97 runs. Still, the Red Sox struggled to a seventh-place finish.

Boone continued to be hot with the stick in 1925, posting a line of .330-9-68 for the last place Red Sox. However, Boone’s speed and defense became an issue and a liability for Boston; he committed 13 errors in right field, and the team let him loose, replacing him with Si Rosenthal in right field. While Boone’s major league career wasn’t over, he would never again find the success he had with Boston.

Ike joined the Mission Bells of the Pacific Coast League in 1926 and after another successful minor league stop, had his contract purchased, this time by the Chicago White Sox for the 1927 season. Boone struggled in the Windy City, hitting a measly .226 in 29 games. The White Sox released Boone after the season and Ike found himself back in the PCL in 1928 with the Portland Beavers.

Boone enjoyed a good year with Portland but moved back to the Bay Area in 1929, playing for the now-named Mission Reds. Mission finished fourth the year before but in addition to adding Ike, they also signed his brother, Dan. Together, the brothers propelled Mission into first place in the PCL, with Ike having one of the best seasons in minor league history.

Ike won the PCL Triple Crown with a .407 average, 55 home runs and a ludicrous 218 RBIs. Along with the 46 big flies Dan hit, the brothers combined for 101 home runs on the season. Despite all of the offense, the Reds lost in the PCL finals to the Hollywood Stars in six games. The ridiculous offense stat line, however, did get Ike his contract purchased by the Brooklyn Robins, where he would take one more crack at the major leagues.

In his last full major league season, Boone appeared in 40 games as a reserve, hitting .297 as a reserve leftfielder. In the 1931-32 seasons, Boone alternated between Brooklyn and two teams in the International League. Ike played only 19 games with Brooklyn in that span, hitting a flimsy .153 during his final two major league seasons. But his success in the IL was much better; in 1931, he captured his fourth minor league batting crown by hitting .356 for second place Newark and in ’32, he posted a .320 average for the Jersey City Skeeters.

Boone changed International League teams again in 1933, but Toronto would end up being his last baseball residence and perhaps, one of his most successful. His first season with the Maple Leafs resulted in another successful year at the plate, hitting .357-11-103. However, his legacy as a Toronto Maple Leaf will be for what he did in the 1934 season, when he won his fifth batting title, and was named the IL’s Most Valuable Player, all while managing Toronto to a Governors’ Cup Championship. They were crowned league champs when they ousted Rochester, 4 games to 1.

Ike spent two more seasons in Toronto wearing the dual cap of both player and manager before retiring following the 1936 season. He retired with 2,521 career hits in the minor leagues alone, good enough for a .370 career average underneath the majors. A year before he died in 1958, he was inducted into the International League’s Hall of Fame. In 2003, the Pacific Coast League also honored Ike by inducting him to their Hall of Fame. He is the only man enshrined in both current Triple-A leagues’ Halls of Fame. While a bulk of Boone’s success came in the minor leagues, there is certainly nothing minor about his career.