Photograph Courtesy of Jordan Anderson
Future Phillies Hal Spindel (30 2B, 9 3B, .332) tied for the all time doubles lead with Pete Hughes and Frank Pawlik in 1947 while Jim Zavitka (17-6, 2.95), Robert Sanders (16-9, 3.90) and Stanley Naccarato (15-6, 4.35) put up strong numbers on the mound. While the pitching was again solid, the entire team was experiencing the worst power outage yet. No one would hit more than 3 HR all season long and despite a 77-61 record, the Ogden Reds' 3rd place finish was again not good enough for a playoff berth. Jack Baumer was brough in in 1948 to help that situation and Baumer's 21 2B, 20 3B and 13 HR was the best slugging numbers anyone had seen since Pete Hughes' 20 HR back in their inaugural season. Leonard Lambert added 20 2B of his own to go along with a .272. The rotation on this team however, went from decent to dismal with future Cincinnati pitcher Cliff Ross posting a 4-15, 6.55 record again keeping Ogden out of the playoffs. Something was needed to bring this team back from the doldrums and into the post-season again. That "something" was named Johnny Temple. At 21 years old, Temple came to John Affleck Stadium and simply lit up the league batting a whopping .400 in 500 qualifying At Bats to easily take over Bobby Adams batting title, beating him by nearly 50 points! Temple would go on to have an amazing career playing 2nd base for the Cincinnati Reds becoming a 4 time Major League All-Star, the 2nd All-Star to be produced by John Affleck Park. Amazingly, had Temple not arrived in Ogden, Bobby Adams' batting title would have gone down anyway as Bill Ford was nearly as amazing batting .380 with 27 2B and 14 3B. These two always seemed to be on base and they literally forced the team into the playoffs despite a seriously miserable pitching staff that had nearly every pitcher over 5.00 in ERA... including the truly awful statistics of Robert Long (3-5, 9.18) and Myron Kusher (1-7, 9.82). Not surprisingly, Ogden lost very quickly in the 1st round.