A BALL SIGNED BY ALL MEMBERS OF THE 1931 HOUSTON BUFFS.
PHOTO BY TIM HOCK
SGNATURE DATE: AUGUST 22, 1931
PHOTO BY TIM HOCK
A Dean Anniversary
Married 1931-1974
“This ball was acquired by a collector through the 2008 Heritage Sports Auction, and I purchased it from him in 2016. It was authenticated by PSA for the auction, and listed in their catalog. It contains signatures of every member of the ’31 Championship Buffs team, including the manager (Joe Schultz). Eddie Hock, 3rd baseman, was my great uncle. He still holds the record for the most career singles in the minors (2,944), and had one of very few unassisted triple plays on the books (1927). On a side note, he dated the woman (Patricia Nash) that Dizzy Dean later married! Additionally, I’m always looking to acquire any memorabilia featuring Eddie or the ’31 team. Thanks, Tim Hock”
The preceding introduction was written by collector Timothy Hock as his introduction to this generous photographic sharing of these items of significance to the history of baseball in Houston.
Put this in perspective, folks. ~ 1931 was the year that the Buffs featured great future members of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gashouse Gang. Pitcher Dizzy Dean and outfielder Joe “Ducky” Medwick were lighting the flames that would help propel the ’31 Buffs to the Texas League crown again ~ and in only the fourth season of play in the still new Buffalo Stadium in the near east end of downtown Houston, ~ and among these stars was a left-handed throwing and batting third baseman named Ed Hock ~ who just turns out to be the great uncle of Timothy Hock, the contributor fellow this morning who now has us all reved up to the joys of genuine artifact history with the four photos that accompany this little piece.
Ed Hock
The 2,944 minor league career singles we found for Ed Hock’s 21-season years (1921-42) included 493 doubles, 114 triples and 23 home runs for a grand total of 3,474 minor league hits. ~ The totals for singles, based upon this Baseball Reference.com source, of course, is simply derived as the remainder total when all three extra base totals are subtracted from the grand total figure.
We have no confirmation that Hock holds the record for career minor league singles, but 2,944 safeties that only got the same batter one-base hit credit looks to us as most credible and hardly in any danger of ever being broken in today’s game.
Another baseball anomaly factor is at play here. Ed Hock played third base for the 1931 Buffs as a left-handed throwing fielder.
Thank you for your preservationist efforts, Timothy Hock, and please know that we appreciate you sharing these photos with our Pecan Park Eagle readership.
BAT OF ED HOCK
3RD BASE ~ HOUSTON BUFFS
PHOTO BY TIM HOCK
1931 HOUSTON BUFFALOS
TEXAS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
PHOTO BY TIM HOCK
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle 
February 7, 2019 at 1:01 pm |
Nice pieces of Houston history.
George Payne, whose signature is above Medwick’s, won 23 games for the Buffs that year (1931). He had a brief stint in the majors with the White Sox.
Jimmy Sanders, whose signature is between Medwick’s and Hock’s, was a career minor league outfielder.
In the photo which shows the Buffalos team name, the signature nearest the seam is from Homer Peel, an outfielder who enjoyed some playing time in five major league seasons. The other name in that photo is Hal Funk, career minor league catcher.
Bill Hickman
February 8, 2019 at 3:20 am |
Did Hock really throw left-handed? He played over 2000 at SS and 3B; seems unlikely. The early editions of the BB Encyclopedia list him as TR, but the first edition of Total Baseball says TL.
Interesting that Medwick signed Duckie, when he supposedly hated that nickname.
February 9, 2019 at 6:07 pm |
As a followup, I found that Hock was listed on the 1922 Cincinnati Reds’ roster as a righty thrower, and I found a picture of him wearing his glove on his left hand, so I’m thinking that he threw right.