Jim Martin (minors02)

James Harrison Martin

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 205 lb.
• School University of Arkansas
• High School Malvern High School

• Born July 16, 1929 in Malvern, AR USA
• Died October 25, 2019 in Houston, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jim Martin was a minor league catcher from 1948 to 1956, playing his entire career for teams based in Texas and Louisiana, including a couple seasons in the Texas League with the Shreveport Sports. Originally from Arkansas, he signed his first contract out of high school.

His first year came with the Kilgore Drillers of the Lone Star League in 1948, where he hit .201 in 57 games. He then moved on the Alexandria Aces of the Evangeline League in 1949, and finished that season in the West Texas-New Mexico League with the Pampa Oilers, for whom he also played in 1950. On April 28, 1950, he was struck by lightning behind the plate during a contest played against the Abilene Blue Sox at Abilene's Blue Sox Stadium. He was knocked unconscious by the bolt of electricity that propelled his mask 20 feet beyond the pitcher's mound but returned to the line-up the next day. He hit .301 in 127 games that year.

He did not play organized baseball for the next two years while serving in the United States military during the Korean War but returned with Shreveport in 1953 to hit .191 in 37 games, then he batted .181 in 81 games the next season. In 1955, he played 12 games with Shreveport before returning to Pampa, where he hit .308 in 98 games. The Oilers moved to the Southwestern League in 1956, following the demise of the West Texas-New Mexico League and he played his final season that year, hitting .329 in 132 games. He also drilled 31 homers and drove in 118 runs in what was a heavy-hitting circuit, but did not return in 1957.

He married Virginia Lou Williams, his high school sweetheart, in 1953 and the couple were married for 42 years until her passing; the couple had two daughters. Following his playing career, he went to the University of Arkansas where he earned an engineering degree and worked in the oil sector in Houma, LA and Houston, TX.

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