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’69 Cubs were something special -- Pitching, defense led Brenham to third-place finish at state
By RICHARD BRAY/Sports Editor
Thirty-nine years later, Jim Raup can still remember some of the key plays from the 1969 Texas state baseball tournament.
Like a video replay in his mind, he can recall the two errors that cost the Brenham Cubs during a 5-4, extra-inning loss to Andrews High School in the state semifinals.
At the same time, he can remember the walks Tommy Lange drew on his way to stealing a UIL-record five bases at state, and the pitches junior left-hander Zane Grubbs threw en route to a two-hitter in the game that clinched third place for the Cubs, a 7-0 shutout of Burleson.
At the time, Raup was just a 23-year-old, first-year coach, one baseball season removed from playing at the University of Texas under Cliff Gustafson.
On Friday night, Raup will be the guest speaker at a Brenham Baseball Alumni Association banquet honoring the 1969 team and its accomplishments.
Raup will use the opportunity to catch up with his old players, some he hasn’t seen since the final day of the 1969 season, and to reminisce about a team that won 25 of its 30 games, won the district championship and finished third in the state, a better finish than any Cubs team prior.
“I really didn’t know what to expect when I went to Brenham,” Raup said in a phone interview from Austin, where he now works as an attorney. “I knew they had a good baseball program and all that, but I really didn’t know how important baseball was to the whole town. To go to the state tournament as a player, it was a huge accomplishment for me.”
At the time, Raup was only four or five years older than some of his seniors.
“I looked like I was 16,” Raup said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’d go out to home plate with the lineup and they’d say, ‘Where’s your coach?’ and I’d say, ‘Sorry, pal, I’m the best they’ve got.’”
It was more than enough. Brenham won its zone, then won the district championship behind its three-headed pitching staff of Grubbs, Ira Joe Newsome and Tommie Sullivan. Grubbs, who became the ace of Brenham’s 1970 state championship team, was a lefty with good control and a good curveball. Sullivan, who had been recruited away from the basketball court that season, had an even better curve, a 12-6 pitch that could start at the letters and dive into the dirt. Newsome, another southpaw, was a master at placing his pitches and changing speeds.
“I think all three teams I had in Brenham were pretty good defensively, but that was the deepest pitching staff I had in those three years,” Raup said. “Those were three guys that were legitimate No. 1 pitchers.”
All three pitched in the semifinal game, which saw Brenham allow just three hits, but two errors proved costly. Raup can still remember both plays, one a first-inning miscue that cost the Cubs two runs, and the other coming in the ninth.
Darrell Blum went 3-for-4 with two RBI in that game, tying the UIL record for hits in a state tournament game, and Charlie Kelm drove in another run.
Things would go better for the Cubs the following day, as Otto Kemper drove in two runs, and Mike Kluck, James Mueller and Kelm each drove in runs.
Lange tied a single-game state tournament record with three stolen bases in that contest, and finished with five for the tournament, setting a new tournament mark.
“I had coached with Cliff Gustafson at UT, and he would tell the leadoff hitter to take pitches to try to get him on base, to get him to think about bases on balls the same way other kids think about hits,” Raup said. “Lange bought into it 100 percent. He would take that pitch six inches off the plate because he took tremendous pride in bases on balls.”
Lange recalled his first meeting with Raup in the fall of 1968. Lange was in the whirlpool recovering from a football workout when Raup approached him.
“He said, ‘Tommy, you’re going to be my leadoff hitter. I don’t care how you do it, but your main objective is to get on base and let everyone else get you around,’” Lange said. “That really got the ball rolling.”
Lange finished the season with almost 40 stolen bases, leading a Cub team that loved to run the bases. Kemper, Larry McDonald and Sullivan were also notorious for swiping bases as part of a Cub lineup that boasted plenty of speed.
Blum, A.J. Williams and Lange were each named to the all-state tournament team. Williams had just one hit during the tournament, but “was a virtual jumping jack over at first base,” according to a Banner-Press article naming the all-zone team.
“A.J. was a magician over there at first base,” Raup said. “He was unbelievable. It was just magic.”
Blum, Williams, Kluck, Lange, Kelm and Grubbs would be first-team all-zone selections that season, while Sullivan, Newsome, Bill Nutt, Kemper and Jimmy Dreyer were named to the second team.
“The biggest thing I want to emphasize about this team is that we were a very good team, but we were not, by any stretch of the imagination, full of superstars who were going to be No. 1 draft choices in the major leagues,” Lange said. “We had a group of guys who played together. We were a team.”
While Brenham’s 1967 team sent Jimmy Plant and Jackie Heidemann to the pros, and the 1968 team boasted future professionals in Cecil Cooper and Chuck Machemehl, of the 1969 Cubs only Kemper played professional baseball, being drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1971.
“What I remember most was we were taught to enjoy the game and play the game to the best of our ability, and we were a very disciplined team,” Lange said. “It was always emphasized to us that we wanted to go out and stress teamwork, stress sportsmanship, and if we did all those things the way you should do them then they would make you a better person 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now.”
The Cubs, who expect 15 players to return for Friday’s banquet, will get an opportunity to see what their teammates have become in the years since the spring of 1969.
Raup coached at Brenham for three years, including the 1970 state champion, before returning to Austin, where he coached Austin McCallum, got his law degree, and eventually left coaching to become an attorney.
In 1995, Raup returned to McCallum to coach for three more years, taking the 1997 team to the state semifinals before again retiring from baseball.
“Coaching in Brenham was a special experience,” Raup said. “(Friday’s banquet) is going to be a lot of fun. Some of those guys I literally haven’t seen since we put away the equipment when we got back from the state tournament.
“I hope I’ll be able to express to the group when I’m talking how important coaching in Brenham was to me,” Raup said.
The banquet is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Fireman’s Training Center, and will include the auctioning of a baseball signed by Nolan Ryan and another signed by Roger Clemens.
Tickets are $15. For more information, call Jim Long at 251-4598, Lange at 836-0200 or Delbert Boeker at 836-7587.
Like a video replay in his mind, he can recall the two errors that cost the Brenham Cubs during a 5-4, extra-inning loss to Andrews High School in the state semifinals.
At the same time, he can remember the walks Tommy Lange drew on his way to stealing a UIL-record five bases at state, and the pitches junior left-hander Zane Grubbs threw en route to a two-hitter in the game that clinched third place for the Cubs, a 7-0 shutout of Burleson.
At the time, Raup was just a 23-year-old, first-year coach, one baseball season removed from playing at the University of Texas under Cliff Gustafson.
On Friday night, Raup will be the guest speaker at a Brenham Baseball Alumni Association banquet honoring the 1969 team and its accomplishments.
Raup will use the opportunity to catch up with his old players, some he hasn’t seen since the final day of the 1969 season, and to reminisce about a team that won 25 of its 30 games, won the district championship and finished third in the state, a better finish than any Cubs team prior.
“I really didn’t know what to expect when I went to Brenham,” Raup said in a phone interview from Austin, where he now works as an attorney. “I knew they had a good baseball program and all that, but I really didn’t know how important baseball was to the whole town. To go to the state tournament as a player, it was a huge accomplishment for me.”
At the time, Raup was only four or five years older than some of his seniors.
“I looked like I was 16,” Raup said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’d go out to home plate with the lineup and they’d say, ‘Where’s your coach?’ and I’d say, ‘Sorry, pal, I’m the best they’ve got.’”
It was more than enough. Brenham won its zone, then won the district championship behind its three-headed pitching staff of Grubbs, Ira Joe Newsome and Tommie Sullivan. Grubbs, who became the ace of Brenham’s 1970 state championship team, was a lefty with good control and a good curveball. Sullivan, who had been recruited away from the basketball court that season, had an even better curve, a 12-6 pitch that could start at the letters and dive into the dirt. Newsome, another southpaw, was a master at placing his pitches and changing speeds.
“I think all three teams I had in Brenham were pretty good defensively, but that was the deepest pitching staff I had in those three years,” Raup said. “Those were three guys that were legitimate No. 1 pitchers.”
All three pitched in the semifinal game, which saw Brenham allow just three hits, but two errors proved costly. Raup can still remember both plays, one a first-inning miscue that cost the Cubs two runs, and the other coming in the ninth.
Darrell Blum went 3-for-4 with two RBI in that game, tying the UIL record for hits in a state tournament game, and Charlie Kelm drove in another run.
Things would go better for the Cubs the following day, as Otto Kemper drove in two runs, and Mike Kluck, James Mueller and Kelm each drove in runs.
Lange tied a single-game state tournament record with three stolen bases in that contest, and finished with five for the tournament, setting a new tournament mark.
“I had coached with Cliff Gustafson at UT, and he would tell the leadoff hitter to take pitches to try to get him on base, to get him to think about bases on balls the same way other kids think about hits,” Raup said. “Lange bought into it 100 percent. He would take that pitch six inches off the plate because he took tremendous pride in bases on balls.”
Lange recalled his first meeting with Raup in the fall of 1968. Lange was in the whirlpool recovering from a football workout when Raup approached him.
“He said, ‘Tommy, you’re going to be my leadoff hitter. I don’t care how you do it, but your main objective is to get on base and let everyone else get you around,’” Lange said. “That really got the ball rolling.”
Lange finished the season with almost 40 stolen bases, leading a Cub team that loved to run the bases. Kemper, Larry McDonald and Sullivan were also notorious for swiping bases as part of a Cub lineup that boasted plenty of speed.
Blum, A.J. Williams and Lange were each named to the all-state tournament team. Williams had just one hit during the tournament, but “was a virtual jumping jack over at first base,” according to a Banner-Press article naming the all-zone team.
“A.J. was a magician over there at first base,” Raup said. “He was unbelievable. It was just magic.”
Blum, Williams, Kluck, Lange, Kelm and Grubbs would be first-team all-zone selections that season, while Sullivan, Newsome, Bill Nutt, Kemper and Jimmy Dreyer were named to the second team.
“The biggest thing I want to emphasize about this team is that we were a very good team, but we were not, by any stretch of the imagination, full of superstars who were going to be No. 1 draft choices in the major leagues,” Lange said. “We had a group of guys who played together. We were a team.”
While Brenham’s 1967 team sent Jimmy Plant and Jackie Heidemann to the pros, and the 1968 team boasted future professionals in Cecil Cooper and Chuck Machemehl, of the 1969 Cubs only Kemper played professional baseball, being drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1971.
“What I remember most was we were taught to enjoy the game and play the game to the best of our ability, and we were a very disciplined team,” Lange said. “It was always emphasized to us that we wanted to go out and stress teamwork, stress sportsmanship, and if we did all those things the way you should do them then they would make you a better person 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now.”
The Cubs, who expect 15 players to return for Friday’s banquet, will get an opportunity to see what their teammates have become in the years since the spring of 1969.
Raup coached at Brenham for three years, including the 1970 state champion, before returning to Austin, where he coached Austin McCallum, got his law degree, and eventually left coaching to become an attorney.
In 1995, Raup returned to McCallum to coach for three more years, taking the 1997 team to the state semifinals before again retiring from baseball.
“Coaching in Brenham was a special experience,” Raup said. “(Friday’s banquet) is going to be a lot of fun. Some of those guys I literally haven’t seen since we put away the equipment when we got back from the state tournament.
“I hope I’ll be able to express to the group when I’m talking how important coaching in Brenham was to me,” Raup said.
The banquet is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Fireman’s Training Center, and will include the auctioning of a baseball signed by Nolan Ryan and another signed by Roger Clemens.
Tickets are $15. For more information, call Jim Long at 251-4598, Lange at 836-0200 or Delbert Boeker at 836-7587.
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