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Bob Wellman's Triple Crown Season

Bob Wellman has a special place in Graceville Oiler and AFL history. In 1957, he accomplished the rare feat of leading the league in homers, RBIs, and batting average: The Triple Crown. Unfortunately for Wellman, he was 10 at bats shy of the total needed to qualify for the batting title, which was awarded to Bob Zuccarini of Panama City. Graceville fans lobbied for Wellman to be awarded the title and many of them refused to acknowledge Zuccarini's .352 average as the "best in the league", but Zuccarini's 403 at bats were well over the 372 needed for eligibility and the batting title was his. Wellman was a popular Oiler and his long balls were the topic of conversation at Sportsman's Park that summer. He wasn't even at Graceville a full season, leaving in late summer to play with Savannah in the Sally League, but he is likely remembered as the team's greatest power hitter ever.

Bob Wellman started his professional career in Tallassee, Alabama, in 1946. Back from the war, Wellman started on the team that AFL stars Cotton Goodell, Forrest Austin, & Steve Bysco had played for before the war. The Indians had switched leagues to start the season, and now played in the Georgia-Florida League. Wellman was a star right from the start, batting .332 with 3 homers and 40 RBIs in his rookie season, and earning a promotion to the Class C Martinsville Athletics in the Carolina league for 1947. Wellman improved at Martinsville, batting .368 with 15 homers and 80 RBIs, and the parent Philadelphia A's took notice. Wellman made it to the big leagues in 1948, seeing limited action with the A's. He was not able to make an impression for Connie Mack's team and found himself sliding back down the ladder, spending most of 1948 with the Class A Lincoln Athletics of the Western League. Wellman again made it to Philly in 1950, but only for the proverbial "cup of coffee". He spent the next 6 years playing for teams at various levels from Syracuse to Seattle, but he'd never make it to the big show again. Wellman had not been a true power hitter until 1953, when he banged out 26 homers for the Class B Yakima Packers. Over the next seven seasons, Wellman hit 173 homers, averaging 24 per season.

It was after a particularly strong 1956 season with the Moultrie Reds of the Georgia-Florida League that the
Oilers signed Wellman to lead the team. Bob had been player-manager of the Reds, and while they finished in the middle of the pack, Wellman's contribution offensively was outstanding. He batted .347, finishing behind AFL favorite Chase Riddle's .353. Riddle won the batting & RBI titles, but Wellman lead the league with 30 homers and 165 hits, while driving in a team-leading 124 runs himself.

Graceville had signed a working agreement with the Cincinnati Reds at the end of 1956, and Wellman was the type of seasoned professional needed to develop young players and excite local fans. Bob cast a big figure: standing 6'4" and weighing in at 240 lbs. Moreover, Wellman was not your stereotypical Class D ball player: He was a well-traveled, intelligent, observant man. He was a fan of classical music and a keen student of the game of baseball. He also had the "right stuff" to catch the imagination of Graceville fans who had lost their biggest hero, Charlie Grant, to the Nashville Vols the previous season. Wellman's presence was a critical part of the campaign to keep the Oilers popular, and solvent.

Wellman proved the right man for the job, and the Oilers were right in the thick of the pennant race all summer, leading the league for most of the season while the Montgomery Rebels and Fort Walton Beach Jets threatened the lead on occasion. Wellman was on fire as a and by late July the Oilers were poised to leave the rest of the league behind when Wellman got the news that he had been transferred to Savannah in the Sally League. This was good news for Wellman, but horrible news for Graceville.

The team's management was fortunate to be able to fill in the gap that Wellman would leave by bringing back home grown fan-favorite Charlie Grant. In Wellman's last game as a Oiler, he hit his 30th homer of the season, only 10 shy of the all time AFL record of 40 set by Neb Wilson the season before. Given that Wellman only played 82 games, it's safe to assume that the all time record would have been his if he had stayed the season. The night after Wellman's finale, Charlie Grant thrilled the crowd with a homer of his own against rival Montgomery. Grant's presence at the helm was welcome and he batted a respectable .279 with 7 homers, but the Oilers missed the power that Wellman provided and the Rebels eventually caught and passed the Oilers to take the pennant. Wellman played out the rest of his career in Savannah and retired from playing in 1959. He accepted an invitation to coach in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system and he remained there for 26 years. As manager of the Reading Phillies, Wellman won the 1975 Eastern League pennant and was named manager of the all star team. Wellman enjoyed a long and prosperous baseball career, and surely his Triple Crown season in Graceville stood out as on of the high-points.