Chuck Weatherspoon

Charles Benny Weatherspoon
(Charlie, Big Spoon)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.
• School Jarvis Christian College

• Born June 1, 1931 in Pineland, TX USA
• Died 2006

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Chuck Weatherspoon had a 15-year career in the minor leagues, playing the outfield, catcher and first base. In 1961, he set the Carolina League record by hitting seven grand slams in one season.

He first started out in 1955 with the Salem Rebels of the Appalachian League where he hit .305 with 19 homers and 87 RBIs in 105 games to get his career off to a good start. The team is listed as unaffiliated, but seemed to have had a working relationship with the New York Giants, who had signed Chuck. He was already 24 though, and in 1954 had played for the Twin City Colored Giants, in the last remnants of the Negro Leagues, following a stint in the U.S. Army and some semi-pro baseball in Jasper, TX. He roomed with Salem's only other non-white player, a 17-year-old Orlando Cepeda. The Appy League folded after the season in part due to racial tensions. In 1956, he was first assigned to the Lake Charles Giants of the Evangeline League, but after he had played just 2 games as a teammate of Felipe Alou, the Louisiana State Legislature enacted new "Jim Crow" laws to prevent African-Americans from playing on white teams. He had to move across the country to the Missoula Timberjacks of the Pioneer League, where he hit .258 in 124 games in the first of three consecutive seasons with that team. His manager there was Jack McKeon, who became a big fan and tried to ensure that Chuck was on his teams wherever he managed over the next decade. He found himself in the Washington Senators organization when the Nats added Missoula to their network of affiliates in 1957 and hit .263 with 14 homers and 73 RBIs in 122 games. This was followed by a tremendous 1958 season in which he belted 35 homers, most in the league, batted .346 and drove in 113 runs in 118 games. In 1959, he moved up one level to the Class B Three-I League, joining the Fox Cities Foxes, where he hit .282 with 20 homers and 80 RBIs in 125 games.

In 1960 and 1961 he was in the Carolina League with the Wilson Tobs and after hitting .219 the first year, exploded for his second great season, including hitting .271 with 31 homers and 123 RBIs, leading the league in both homers and RBIs and was named the league MVP. That was the year he set the record for grand slams, hitting his seventh on August 17th in a game against the Winston-Salem Red Sox. Some papers reported this to be an all-time professional record, but Bob Crues had hit 8 grand slams in the very hitter-friendly West Texas-New Mexico League in 1948. Weatherspoon had already made headlines on May 2nd when he had hit two grand slams in one game against the Greensboro Yankees, and almost hit a third, banging a ball against the outfield fence with the bases loaded. Following the season, he took part in a series of "Home Run Derby exhibitions around North Carolina that featured major league sluggers Roger Maris, just off breaking the major league single-season homer mark with 61, Harmon Killebrew and Jim Gentile; former major league pitcher Clyde King served them the offerings, and Chuck served as the catcher. By then the Senators had become the Minnesota Twins and in 1962, even though he was already 31 and no longer a prospect, he was given him a shot in AAA with the Vancouver Mounties of the Pacific Coast League, thanks to McKeon who was the team's manager. He fell to .238 with 12 homers and 41 RBIs in 107 games and in 1963, when he fell to .187 in 38 games for another PCL team, the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, he was sent down to AA and the Charlotte Hornets of the South Atlantic League, where he finished the season hitting .246 in 61 games. He was back in AAA in 1964, this time with the Atlanta Crackers of the International League, but had another mediocre year, batting .246 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs.

Having failed to impress during an extensive look at AAA, he fell back to Class A, playing the 1965 and 1966 seasons with the Wilson Tobs, the team for which he had set the grand slam record. He hit .229 with 15 homers the first year and .252 with 23 long balls the second. That second year, he also served as a mentor to a young Rod Carew, who was the Tobs' second baseman. By 1967, he was 36 years old, but still not done with baseball. He played in AA that season, with Charlotte now in the re-named Southern League and hit .270 with 10 homers and 49 RBIs in 93 games. In 1968, he split the year between Charlotte and yet another Twins AAA affiliate, this time the Denver Bears of the PCL. He hit just .100 in 8 games at Denver, but .295 in 63 games in AA, although his power was fading fast, with just 5 homers. He played one final season in 1969 at age 38, with Denver which was now in the re-created American Association, but he hit just .139 in 28 games and finally had to retire after over 1,500 professional games and 230 career homers.

He played with future major leaguer Curt Roberts while growing up in Pineland, TX. After baseball, he returned to Pineland where he worked in a saw mill. His younger brother, Clarence Witherspoon also played in the minors and was his teammate with Missoula in 1958 (his nickname was "Tea Spoon" whereas Chuck was "Big Spoon"). He married Rowena James Jackson in 1955, having met her while playing his first season in Salem, VA. His daughter, Teresa Weatherspoon, played in the WNBA then became a college coach, while his son Lloyd Weatherspoon was a high school track coach in Texas. His great-nephew Sean Weatherspoon played in the NFL.

Notable Achievements

• 1961 MVP Carolina League Wilson Tobs

Further Reading

• Ronald Barlow: "Tribute to Mrs. Rowena Jane Jackson Weatherspoon", Hemphill Daily news and More, May 16, 2021. [1]