Artesia Numexers

Artesia's ballclub carried one of the most distinctive names in minor league history. For 1954 and 1955 the team was the Numexers, a combination of "New" and "Mexico." It had spent its first three Class C Longhorn League seasons (1951-53) as the Drillers, a nod to the oil fields around town, playing at Brainard Park, an oddly shaped ballpark with tin fences. First baseman Joe Bauman played for the 1953 Drillers before moving up the road to Roswell, where in 1954 he hit 72 home runs, a minor league single-season record.

The first Numexers team was the best club Artesia ever fielded. The 1954 squad finished first at 92-46, allowed a league-low 657 runs, and then beat the Midland Indians and the rival Carlsbad Potashers in the playoffs to win the Longhorn League championship. Mickey Sullivan led the team with 23 home runs and John Goodell hit .375.

That 1954 pitching staff also included Jim Tugerson, a Negro Leagues veteran from Florida who opened the season in Artesia on assignment from Dallas. A year earlier, Tugerson and his brother Leander had signed with the Hot Springs Bathers, and the Cotton States League's refusal to let them pitch led Jim to file a $50,000 federal lawsuit against the league. He pitched in Artesia for about seven weeks before Dallas called him back in late May.

The 1955 Numexers went 80-57 and lost a seven-game first-round series to Roswell. Artesia sat out the next two seasons, then returned from 1958 through 1961 in the Sophomore League as the Giants and, in the final year, the Dodgers; future big leaguers Jesus Alou and Dick Dietz played there in 1960. Brainard Park is still in use today as the home field for Artesia High School.