The Carlsbad Potashers began minor league play in 1953. Carlsbad teams played as members of the Class C level
Longhorn League (1953–1955), the Class B level
Southwestern League (1956–1957) and Class D level
Sophomore League (1958–1961) during their nine seasons of play. In their first season, the 1953 Potashers finished with a record of 80–52 and captured the Longhorn League Championship. The 1954 and 1959 teams lost in the league Finals
Gil Carter: Possibly longest home run in history As reported in
The Sporting News, Potashers player Gil Carter hit a majestic home run at Montgomery Field in 1959: "On a hot August night in 1959, former heavyweight boxer Gil Carter smashed a pitch through Carlsbad's high-elevated air and out of Montgomery Field. The ball carried over the left field wall, soared past two city streets and landed in a peach tree. A newspaper reporter later took an aerial photo from a plane and used the picture to estimate the ball traveled 733 feet. Carter's hometown paper, The Topeka Capital-Journal, said "the blast is considered the longest home run in baseball history." The official scorer estimated the home run to have traveled 650 feet. However, aerial photographs measurements put the distance at 700–733 feet, which would make it the longest home run ever hit in professional baseball. The ball itself was signed by Carter and notes the distance of 733 feet. Gil Carter was inducted into the
National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame in 2015. ==The ballpark==