Aaron Pointer (Batted Right/Threw Right; Outfield) has to be one of the best examples of how life sometimes arms certain people with talents that could take them in several varied directions, but all the while, these opportunities are rising and falling constantly with how the individual makes and uses the decisions he or she finally decides to take responsibility for putting into motion.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 19. 1942, but raised in Oakland, California, Aaron Pointer was the son a of a preacher man and his wife, the Reverend Elton and Sarah Elizabeth Porter. Aaron’s older brother Fritz was also a gifted amateur athlete who grew up to be a college English professor and published author. Aaron’s younger sisters, Ruth, Anita, Bonnie, and June stormed the entertainment world from the early 1970s forward as the fabulous Pointer Sisters.
Pointer served as President of the Student Body at McClymonds High School, where also excelled in baseball, football, and basketball. McClymonds in Oakland just happens to be the same school that also gave the world Bill Russell in basketball and Frank Robinson in baseball. After his high school graduation, Pointer entered San Francisco University on a basketball scholarship, with an understanding that he would also be allowed to play baseball. A chronic sore arm knocked Pointer out of his plans to continue baseball as a pitcher at SFU. Aaron was still good enough as a position player to attract the attention of the Houston Colt .45s as an outfield prospect. He signed with Houston in 1961 for a bonus of $30,000 and was assigned to Class D Salisbury and what turned out to be a memorable season.
Aaron Pointer batted .402 in 93 games for Salisbury (132 hit for 329 at bats) in 1961 for 19 doubles, 14 triples, and 7 home runs. By breaking the /400 mark, Pointer became the last professional baseball player to exceed that magic mark over a full summer of play. (Rookie League and Mexican League marks are not considered as data on this achievement trail.) At season’s end, Pointer was called up to the 1961 AAA Houston Buffs in time to also hit .375 ( 3 for 8 ) in four games.
After 1961, Aaron Pointer would never again have another lights out year over the course of his nine-season, mostly minor league career.
On September 27, 1963, he was part of an all-rookie lineup that remains on record as the youngest lineup in MLB history, with an average age of 19. Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn were the only three players that went on to great careers from that group of promising rookies.
By breaking in with the 1963 Colt .45s and then coming back with the 1966-67 Astros, Aaron Pointer also placed himself in a quietly unique category for former Houston Buffs. Aaron Pointer, outfielder Ron E. Davis, and pitcher Dave Giusti are the only three professional baseball players who actually performed for Houston under all three of their identities as Buffs, Colt .45s, and Astros. Giusti’s distinction is slightly greater in this regard as the only last former Buff from 1961 who also played for the first Colt .45 club in 1962 and the first Astro club in 1965. Pointer did not join the Colt .45’s until their second season (1963) and did not play either for the Astros until their second season (1966). Davis also missed the first Astros year, but arrived in time to play parts of three seasons as an Astro (1966-68).
Pidge Browne, Jim R. Campbell, Ron E. Davis, Dave Giusti, and J.C. Hartman were the only five last Buffs (1961) who also played the next year as first-season Colt .45s (1962), but four of these men, all but Giusti, were gone by the time the club became the Astros in 1965. As mentioned above, Pointer also became a Colt .45, but not until the 1963 season. Ron E. Davis, as mentioned, rejoined the club in 1966 during their second season run as the Astros.
After being traded to the Chicago Cubs organization in 1968, Aaron Pointer spent all of 1969 at Tacoma. He finished that season with a career batting average of .272. He then played three mediocre seasons in Japan and, at age 30, he retired from baseball. Returning to his adopted home in Tacoma Washington, Pointer went to work for the Pierce County Parks and Recreation Department, supervising their athletics programs. He started officiating high school football games , eventually working himself into a new career as an NFL game official from 1987 to 2003. He now serves as a member of the Board for the Tacoma Athletic Commission.
In June 2008, Aaron Pointer was inducted into the Tacoma Hall of Fame.
What a life path! – Godspeed, Aaron Pointer! And may your senior days be mellow and bright!
Tags: Baseball, culture, History, Houston Astros, Houston Buffs
The Pecan Park Eagle 
November 11, 2017 at 4:45 pm |
I was a roommate with Aaron on the Salisbury team. I have never met a more giving person than him. He shared everything with us as a kid joining us right out of high school. Even his car was equally mine. Thank you, Aaron, for being my hero. I’ve followed your career all these years and have been very proud to tell family and friends that you were part of my life. That I was actually on the same team with you. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES.