The Pecan Park Eagle

 Sometimes I’m reminded of certain former members of the Houston Buffs by the e-mails I get from people with a special interest in same. Yesterday I received a request for research assistance from a fellow named Ken Hogan, a guy whose doing background work right now for what he describes as a “booklet” on a cousin who played for the Houston Buffs in 1933, a BL/TR catcher named Ken O’Dea.

What I told Neil Hogan I can tell you here. – Even I am not old enough to have seen Ken O’Dea play ball in Buff Stadium back in 1933, but I’ve read of him over the years in my scannings of ancient Houston Buff history. Ken O’Dea was much more than adequate as the field captain of the ’33 Buffs. He was the guy that the Texas League media selected as their post-season All Star catcher for both his bat and his fielding ability. O’Dea batted .269 with one homer and 65 runs batted in for the ’33 Buffs, and he shared field leadership duties with second baseman and playing manager Carey Selph, who also made the the ’33 Texas League All Star club. Ed “Bear Tracks” Greer, a 22-game winning pitcher for the ’33 Buffs, was the third club member to make the Texas League All Star team that season.

The ’33 Buffs finished in first place with a Texas League record of 94-57, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the league championship. O’Dea would move on to Columbus the next season, completing his four-year minor league run (1931-34) with a minor league career batting average of .288 with 12 HR and 177 RBI.

The balance of Ken O’Dea’s baseball career beyond 1934 was all major league. In a 12-season big league career with the Cubs, Giants, Cardinals, and Braves (1935-46), O’Dea batted .255 with 40 HR and 323 RBI.

Ken O’Dea died on December 17, 1985 in his birth home town of Lima, New York at the age of 72. Good luck to Neil Hogan on writing something that will bring the acomplishments of his talented cousin back to life in the minds of those fans who care about baseball history as something larger than a canvas for myriad new books on Babe Ruth, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox.

Tags: Baseball, Houston Buffs

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