The Pecan Park Eagle

Archive for 2013

The St. Louis Browns Historical Society

November 20, 2013

Stan the Man with Bill the Fan
St. Louis, 2003

The St. Louis Browns Historical Society and Fan Club was established in St. Louis back in the early 1980s by history professor/writer/fan Bill Borst and a few other ancient pelicans of St. Louis baseball history. Over the years, it grew into an annual dinner and greet-and-meet for former Browns players and their surviving fans from the 1902-1953 period in which the Browns existed as the winners of one WWII-aided pennant in 1944 and a coal bin full of last place finishes in the American League.

In the end, even the Barnum and Bailey mind of final owner Bill Veeck could not spare the Browns from themselves. Midget batters didn’t work. “Fan Manager Night” didn’t work. And even having a 20-game winner like Ned Garver pitch for them in a 102-team loss, last-place 1951 season didn’t work. The Browns were doomed in their heart-to-heart competition with their National League neighbor and ballpark tenant, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Browns didn’t have anybody close to the talent of the Cardinals’ great Stan Musial, but who did, back in the day? Even if they ever came close to raising or acquiring a great one, the Browns could not have kept him. They had to survive by second division loser club economics – meaning simply, that any talent of any great merit had to be sold to the Yankees or one of the other elite rich clubs just to pay the bills that their low attendance gates were not supporting.

We made quite a few of these annual functions in St. Louis between 1996 and 2007. I started going with good friend and former Browns first baseman Jerry Witte through the long period of our work on his autobiography, “A Kid From St. Louis” (2003) and I still maintain my annual membership in support of the organization, even though it’s been six years since my last trip to St. Louis. I had friends in St. Louis prior to my involvement with the Browns, but my affinity for the city and its stock of knowledgeable baseball fans simply exploded like hydrogen once St. Louis locked in as an annual destination.

Ned Garver loves teasing the large crowds that continue to show up for these walks through the time-warp back into the 1940s and 1950s. Once he began his dinner talk from the podium with this statement and question: “It’s great to see the large crowd of supporters who’ve shown up tonight to spend time with us former Browns. – Where were you when we were actually playing baseball in St. Louis?”

Garver also loved to brag on Browns fans in his dinner speeches: “Our fans never booed us players. They wouldn’t dare. We outnumbered them.”

As the old song goes, “now the days dwindle down to a precious few.” And I can only count the good times that I had with some of the game’s and world’s greatest people.

My two favorite moments were these: “Getting on an empty elevator at the hotel in St. Louis to go to an afternoon players reception in 1996. Then quickly catching the door for one other passenger who wanted on. It was Stan Musial. And all of a dad gum sudden, I’m like a dumbfounded kid, trapped in an elevator with my all-time biggest living baseball hero. I didn’t want to do the crazy, “Oh Boy! I’m your biggest fan, Mr. Musial” thing. But neither did I want to seem distant and unaware of who he was. – What to do?”

For the two-floor ride, I said nothing. Then, as we were getting out of the elevator, I extended my hand and said something cooler, like, “Mr. Musial, I’m Bill McCurdy from Houston. I think we’re headed to the same place, but I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to meet you.” Musial thanked me and we then just small-talked our way to the door where he was quickly swallowed up by smiles, cheers, hugs, and applause. We got to talk a little later on – and upon four or five occasions over the years to come, we talked some more, like old friends and neighbors. Stan was so humble and decent to all of us baseball nobodies. Watching him talk with people was like seeing my parents talk with the kinds of down-to-earth neighbors we had when I was growing up in the Pecan Park section of southeast Houston after World War II. Nobody was pretending to be bigger than anyone else.

My other big moment came in a later year when I just happened to catch Don Larsen sitting in the hotel lobby and he spent the better part of an hour taking me along with him on a personal trip through his perfect game in the 1956 World Series. I felt like a beneficiary in some kind of “Make-A-Wish” program for aging baseball fans. Larsen was wonderful. I asked him what was going through his mind on that last called strike three pitch to Dale Mitchell to nail it all down in the 9th as he released the ball from his hand.

“That’s funny,” Larsen smiled, as he answered. “No one’s ever quite asked me about it like that.”

He pondered, but very briefly.

“I just thought, ‘Here goes nothing!’,” he said.

And nothing it was. Plenty of nothings for the former Brown as he found his way into baseball history as a New York Yankee.

Today the ranks of the surviving former members of the St. Louis Brown have shrunk to these twenty-four. Here they are, from oldest to youngest, with their birth dates and projected ages for 2013:

1) Chuck Stevens, 07/10/18 (95)

2) Tom Jordan, 09/05/19 (94)

3) Dick Starr, 03/02/21 (92)

4) George Elder 03/10/21 (92)

5) Neil Berry, 01/11/22 (91)

6) Johnny Hetki, 05/12/22 (91)

7) Jim Rivera 07/22/22 (91)

8) Don Lenhardt, 10/04/22 (91)

9) Don Lund, 05/18/23 (90)

10) Tom Wright, 09/22/23 (90)

11) Billy DeMars, 08/26/25 (88)

12) Ned Garver, 12/25/25 (88)

13) Frank Saucier, 05/28/26 (87)

14) Johnny Groth, 07/23/26 (87)

15) Al Naples, (8/29/26) (87)

16) Ed Mickelson 09/09/26 (87)

17) Don Johnson, 11/12/26 (87)

18) Roy Sievers, 11/18/26 (87)

19) Hal Hudson, 05/04/27 (86)

20) Billy Hunter, 06/04/28 (85)

21) Joe DeMaestri, 12/09/28 (85)

22) Bud Thomas, 03/10/29 (84)

23) Don Larsen, 08/07/29 (84)

24) J.W. Porter, 01/17/33 (80)

All things end in time, but the older Browns are holding on pretty good. After all, it’s been over 60 years since any of them played in that last season of 1953. By 1954, some were destined also to become original members of the first Baltimore Orioles club.

If you are interested in learning more about the St. Louis Browns or their supportive society beyond the little I’ve been able to share with you here, please check out their website:

http://www.thestlbrowns.com/

And have a great “hump day”!

Tags:St.. Louis Browns
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

George Carlin on Baseball and Football

November 19, 2013

As Tom Hunter so accurately pointed out in his comment on yesterday’s column, the late and great comedian George Carlin once wrote and performed the funniest routine ever to explain the differences between baseball and football. Now, courtesy of its re-print in BASEBALL ALMANAC.COM. here it is again:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor7.shtml

Baseball and Football

George Carlin

by George Carlin

Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he’s out; sometimes unintentionally, he’s out. Also: in football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring. In most sports, the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you’d ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform, you’d know the reason for this custom. Now, I’ve mentioned football. Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values .I enjoy comparing baseball and football:Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying.

In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.

Football is concerned with downs – what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups – who’s up?

In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.

In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog…
In baseball, if it rains, we don’t go out to play.

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit: we don’t know when it’s gonna end – might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we’ve got to go to sudden death.

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there’s kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there’s not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you’re capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! – I hope I’ll be safe at home!

Tags:Baseball Almanac, Baseball and Football, George Carlin
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Football Ain’t Baseball

November 18, 2013

Reliant Stadium
November 17, 2013
Raiders 28 – Texans 23

Football “ain’t” baseball. No kidding?

Here are the basic differences in the two sports at the top professional levels:

1) The MLB regular season plays out over 162 games. The NFL regular season is 16 games long.

2) Each NFL game is the equivalent in importance to about 10 MLB games.

3) By the time an NFL team plays 4 games, it has completed 25% of the whole regular season.

4) If an NFL team loses 8 games in a row, it has accomplished the equivalent of something that’s never happened in MLB – an 80 game losing streak.

5) If an MLB team loses 8 games in a row, fans wonder if the team will get to 10 – and then they wonder how many other times the team may do another double-digit losing streak in the same season.

6) Most MLB managers usually do not get fired for simply losing 8 games in a row.

7) Most NFL coaches who lose 8 games in a row on the heels of compiling a near .500 win percentage record over 6 years probably should be – fired, that is.

8) The Houston Astros are a baseball team that is now losing for the sake of re-building a club that is stocked with winning players in their prime.

9) The Houston Texans are a football team that is now losing because they have held onto an inadequate veteran quarterback and a shortage of talent depth for a too conservative offensive scheme that could only work with a QB like Case Keenum, some loosening of the reins on the QB’s freedom to audible change based on his particular abilities, the presence of a serious running game, and greater depth in all positions, but especially in the areas of adequate pass protection.

10) In baseball rebuilding, you don’t fire guys like Astros GM Jeff Luhnow or manager Bo Porter anytime soon, if ever. In baseball, it’s time for Mr. McNair to consider firing Texans Coach Gary Kubiak and also to take a real hard look at Texans GM Rick Smith. I had not slid all the way into the Texans leadership questions until yesterday, when I was there to witness Kubiak replace new QB Keenum with everybody’s face of the failed past, Matt Schaub.

Schaub was greeted with a waterfall of boos. Then he promptly went out and demonstrated exactly why they were deserved. In three shots from the red zone over the last quarter plus change part of the game, all Schaub could do from three trips closed to the goal was set up two field goals and an argument with the great Andre Johnson on where the latter should have been on a failed fourth down pass in the last gasping minute of the game.

Kubiak later explained that he put Schaub in because he didn’t think it was fair to ask of rookie Keenum what he was about to ask of the more experienced Schaub for the sake of winning.

Forget that B.S. – Keenum is the guy who hit Graham on a remarkable 42 yard TD pass in the first half that Schaub never could have pulled off. – And Keenum is the guy who has hit Andre Johnson for his only 5 TDs of 2013 season over the previous two games after the great one got “nuthin, but nuthin” from Schaub over all of the earlier season.

Kubiak said he put Schaub in the game for the sake of winning.

Oh really? – Win what? Had the Texans won, they would have risen to 3-7 with no playoff chances. So they lost – and dropped to 2-8 – with no playoff chances.

Yesterday, and the rest of the season, is the time to find out all the team can learn about Case Keenum. You can’t learn without playing. It is not the time to put in a guy who has no face in the club’s future for the sake of winning a meaningless game that Case Keenum had a better chance of chasing.

As for as I’m concerned, it’s time for the Texans to back up the truck on Gary Kubiak – and start over.

As for the Reliant Stadium experience from the boondocks section seats, I can now scratch that one off my bucket list. My first live Texans game included paying $75 each for three “just outside the Pearly Gates” seats on the aisle from one end zone row and a four block walk in the mid-day heat from a $20 parking lot. I must have risen 50 times in the game to let people in and out on beer and bathroom runs. Then I basically watched the game on the big screen – and not the much harder to see live action.

Shoot! – I can watch the game in HD at home without ever once being asked to get up so somebody can walk past me.

November 17. 2013: Two former presidents under one one roof still couldn’t save the Texans.

C’mon baseball season! – You’ve already been gone too long!

Tags:Fire Kubiak, Houston Texans
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Happy Sunday, Everybody!

November 17, 2013

Sometimes poetry is one word, like: “CRUUUUUUUUZ!”

Superstar

Twinkle, Twinkle, Super Star!

Each time you hit, the balls go far!

Wish you may! Wish you might!

Pass the test ~ that makes it right!

**********

Day and Night (may be sung to the intro and chorus verse of “Night and Day”)

Like the tick, tick, tick of a time bomb,

As the big game shadows fall;

Like the cold sweat strain on the pitcher,

When his hope sails over the wall;

Like the splash, splash, splash of the rain drops,

On a ten-run enemy third;

It isn’t hard ~ to hear your pleading ~ to the rainbow bird:

“Come on, rain, ~ blot out the sun!

We’re down here ten to goose, – and that ain’t no fun!

If you’ll just do this for me ~ and save us from this infamy,

We’ll think of you – night and day!”

**********

Frosty the ‘Roids Man

Frosty the ‘Roids Man – Was a jolly happy soul
With a corncob pipe and a button nose – And two eyes made out of coal

Frosty the ‘Roids Man – Is a fairy tale they say
He was made of snow – But we all now know – How he came to life one day

There must have been some magic in – That needle that they found
For when they shot it in his butt – He began to dance around

Frosty the ‘Roids Man – Was alive as he could be
And the experts say – He could pitch and play – Way beyond poor you and me

Frosty the ‘Roids Man – Knew the news was hot that day
So he said let’s run – And we’ll have some fun – Right before I melt away

Down to his lawyer – With a vial in his hand
Talking here and there – All around what’s fair – Saying “catch me if you can”

He led us down the streets of town – Right to the Balco shop
And he only paused a moment when – He heard them holler “Cop”

Frosty the ‘Roids Man – Had to hurry on his way
But he waved goodbye – Saying ” Don’t you cry – I’ll be in The Hall some day”

**********

Have a nice laid back Sunday, everybody!

Tags:baseball doggerel
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June 10, 1962: Heat Fells Fans in Houston

November 16, 2013

Welcome to Summer in Houston!

The day after their 13-1 shellacking of the Dodgers at Colt Stadium, the Colt .45s and everyone else walked into an even bigger adversary at a daylight doubleheader with the Dodgers at the same locale. This time, the Sunday sun and humidity were even more brutal than the Saturday version, sending dozens into treatment for heat prostration, taking out an umpire, and causing hot and sweat-wringing weight loss among the many listless players on the field. The Los Angeles Dodgers took both games from the Houston Colt .45s by scores of 9-3 and 9-7, but the real winners that day included everyone who came out of the furnace alive and still moving.

Here’s how the day was reported by an Associated Press story in the June 11, 1962 edition of the Corpus Christi Times:

********************

While Dodgers Show Class, Heat Shows Dome Vital

Houston (AP) – The Houston Colts demonstrated, unintentionally, the benefits of their proposed domed stadium while losing both ends of their first home doubleheader to the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday.

The Harris County emergency corps treated 78 people for heat prostration as 33,145 – 30,027 of them paid – fans jammed into the multi-colored temporary Colt Stadium to see the league-leading Dodgers win, 9-3 and 9-7.

JOCKO CONLON, the second base umpire, had to leave after the fourth inning of the first game because of the heat.

Don Drysdale, a 216-pounder, gave up 12 pounds of weight to the 90 degree temperature, but his six-hit performance was backed by a 17-hit Dodger assault on six Houston pitchers in the first game.

Joe Moeller jumped to a 9-1 led in the second game, but the Dodger righthander ran into a bases loaded home run by Don Buddin, Colt Shortstop, and he had to call in Ron Perranoski to preserve the victory.

Harris County is building an air-conditioned stadium with a permanent plastic dome as the home of the Colts. Excavation work is nearing completion. Fans sitting on the top row yesterday could see, across the parking area, the huge hole — 725 feet wide and 26 feet deep.

Financial problems have delayed the opening of the multipurpose structure, however, until 1964, at the earliest. Original estimates called for a $15 million (dollar) expenditure, but county officials learned last month the structure will cost more. They now are trying to determine just how much more and where the additional funds can be found.

Several hundred fans had to be turned away yesterday as Houston had its first capacity crowd. The 30,027 paid shoved official attendance for the first 31 home dates to 502,308, a 16,203 average that is well above the 11,000 pre-season forecast of Colt owners.

Drysdale has reason to remember June 10. He won his tenth victory against three defeats. In six previous seasons with the Dodgers, the earliest Drysdale won his tenth game was on July 11, in 1959.

While Drysdale lost 12 pounds, Houston sustained an injury that could hurt.

Roman Mejias, the right fielder who has hit 16 home runs, injured his right arm while leaping for John Roseboro’s double in the eighth inning of the first game.

The 30-year old Cuban got a single in the first game to hit safely in 16 consecutive games but was held hitless by Moeller and Perranoski (in Game Two).

“I couldn’t even use the arm in the second game today,” he said.

The arm was to be examined today.

~ Corpus Christi Times, Monday, June 11, 1962, Page 17.

********************

June 10, 1962/Game One:

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresLos Angeles Dodgers 9, Houston Colt .45s 3

Game played on Sunday, June 10, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers	ab	r	h	rbi
Wills ss	6	2	2	0
Gilliam 2b,3b	6	1	2	0
Davis W. cf	6	2	4	1
Davis T. lf	6	2	2	2
Fairly 1b,rf	6	1	4	4
Walls rf	0	0	0	0
Moon rf	1	0	0	0
Howard ph,rf	2	0	0	0
Harkness 1b	0	0	0	0
Roseboro c	3	1	2	0
Spencer 3b	2	0	0	0
Snider ph	0	0	0	1
Burright pr,2b	1	0	0	0
Drysdale p	4	0	1	1
Totals	43	9	17	9

Houston Colt .45s	ab	r	h	rbi
Spangler lf	4	0	0	0
Amalfitano 2b	3	0	0	0
Tiefenauer p	0	0	0	0
Browne ph	1	0	0	0
Witt p	0	0	0	0
Mejias rf	4	1	1	0
Pendleton rf	0	0	0	0
Larker 1b	3	0	1	0
Warwick cf	4	0	0	0
Ranew c	4	1	2	1
Aspromonte 3b	4	1	1	2
Lillis ss	3	0	1	0
Golden p	0	0	0	0
Stone p	0	0	0	0
Giusti p	1	0	0	0
Anderson p	0	0	0	0
Goodman ph,2b	1	0	0	0
Totals	32	3	6	3

Los Angeles	0	0	3		3	2	0		0	1	0	–	9	17	1
Houston	0	2	0		0	0	0		1	0	0	–	3	6	0

Los Angeles Dodgers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

Drysdale W (10-3)	9.0	6	3	3	1	3
Totals	9.0	6	3	3	1	3

Houston Colt .45s	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Golden L (3-4)	2.1	6	3	3	1	2
Stone	0.0	0	0	0	2	0
Giusti	1.0	4	3	3	1	0
Anderson	2.2	4	2	2	1	0
Tiefenauer	2.0	2	1	1	1	2
Witt	1.0	1	0	0	0	0
Totals	9.0	17	9	9	6	4
E–Wills (13). DP–Los Angeles 1. PB–Ranew 2 (9). 2B–Los Angeles Fairly (4,off Anderson); Roseboro (6,off Tiefenauer); W Davis (5,off Witt). 3B–Los Angeles Fairly (6,off Golden). HR–Houston Aspromonte (5,2nd inning off Drysdale 1 on, 2 out). SH–Drysdale (2,off Anderson). IBB–Roseboro (3,by Golden). Team LOB–14. HBP–Larker (4,by Drysdale). Team–4. SB–Fairly (1,2nd base off Golden/Ranew); Wills (34,2nd base off Anderson/Ranew). HBP–Drysdale (4,Larker). IBB–Golden (1,Roseboro). U–Ken Burkhart, Chris Pelekoudas, Frank Walsh. T–2:45.

Game played on Sunday, June 10, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Baseball Almanac Box Score |

June 10, 1962/Game Two:

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresLos Angeles Dodgers 9, Houston Colt .45s 7

Game played on Sunday, June 10, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers	ab	r	h	rbi
Davis W. cf	3	2	0	0
Walls 1b	4	0	1	1
Harkness ph,1b	1	0	0	0
Davis T. lf	3	1	0	1
Howard rf	4	0	0	0
Fairly rf	1	0	0	0
Spencer ss	5	1	2	0
Roseboro c	0	0	0	0
Carey 3b	4	2	1	1
Burright 2b	2	1	0	0
Sherry c	4	1	2	4
Wills ss	0	0	0	0
Moeller p	3	1	1	0
Perranoski p	1	0	0	0
Totals	35	9	7	7

Houston Colt .45s	ab	r	h	rbi
Spangler lf	2	0	0	1
Witt p	0	0	0	0
Giusti p	0	0	0	0
Busby ph	0	1	0	0
Goodman 2b	4	0	1	0
Amalfitano ph	1	0	1	0
Mejias rf	5	0	0	1
Browne 1b	4	1	0	0
Warwick cf	4	1	1	1
Smith c	5	0	1	0
Aspromonte 3b	3	2	1	0
Buddin ss	2	1	1	4
Woodeshick p	1	0	0	0
Pendleton ph,lf	3	1	2	0
Totals	34	7	8	7

Los Angeles	0	1	0		0	2	6		0	0	0	–	9	7	2
Houston	0	0	0		0	1	4		0	0	2	–	7	8	3

Los Angeles Dodgers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

Moeller W (5-4)	5.2	5	5	5	4	3
Perranoski SV (7)	3.1	3	2	1	3	1
Totals	9.0	8	7	6	7	4

Houston Colt .45s	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Woodeshick L (2-4)	5.0	4	3	3	3	2
Witt	0.2	3	6	4	2	1
Giusti	3.1	0	0	0	0	3
Totals	9.0	7	9	7	5	6
E–Burright (7), Perranoski (1), Goodman (7), Buddin 2 (6). DP–Los Angeles 1. 2B–Los Angeles Spencer (2,off Witt), Houston Pendleton (8,off Perranoski). 3B–Los Angeles Carey (1,off Witt), Houston Goodman (1,off Moeller). HR–Los Angeles N Sherry (1,6th inning off Witt 2 on, 0 out), Houston Buddin (2,6th inning off Moeller 3 on, 2 out). SF–T Davis (2,off Woodeshick); Spangler (1,off Moeller); Warwick (2,off Perranoski). HBP–W Davis (2,by Woodeshick). Team LOB–6. Team–9. SB–W Davis (14,2nd base off Witt/Smith). WP–Moeller (8), Woodeshick (3). HBP–Woodeshick (2,W Davis). U–Chris Pelekoudas, Frank Walsh, Ken Burkhart. T–3:03. A–30,027.

Game played on Sunday, June 10, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags:first capacity Houston crowd, first Houston doubleheader, worst heat day at the ballpark
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1962: Roof Falls in on Dodgers, 13-1

November 15, 2013

Colt Stadium in Houston 1962-1965 We called it "The Skillet" for good reason.

Colt Stadium in Houston
1962-1964
We called it “The Skillet” for good reason.

Back on June 9, 1962, a younger, more fully feathered, less afternoon nap sleepy Pecan Park Eagle went out to the then new Colt Stadium on OST @ Fannin to watch a mid-day Saturday afternoon game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and our home town Houston Colt .45s. It was a bright sunshiny day and the Eagle wore his usual baseball cap as protection from the conditions of the place that was his destination during this hatless Kennedy era of unprotected male heads. Colt Stadium had no roof and the Houston summer sun was a real brain broiler without any protection.

It was one of those Saturdays in which the Eagle would be convinced that the elements would help take down the less acclimated Dodgers and also help send about a dozen capless Houston fans to the nearby Texas Medical Center for observation of heat stroke symptoms. I cannot today connect all the dots, but I’m sure that someone like long-time Colts/Astros executive icon Tal Smith could do so quickly to show how the summer heat in Houston resulted in a successful petition by Houston in favor of Sunday night baseball locally. The transition apparently worked so well that soon after the Houston exception, MLB expanded the Sunday Night Baseball concept to all major league cities.

The change probably saved some lives and made Sunday night baseball more pleasant an option for cities that had no Astrodome to protect them. And the MLB cities that had no air-conditioned domed stadium at their disposal back in the 1960s was a pretty high figure.

If you can read between the lines of this west coast report on a game played between the Dodgers and Colt .45s on June 9, 1962, you should get some feel for the heat index that actually helped our expansion club that day.

Roof Falls on Dodgers, 13-1

by George Lederer of the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram, Sunday, June 10, 1962.

I.P.T. Staff Writer

It.s a good thing Houston does not yet have its domed stadium because the roof fell on the Dodgers Saturday (afternoon).

No one was injured, however, in the Colts’ 13-1 avalanche because the Giants managed ti lose their fourth in a row to keep intact the Dodgers’ one-half game lead. No one, however, was injured in the Colts’ 13-1 avalanche because the Giants managed to lose their fourth in a row to keep intact the Dodgers’ one-half game lead.

(According to the Weather Bureau, it was only 88 degrees with a humidity registry at a mere 84% on June 9, 1965, but fans were still dropping like flies in the bright uncovered sun at Colt Stadium. We didn’t call that baptismal baseball ground in Houston “The Skillet” without cause. And the heat attack casualty list among fans would only grow larger for mid-day weekend games once the temp and moisture counts approached 100 on deeper summer days.)

The Dodgers’ worst beating of the year cannot be blamed on the heat or the humidity. It was just the humility that was in evidence as the Dodgers trudged into the clubhouse with only their fourth loss in 14 games on this trip.

Bob Bruce tossed a seven-hitter and outlasted three Dodger pitchers while the Colts ran up their largest score and exploded for eight runs in the fifth, their record inning.

Every Colt starter except Bob Lillis drove in a run and only Bob Bruce failed to hit or score. The Colts amassed 13 hits, including 2-run homers by Carl Warwick, Roman Mejias, and Bob Aspromonte.

Starter Stan Williams trailed only 3-1 until a walk to Joe Amalfitano and Mejias’ 16th homer launched the 13-run fifth inning. Aspromonte homered in the same round against Ed Roebuck, who also yielded triples to Merritt Ranew and Al Spangler.

Warwick hit a two-run homer in the opening inning after Norm Larker had singled home the Colts’ first run. It was No. 4 for Warwick and his third against Dodger aces (Stan) Williams, Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale.

Williams (6-2) was charged with his first loss since April 16 when the Giants slaughtered the Dodgers for the previous record loss. The Dodgers had won seven in a row from the Colts after losing the series opener here.

Williams was charged with six runs, Roebuck with five and Phil Ortega with two in a mop-up role. (Dodger) Manager Walt Alston threw in the towel after the fifth inning when he rescued Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, and John Roseboro for much-needed rests. (There’s that temp/humidity cocktail again. By the end of the fifth, about a half-dozen capless-era fans had collapsed and been taken away for medical treatment and further observation.)

At that, two of the replacements did as well as the varsity. Daryl Spencer and Lee Walls each contributed a single.

(Bob) Bruce was deprived of a shutout when Tommy Davis homered to start the second inning. It was No. 11 for Tommy, who regained the lead from Willie Davis.

(Don) Drysdale (9-4) and Joe Moeller (4-4) oppose Jim Golden (3-3) and Hal Woodeschick (2-3) in a doubleheader that concludes the series this (Sunday) afternoon.

~ THE LONG BEACH INDEPENDENCE PRESS TELEGRAM, JUNE 10, 1962.

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresLos Angeles Dodgers 1, Houston Colt .45s 13

Game played on Saturday, June 9, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers	ab	r	h	rbi
Wills ss	3	0	1	0
Spencer ss	1	0	1	0
Gilliam 3b	2	0	1	0
Walls 3b	1	0	1	0
Davis W. cf	3	0	0	0
Davis T. lf	4	1	1	1
Fairly 1b	4	0	0	0
Moon rf	4	0	2	0
Roseboro c	1	0	0	0
Camilli c	2	0	0	0
Burright 2b	4	0	0	0
Williams p	2	0	0	0
Roebuck p	0	0	0	0
Ortega p	1	0	0	0
Howard ph	1	0	0	0
Totals	33	1	7	1

Houston Colt .45s	ab	r	h	rbi
Spangler lf	6	1	1	1
Amalfitano 2b	3	3	2	1
Mejias rf	4	1	1	3
Pendleton rf	0	0	0	0
Larker 1b	4	2	1	1
Buddin ss	0	0	0	0
Warwick cf	5	2	2	2
Busby cf	0	0	0	0
Ranew c	5	2	2	2
Aspromonte 3b	4	1	1	2
Lillis ss	3	1	2	0
Browne 1b	1	0	1	0
Bruce p	4	0	0	1
Totals	39	13	13	13

Los Angeles	0	1	0		0	0	0		0	0	0	–	1	7	2
Houston	3	0	0		0	8	0		1	1	x	–	13	13	0

Los Angeles Dodgers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

Williams L (6-2)	4.0	4	6	6	5	5
Roebuck	0.1	4	5	4	0	0
Ortega	3.2	5	2	2	2	0
Totals	8.0	13	13	12	7	5

Houston Colt .45s	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Bruce W (4-1)	9.0	7	1	1	3	4
Totals	9.0	7	1	1	3	4
E–Wills (12), T Davis (6). DP–Houston 1. 3B–Houston Ranew (7,off Roebuck); Spangler (3,off Roebuck); Amalfitano (2,off Ortega). HR–Los Angeles T Davis (11,2nd inning off Bruce 0 on, 0 out), Houston Warwick (4,1st inning off Williams 1 on, 2 out); Mejias (16,5th inning off Williams 1 on, 0 out); Aspromonte (4,5th inning off Roebuck 1 on, 0 out). Team LOB–8. Team–9. SB–Roseboro (3,2nd base off Bruce/Ranew); Wills (33,2nd base off Bruce/Ranew); Amalfitano (2,2nd base off Williams/Roseboro). U-HP–Frank Walsh, 1B–Ken Burkhart, 2B–Chris Pelekoudas, 3B–Jocko Conlan. T–2:47. A–11,908.

Game played on Saturday, June 9, 1962 at Colt Stadium

Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags:The heat at Colt Stadium
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1963: Spahn’s Run at Two MLB Records

November 14, 2013

Warren Spahn

Back on June 28, 1963, in the 17th season of his 21-year big league career, 42-year old future HOF pitcher Warren Spahn took another giant step in the direction of tying one MLB pitching record and moving forward in hot pursuit of another.

The records of importance in pursuit were these: (1) Most 20-win seasons in a single career; the current record at mid-season 1963 was held by Christy Mathewson and Grover Alexander at 13 seasons each; and (2) Passing Christy Mathewson and Grover Alexander eventually for 3rd place in career wins at 373, the place where those same two deceased greats were still tied.

Spahn’s 1-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 28, 1963 was the 11th win for him on the year.

Spahn would finish the 1963 season with a record of 23-7, with a 2.60 ERA, tying Mathewson and Alexander for the most 20-win seasons at 13 each. Over even more time, he would fall short of the other goal. After finishing 1963 with a total of 343 wins, the almost ageless Spahn would pitch another four seasons beyond his 42nd birthday, but he would win only 6, 7, 4, and 3 more wins for a 20-win sub-total that boosted his final career grand total to 363 wins – and 10 wins shy of the Christy and Grover totals. 363 wins were still a mighty feat by the biggest lefty winner in MLB history – Warren Edward Spahn.

Warren Spahn was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973. He passed away at age 82 on November 24, 2003.

Here’s the box score of Spahn’s 1-0 shutout against Don Drysdale and the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 28, 1963. Curiously, it was Spahn’s first on-the-road win over any Dodger team since 1948:

Milwaukee Braves 1, Los Angeles Dodgers 0

Game played on Friday, June 28, 1963 at Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee Braves	ab	r	h	rbi
Maye lf	4	1	2	0
Mathews 3b	3	0	0	0
Aaron rf	4	0	2	0
Torre c	3	0	2	1
Jones cf	3	0	1	0
Dillard cf	1	0	0	0
Bolling 2b	4	0	0	0
Larker 1b	4	0	0	0
Menke ss	4	0	0	0
Spahn p	3	0	0	0
Totals	33	1	7	1

Los Angeles Dodgers	ab	h
Wills 3b,ss	4	1
Gilliam 2b,3b	4	1
Davis W. cf	3	0
Davis T. lf	3	0
Howard rf	3	1
Oliver pr,2b	0	0
Fairly 1b	2	0
Camilli c	3	0
Tracewski ss	2	0
Walls ph,rf	1	0
Drysdale p	2	0
Skowron ph	1	0
Totals	28	3

Milwaukee	1	0	0		0	0	0		0	0	0	–	1	7	1
Los Angeles	0	0	0		0	0	0		0	0	0	–	0	3	1

Milwaukee Braves	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

Spahn W (11-3)	9.0	3	0	0	0	2
Totals	9.0	3	0	0	0	2

Los Angeles Dodgers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Drysdale L (9-9)	9.0	7	1	1	1	7
Totals	9.0	7	1	1	1	7
E–Bolling (7), Wills (12). DP–Milwaukee 1. 2B–Milwaukee Torre (8,off Drysdale). 3B–Milwaukee H Aaron (2,off Drysdale). SF–Torre (3,off Drysdale). Team LOB–7. SH–Fairly (9,off Spahn). Team–2. CS–Wills (8,2nd base by Spahn/Torre). U-HP–Ed Vargo, 1B–Doug Harvey, 2B–Lee Weyer, 3B–Al Barlick. T–2:02. A–44,894.

Game played on Friday, June 28, 1963 at Dodger Stadium

Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags:Warren Spahn
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SW Texas League: Almost an OK Corral Finish

November 13, 2013

The 1911 Beeville club won the pennant by forfeiture.

In the second year of its brief two-season life, the six-team Class D Southwest Texas League included the Bay City Rice Eaters, the Beeville Orange Growers (managed by future UT baseball great Billy Disch for most of the final part of the season), the Brownsville Brownies, the Corpus Christi Pelicans, the Laredo Bermudas, and the Victoria Rosebuds.

The league was sunk by the weight of its inability to control local gambling and violent fan behavior toward umpires and members of the visiting clubs. As a fitting result, Beeville was finally awarded the league championship when Bay City refused to travel there to play the Orange Growers in the championship series.

In the August 26, 1911 edition of the Victoria Advocate, here’s how one city’s press explained their own Rosebud team’s early withdrawal from the league prior to the end of the season:

********************

ONE AFRAID AND OTHER GLAD OF IT

Bay City does not want to play Beeville for the championship pf the Southwest Texas League, and Beeville seems to be glad of it, for the Orange Growers do not appear to be making any determined effort to meet the Rice Eaters. It is rumored here that both clubs will disband today.

There is some misunderstanding as to the ownership of the silver loving cup that J.K. Greer, a prominent jeweler of this city, gave Brownsville last year (1910) for winning the pennant, as will be noted from the following dispatch from Brownsville:

**********

“President Dickinson of the Southwest Texas League today sent for the silver cup won by the Brownies last year.

“The local management is of the opinion the cup became the property of Brownsville on its winning last year, and the matter is under investigation.”

**********

Victoria withdrew from the Southwest Texas League because it had good reason to believe its finances were being mismanaged.

Because the president of the league was prejudiced against Victoria and plainly showed by his own action and that of the umpires, that he would do all in his power to prevent Victoria from winning the pennant.

Because of the prejudice, which often asserted itself in the worst forms of rowdyism, that existed in most of the other towns against the Rosebuds as a result of their winning ability last year and through fear of them this year.

These, briefly stated, are the reasons why Victoria withdrew from the league, and they are plain and sufficient. …

Now to enlarge upon them:

Each club was required to post $500 with the president of the league as a guarantee that it would remain in the league. Instead of that, most of this money was used by the president to pay the salaries of the defunct Corpus Christi Club, which action did not become known to the rest of the other clubs, except Victoria, until long after it had been taken. The president also used this money in other ways he had no right to, and at the time the Victoria team was disbanded, there was less than $500 of Victoria’s $500 left in the treasury, so the president himself is alleged to have reported.

Most of the umpires were scouts and, in order to help the records of players they wanted to sell, they would give them the benefit of their decisions whenever there was any possible chance to do so. If it were a pitcher they had their eyes on, the batters would be struck out almost in rotation. If it were some other player, he would be allowed to take his base on balls before he would be permitted to strike out; in running the bases he would be safe a block if caught out by a mile and if he himself should touch a baserunner who was safe a mile, he would be out a block. The Advocate is proud to say that no Victoria players were favored in such a manner, but it can name several who were.

After a player on another team had thrown the (game) balls away, and the team had refused to play further, the umpire forfeited a game played with Corpus Christi to Victoria, and upon making his decision the umpire had to be escorted off the field by an officer because of the threatening attitude of the Corpus Christi players. In the face of all this, the president refused to let the forfeit to stand, and made Victoria play the game over. And only one of the offending players received any punishment, and he was let off with a slight fine.

(The Advocate continues its tirade against the unfair league in the article, never citing a single incident that might have been provoked by the angelic Victoria Rosebuds. The “bottom line” here actually seems to fall about two-thirds of the way through this editorial diatribe when the Advocate reviles from the idea that their Victoria team has been accused, in so many words, of cowardice – and that came pretty close to a “quick draw gun fight on Main Street back in 19th century parts of rural southwest and west Texas. Here’s the load-em-up paragraph that could have played out like an old western movie, but did not, as far as we know:)

Because Victoria had the decency to withdraw from such a disgraceful organization, the newspapers in other towns over the circuit refer to it as a “quitter” and to the team as the “Yellow Rosebuds.”

… Victoria Advocate, August 26, 1911, Page 1

********************

Downtown Beeville on Game Day still looked like a good place for gun fight in 1911, if one was needed. Beeville’s never been short of its share in the distribution of the good, the bad, and the ugly demographics.

Say – who are you calling yellow, you dirty ornery skunk?

Tags:SW Texas League
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Joe Vance Was an Early Two-Sport Guy

November 12, 2013

Joe Vance: The Pitcher was also a Running Back.

Joe Vance (BR/TR) (6’1″, 180 lbs.) was a pretty fair country pitcher, although there is no indication that he shared the bloodline that produced the Hall of Fame pitcher we know as Dazzy Vance. He was still a good one at the minor league level. He posted a 3-2, 5.81 MLB mark with the White Sox in 1935 and the Yankees in 1937-38.

Born September 16, 1905 in Devine, Texas, Vance was one of the early multiple sport professional athletes. He played in 11 games for the 1931 NFL Brooklyn Dodgers as a running back, starting in 4 games and scoring 2 season/career TDs. He either got hurt or got wise to the possibility that the impact of football could shorten his baseball career, so he quit football after one season.

Most of Vance’s career was spent in the minors. After 13 seasons in the minors (1930-42), Joe Vance finished with a pitching record at that level of 108-101, 3.53 ERA.

Joe’s best ERA season was at Dallas in 1934 when he went 11-7 with an earned run average of 2.24, His best season for wins was 1937 at Kansas City in which he won 17, lost 9, and put up an ERA of 4.28.

Joe Vance must have been fairly fleet-of-foot too. When he died in Austin on July 4, 1978 at the age of 72, and as you may see on his marker, Joe Vance claims to hold the record for the fastest time in running all the bases and touching home with a lapsed time of only 13 seconds.

Rest in Peace, Joe Vance. You did enough to be remembered by the baseball community for all the best reasons in the world. And these in-the-game accomplishments are more important than establishing a baseball base running niche record.

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1924: Bagwell Clouts Home Run for 7-6 win

November 11, 2013

Bill Bagwell
Galveston Sand Crabs
1924

No, it wasn’t our 21st century Jeff Bagwell. Even our mighty, beleaguered and often old-playing Jeff wasn’t ancient enough to have played a heroic role in a game that graced the coastal green of Galveston’s Gulfview Park back on September 3, 1924. It was late in the season of the Galveston Sand Crabs. They were playing their last year as members of the Texas League and it was one of those games that the baseball gods sometimes anoint as a special time for goats and heroes to stand out above all others.

Bill Bagwell (BL/TL) played right field for the Galveston Sand Crabs in 1924, but he had done fairly well in short duty with the Boston Braves and he would do so again for the 125 Philadelphia A’s. He would hit .364 over nine seasons as a minor leaguer during select years that fell between 1920 and 1930.

Tuesday, September 3, 1924 just happened to be one of those golden memory days.

Pitchers Leo Moon of the Sand Crabs and Eddie Matteson of the Beaumont Exporters had been battling each other all day, and they were dragging a 6-6 tie into the bottom of the ninth, with Bagwell due up first for the crustaceans. It was hero vs. goat label assignment time. Bill Bagwell lifted a lusty fly ball to right field that just kept on going over the fence for what we now so readily call a “walk off” homer with none on and none out in the bottom of the ninth for a 7-6 Galveston home town win.

Hero: Bagwell. Goat: Matteson.

The Crabs were heading for a listless 7th place finish in the 1924 Texas League season, but the Bagwell home run apparently lifted a few Galvestonian spirits for the day, at least. The Galveston Daily News used the exact headline we used here in the column title as their game report headline: “BAGWELL CLOUTS HOME RUN FOR 7-6 WIN”.

As an amusing surprise, the game was handled that day by a couple of surprise/emergency umpires. When the two league-assigned officials did not show up, “Eddie Burns, the purveyor of cold drinks and hot peanuts, agreed to hand out decisions of the sacks while (Ice Man) Gates, whose regular occupation is selling ice, called the balls and strikes.” The pair drew high praise for the superior quality of their work.

We can almost hear their calls today as they echo to us from the halls of history: “Peanuts! Ice and Water! Balls and Strikes.”

Have a great week everybody. Here’s the box score and game data, as it also appeared in the September 4, 1924 edition of the Galveston Evening News:

BEAUMONT	POS	AB	R	H	PO	A	E
Rabbitt	CF	5	0	1	2	1	1
Stansberry	SS	5	1	2	2	4	1
Ostergard	RF	5	1	2	0	1	0
Kearns	1B	3	1	0	14	0	0
Taylor	LF	5	1	3	2	0	0
Burns	C	5	1	3	2	0	0
Lothes	2B	3	1	2	2	1	0
Behrens	3B	4	0	0	0	5	1
Matteson	P	5	0	1	0	3	1
TOTALS		40	6	14	24 *	15	4

GALVESTON	POS	AB	R	H	PO	A	E
Hurt	2B	4	1	1	1	0	0
Brown	3B	5	2	2	0	0	0
Whiteman	LF	5	1	2	1	1	2
Bagwell	RF	5	2	3	4	2	0
Burkett	SS	4	1	2	3	2	0
Perussina	CF	3	0	0	7	0	1
Mueller	1B	4	0	1	7	0	0
Schroyer	C	4	0	1	4	1	0
Moon	P	4	0	3	0	2	0
TOTALS		38	7	15	27	8	3
Game Time:	1 H 45 M

NONE OUT WHEN WINNING RUN SCORED.

LINE SCORE for Beaumont @ Galveston, September 3, 1924:

TEAMS	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	~	Total
Beaumont	3	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	~	6
Galveston	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	~	7

GAME SUMMARY:

2BH: BURKETT; 3BH: STANSBURY; HR: LOTHES, BAGWELL; SB: RABBITT; SH: HURT, LOTHES; SO BY MOON: 4; SO BY MATTESON: 2; BB OFF MOON: 4; BB OFF MATTESON: 1; LOB: BEAUMONT 12, GALVESTON 9; WP: MOON; WIN TO: MOON; LOSS TO: MATTESON; TIME OF GAME: 1 HOUR, 45 MINUTES; UMPIRES: GATES AND BURNS; ATTENDANCE: UNREPORTED.

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