The Pecan Park Eagle

Long Ago, But Not Too Faraway

In the late summer of 1965, I was back in Houston from graduate school and a year of employment at Tulane University in New Orleans. It was the first year of the Astrodome and my mom and teenage sister in Beeville had asked me take her to Houston to see the now famously remembered Beatles concert at the old Sam Houston Coliseum near City Hall downtown. Neither Mom or Margery were baseball fans, but, in those days, everybody wanted to see the inside view of the brand new Astrodome, even if they didn’t know the difference between a home run and a homestead exemption.

Since the Beatles Houston concert was scheduled for my sister’s actual 16th birthday, August 19, 1965, I picked up tickets for a night game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros scheduled for Tuesday, August 17, 1965. We also bought tickets for our cousins, big baseball fans, Jim and Mel Hunt of Houston.

Our seats were located in the left center field bleachers. Vernon Law was the starter for Pittsburgh; Turk Farrell went for Houston. Other luminaries included Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski, plus future Astros manager and then current center fielder Bill Virdon  of the Pirates. Future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, slugging Jimmy Wynn, and wise-hittting Rusty Staub paced the Astros.

It’s amazing how the memory can play long distance tricks on the truth. For years, I remembered this game as on in which the Pirates took an early 8-0 into the bottom of the 9th, when the Astros scored 7 before someone hit a bases-loaded double play, leaving Houston with a 8-7 painful loss.

Memory did not serve. Pittsburgh actually scored 4 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, and 2 in the 5th for an 8-0 lead though the half game point. Houston got their first run in the bottom of 5th, added 3 more in the 7th, and then capped off their late failed rally with 2 final runs in the 9th. Law (W, 14-9) was the celebrant pitcher; Farrell (L, 8-8) bit hard on the loss.

Bob Bailey and Gene Alley both went 3 for 4 to lead the Pirates in hits, but Don Clendenon’s 2 for 4 day with a homer supplied the punch. Joe Morgan went 4 for 5 for the Astros, but Rusty Staub/s 2 for 4 day included a HR and 3 RBI,

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresPittsburgh Pirates 8, Houston Astros 6
Game played on Tuesday, August 17, 1965 at Astrodome
Pittsburgh Pirates ab   r   h rbi Bailey 3b 4 0 3 2 Virdon cf 4 0 1 0 Clemente rf 3 1 1 0   Mota rf 1 0 0 0 Stargell lf 5 1 1 0 Clendenon 1b 4 3 2 2 Mazeroski 2b 5 1 1 0 Pagliaroni c 3 1 0 0 Alley ss 4 1 3 2 Law p 4 0 0 1   Carpin p 0 0 0 0   McBean p 0 0 0 0 Totals 37 8 12 7	Houston Astros ab   r   h rbi Maye lf 5 1 1 0 Morgan 2b 5 3 4 0 Staub rf 3 2 3 3 Gentile 1b 2 0 0 1   Thomas 1b 1 0 1 1 Wynn cf 4 0 0 0 Brand 3b 5 0 1 0 Lillis ss 5 0 1 0 Adlesh c 5 0 2 1 Farrell p 1 0 1 0   Giusti p 1 0 0 0   Cuellar p 1 0 0 0   Gaines ph 1 0 1 0   Owens p 0 0 0 0   Kasko ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 40 6 15 6
Pittsburgh 0 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 8 12 0 Houston 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 2 – 6 15 0   Pittsburgh Pirates IP H R ER BB SO Law  W (14-9) 7.2 12 4 4 2 2   Carpin 0.1 1 2 2 1 0   McBean  SV (14) 1.0 2 0 0 1 0 Totals 9.0 15 6 6 4 2   Houston Astros IP H R ER BB SO Farrell  L (8-8) 2.1 6 6 6 1 0   Giusti 2.2 3 2 2 3 3   Cuellar 3.0 3 0 0 0 0   Owens 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 9.0 12 8 8 4 3 E–None.  DP–Pittsburgh 1, Houston 1.  2B–Pittsburgh Stargell (18,off Farrell); Clendenon (24,off Farrell), Houston Staub 2 (11,off Law 2); Brand (6,off Law).  3B–Pittsburgh Alley (4,off Cuellar).  HR–Pittsburgh Clendenon (12,3rd inning off Farrell 1 on, 1 out), Houston Staub (7,7th inning off Law 2 on, 0 out).  SH–Virdon (6,off Cuellar).  HBP–Clemente (3,by Cuellar).  IBB–Pagliaroni (11,by Farrell).  Team LOB–8.  SF–Gentile (1,off Law).  Team–12.  SB–Morgan (17,2nd base off Law/Pagliaroni).  WP–Carpin (2), Giusti (8).  HBP–Cuellar (1,Clemente).  IBB–Farrell (7,Pagliaroni).  U-HP–Ken Burkhart, 1B–Lee Weyer, 2B–John Kibler, 3B–Frank Secory.  T–2:41.  A–24,863.
Game played on Tuesday, August 17, 1965 at Astrodome
Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Mom and I did not have tickets for the Beatles Concert, so, two days after the Astrodome trip, she and I dropped my sister off at the event while we drove on to the Majestic Theater and watched Woody Allen and Peter Sellers in the movie “What’s New, Pussycat?” And that’s the way it was 49 years ago this coming summer. The world has changed a lot since then, hasn’t it?

Tags: old Astros games

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