Craft Named Manager of N.L.’s Houston Club
Harry Craft: Who said he was the only man for the job as first manager of the Houston Colt .45’s?
Houston, Tex, (UPI) – Houston Colt General Manager Paul Richards has named veteran Harry Craft as manager of the new Houston Colts of the National League.
Craft, currently manager of the Houston Buffs of the American Association and former manager of the Kansas City Athletics, was given a one-year contract.
Craft began the 1962 season (correction of print to 1961 season) as a coach with the Chicago Cubs. He took over at Houston July 16 and lifted the Buffs from fifth place in the American Assn. to the finals of the league playoffs.
Houston Colt .45 GM Paul Richards said it. That’s who.
Richards called Craft “the only man for the job.”
“Of all the managers I worked against in my years in the American League, Craft, while he was at Kansas City, impressed me most with his moves,” said Richards.
Craft managed three seventh-place Kansas City clubs from 1957-59.
“The only way I know to judge managers,” Richards said, “is how he handled his team and his resources in games I played against him.”
“Although there were better teams in the American League, Harry always made it tougher on us with his moves.”
“As it turned out, he was the only man for the job.”
~ United Press International, Pacific Stars and Stripes, September 22, 1961, Page 32.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
June 29, 2014 at 9:23 pm |
It is weird that such a great baseball man as Paul Richards thought so highly of him,yet he never managed Or coached again After he was let go mid-season 1964. Washed up at 49 years old. Love the way Tops posed him with his hand over his mouth like a megaphone.
June 29, 2014 at 10:47 pm |
Harry’s most lasting memory was when he played for the Reds in 1939 and hit a homer down the line at the Polo Grounds. It was disputed hotly whether was fair or not. He got the homer and the Giants soon added screens to the inside of the poles to help determine whether a ball was fair or not. Now all ballparks have screens (or some Chik-fil-A advertising!) to help umps on those calls.
June 30, 2014 at 1:49 am |
Craft was Mickey Mantle’s minor league manager in 1949 and 1950. Supposedly Mickey liked him so much he asked Casey Stengel during spring training if he could be sent to Beaumont in the Texas League for 1951 so he could play for Craft again. Casey asked him if he wouldn’t rather stay with the Yankees.