Surviving Houston Colt .45s Down to Last 37

Colt Stadium
Houston, Texas
1962-1964
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Only Home of the Houston Colt .45s

Surviving Houston Colt .45s Down to Last 37

Darrell Pittman

Thanks to our caring, giving friend and colleague, Darrell Pittman of Astros Daily, The Pecan Park Eagle is both proud and humbled tonight to report that 38 players from our 1962-64 Houston MLB franchise days – and at a time in which the club played as the Colt .45s – have survived long enough to see the rising and setting of the sun on this day, Wednesday, December 6, 2017. At age 92, lefty Bobby Shantz, the guy that threw the first pitch in official franchise game history, also recording the first regular season club win in the process, is the oldest. 71 year old Larry Dierker, who broke into things as the starting pitcher for the Colt .45s on his 18th birthday in 1964, striking out Willie Mays as part of the work he did that day, is the youngest member of the club.

How fitting! Thanks to this happy surprise gift from Professor Pittman, we may now all take the time here to soak in all these familiar and less familiar names of the guys who laid the foundation for our Houston monument of baseball achievement, one that wouldn’t see the penthouse finished and lighting up until 2017, with our deepest reflections of thanks and appreciation.

And that’s what the comment section is really intended for in this instance.

Thanks to you too, Darrell Pittman. And thank you, Houston Colt .45s, for making the older edges of being a lifelong fan a little easier on the slide into our elder years a whole lot smoother – and one that comes with an unforgettable supply of smiles and happy memories.

~ Bill McCurdy, Publisher, The Pecan Park Eagle

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Surviving Members of the Original Houston Colt .45s

By Darrell Pittman

Rank by Age	Player	Houston Years	Birth date	Age in 2017
1	Bobby Shantz	1962	9/26/1925	92
2	Don Larsen	1964-65	8/7/1929	88
3	Bob Lillis	1962-67	6/2/1930	87
4	Román Mejias	1962	8/9/1930	87
5	Dean Stone	1962	9/1/1930	87
6	Hal Smith	1962-63	12/7/1930	87
7	Don Taussig	1962	2/19/1932	85
8	Eddie Kasko	1964-65	6/27/1932	85
9	Carroll Hardy	1963-64	5/18/1933	84
10	Dave Roberts	1962, 1964	6/30/1933	84
11	Al Spangler	1962-65	7/8/1933	84
12	Jim Owens	1964-67	1/16/1934	83
13	Joey Amalfitano	1962	1/23/1934	83
14	J C Hartman	1962-63	4/15/1934	83
15	Don Bradey	1964	10/4/1934	83
16	Jim Golden	1962-63	3/20/1936	81
17	Joe Gaines	1964-66	11/22/1936	81
18	Carl Warwick	1962-63	2/27/1937	80
19	Claude Raymond	1964-67	5/7/1937	80
20	Jim Campbell	1962-63	6/24/1937	80
21	Jim Dickson	1963	4/20/1938	79
22	Bob Aspromonte	1962-68	6/19/1938	79
23	Mike White	1963-65	12/18/1938	79
24	Dave Giusti	1962, 1964-68	11/27/1939	78
	Ernie Fazio *	1962-63
25	Jim Wynn	1963-73	3/12/1942	75
26	Danny Coombs	1963-69	3/23/1942	75
27	Conrad Cardinal	1963	3/30/1942	75
28	Aaron Pointer	1963, 1966-67	4/19/1942	75
29	Jerry Grote	1963-64	10/6/1942	75
30	Larry Yellen	1963-64	1/4/1943	74
31	Joe Morgan	1963-71, 1980	9/19/1943	74
32	Brock Davis	1963-64, 1966	10/19/1943	74
33	Rusty Staub	1963-68	4/1/1944	73
34	Sonny Jackson	1963-67	7/9/1944	73
35	John Paciorek	1963	2/11/1945	72
36	Steve Hertz	1964	2/26/1945	72
37	Larry Dierker	1964-76	9/22/1946	71

* Note: Players for the Houston Club when it was known as the Colt .45s were on the roster at some time during the three original National League entry seasons of 1962, 1963, or 1964. Players in the table which are shown with Houston beyond 1964 are simply those who continued with the club after their named changed to “Astros” in 1965. Pure “Astro” players who only joined the club after the name change are not included in this list.

* Fazio Note: After publishing this column yesterday, 12/06/17, we have learned today, again, via Darrell Pittman, that Ernie Fazio passed away on 12/01/17 from complications resulting from Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. The fact of his death at this moment has even yet to reach Baseball Reference.com. Here’s a link to the obituary that Mr. Darrell Pittman once again has supplied to us:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/eastbaytimes/obituary.aspx?n=ernie-fazio&pid=187451279

We also plan to run the Fazio obituary as a separate reprint column in The Pecan Park Eagle jsut as soo as I can get to it.

Rest in Peace, Ernie Fazio!

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags: Surviving Houston Colt .45s Now at 38

This entry was posted on December 7, 2017 at 1:40 am and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Surviving Houston Colt .45s Down to Last 37”

maxwell1901 Says:
December 7, 2017 at 2:17 am | Reply
I didn’t realize there were so few Colt .45s; thanks for posting the list. J.C. Hartman became a cop in Houston. Claude Raymond lived in the same apartment complex as Kenny Rogers when he pitched for the Colts. Aaron Pointer’s sisters were precisely that – the actual Pointer Sisters. Meanwhile, Rusty Staub, Jerry Grote, Jim Wynn, Larry Dierker, and Joe Morgan all became bona fide stars.
materene Says:
December 7, 2017 at 3:24 am | Reply
Larry Dierker is almost three years older than myself and boy do I feel old now. People of today have no idea how special it was for Houston to finally get a Major League franchise and I remember well it just made so many people so happy. You would see people everyday everywhere in Houston wearing their Colt 45 caps. This is a wonderful story and I enjoyed reading it.
Mark W Says:
December 7, 2017 at 7:01 am | Reply
I think it’s fair to say that Dave Giusti also became a star.

I appreciate your updates tracking our remaining Colt .45s Bill. I went to many of their games and saved all my programs. Three Bobby Shantz baseball cards are perched in front of me on my computer desk as I type this, including his 1962 Colt .45s card.

Some of us, like you and me, put in the full 55 years, and I put in one more cheering for the Houston Buffs. (Before that for me it was the San Antonio Missions.)

The memories seem potent, but they clearly are receding further into the distance in my rear view mirror.
Tom Hunter Says:
December 7, 2017 at 5:30 pm | Reply
I went to my first Houston Buffs game in the summer of 1956 against the Fort Worth Cats and saw my last Buffs game on April 16, 1961 against the Louisville Colonels, that had a catcher named Joe Torre.

Now after 56 years of Colt .45s/Astros seasons, we have a World Series champion. I can’t wait to see the team when they come to Denver for a two-game series against the Rockies, July 24th and 25th. I’ll be wearing my Colts jersey with the number “10,” which in 1962 was worn by Norm Larker.