Opening Day ~ April 10, 1962
Colt Stadium in Houston
Bayou City Big League History Begins
I’m learning that it sometimes pays to simply ask YouTube what they have on any given specific past event. This is a clip I found this morning when I asked about film material on the first Houston Colt .45 game on Opening Day 1962. The film direction is extremely poor by today’s standards, but this was April 10, 1962. Fans lacked access to video equipment and we all had to rely upon the professionals to produce really limited amateurish material for history.
There is no voice explanation of what is going on by player name on the field, but you should be able to figure out that what you are looking at early in this brief clip is Bobby Shantz (#42) performing as the first pitcher in Houston MLB history as he strikes out a left handed Lou Brock (# 24) for the Chicago Cubs. It also features Bob Aspromonte (#14) getting what is most probably the first hit in Houston MLB history; Al Spangler (#21) collecting the first triple in team history; and Roman Mejias (#25) rounding the bases and returning to the dugout on the heels of the first Houston MLB home run.
Enjoy and have fun. – Here’s the video link:
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
July 21, 2018 at 5:53 pm |
This was an unexpected treat for today.
Thanks, Bill.
July 22, 2018 at 12:53 am |
This is fantastic. Geez, I miss beating the &^%# out of the Cubs. We owned them. Really, really wonderful clip.
July 22, 2018 at 5:15 am |
Thanks, Bill. I went to the third game on April 12th. These trips with Sherman and Mr. Peabody and you in the Wayback Machine are a delight.
July 22, 2018 at 5:43 am |
July 23, 2018 at 3:58 am |
This is amazing!!
July 23, 2018 at 6:03 am |
While it would be so great to get the footage of the complete game, it’s a delight just to have this. It appears that someone with access to ABC footage uploaded this clip to YouTube. Could it be that there’s more where this came from?
July 18, 2020 at 2:02 am |
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