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Fair Grounds Park Marker Goes Up With Smiles

February 21, 2016

Fair Grounds Park Milam at McGowen Houston Texas 1st Local Home of Professional Baseball 1888-1904

Fair Grounds Base Ball Park
Milam at McGowen
Houston Texas
1st Local Home of Professional Baseball
1888-1904

Behind the efforts of Houston historian/Master of Ceremonies Mike Vance, the Harris County Historical Commission, and the Texas Historical Commission, the plaque that memorializes Fair Grounds Park, at the block bordered north and south by Milam to the west and Travis to the east, and east west at its northern boundary by McGowen in the Midtown area of Houston, is now done. The featured plaque shown above went up as planned on Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 11:00 AM before a small and genteel crowd of avid preservationists and baseball history fans.

The local and state historical groups appropriately covered the new plaque behind the Texas Flag until it was time for the presentation.

This beautiful rendition of Fair Grounds Base Ball Park was painted and copy righted by incredible SABR artist Patrick Lopez in 2014.A very limited number of prints are still available for $25 from SABR thru local chapter President Bob Dorrill by e-mail at BDorrill@aol.com

This beautiful rendition of Fair Grounds Base Ball Park was painted and copyrighted by incredible SABR artist Patrick Lopez in 2014. A limited number of prints are available for $25 from SABR thru local chapter President Bob Dorrill by e-mail at BDorrill@aol.com

Mike Vance and Harris County Historical Commission member Debra Sloan with the new historical plaque.

Mike Vance and Debra Sloan of the Harris County Historical Commission survey the first few moments of the new Fair Grounds Base Ball Park plaque’s public exhibition at Milam and McGowen.

Chris Varela of the HCCC also joined Mike Vance for a photo of the City of Houston's Proclamation of support for the marker. Gayle Davies and Will Howard of the HCCC also were present for the dedication, but we missed our opportunity for getting their photos too. Sorry, folks.

Chris Varela of the HCCC joined Mike Vance for a photo of the City of Houston’s Proclamation of support for the marker. Gayle Davies and Will Howard of the HCCC also were present for the dedication, but we missed our opportunity for getting their photos too. ~ Sorry, folks.

According to Mike Vance, seven individual proclamations were received in support of the marker dedication: Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Governor Greg Abbott, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Senator Ted Cruz, State Senator John Whitmire and State Representative Garnett Coleman all sent notices of support that today, Saturday 20, 2016, was dedicated by them all as “Fair Grounds Base Ball Park Day in Houston and the State of Texas.” And, as Mike Vance also notes on his Facebook page, this was a united show of 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans. It was almost enough to revive our hope for a system that once got things done by cooperation.

Debra Jaynes of the HCHC also joined Mike Vance for the letters of and declarations of support for the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park plaque.

Debra Sloan of the Harris County Historical Commission also joined Mike Vance to help announce the letters and declarations of support for the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park plaque.

Our vintage base ball folks showed up dressed for the occasion. (L>R) Robert Pena and Joe Thompson of the Houston Babies; Janeen Schneider and Tony Cavender of SABR; Bob Dorrill of the Babies; and Bob Copus of the Barker Red Sox. After the ceremony, our 1860s era uniformed guests quickly exited through the time warp weep holes from which they came.

Bill McCurdy and Bob Copus Old friendships are link an ancient oak tree. They possess the power to branch into all kinds of growth directions - especially when one of those limbs is vintage base ball and another is the history of "God's Game".

Bill McCurdy and Bob Copus
Old friendships are like an ancient oak tree. They possess the power to branch into all kinds of growth direction – especially when one of those limbs is vintage base ball and another is the history of “God’s Game”. ~ The Pecan Park Eagle.

Janeen Schneider and Sarah Smith, both of SABR, share a moment together. They probably are discussing the many names these grounds claimed over the years, including the year in which they may have been the first base ball park in the world to have its naming rights sold to either the highest or only bidder. In 1895, the grounds were named for the short-lived and long ago defunct local newspaper, the Houston Herald. As a result, the place officially was known as “Herald Park” for a single season.

Mike Vance and his wife, Mary Vance, are both bright and passionate historians whose apparent support for each other is obvious. And we, the people of Houston, are the beneficiaries. ~ You are both "jolly good" at what you do. - Thanks for a great day in Houston.

Mike Vance and his wife, Anne Vance, are both bright and passionate historians whose apparent support for each other is obvious. And we, the people of Houston, are the beneficiaries. ~ You are both “jolly good” at what you do. – Thanks for a great day in Houston.

And thanks too to Mr. Greg Jacobsen, the owner of the property that now occupies and uses the land that once hosted the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park for more contemporary commercial purposes. Without your supportive permission to the premises installment of the historical marker today, this beautiful moment in time could not have happened. Beyond the “thanks too” we offered initially, let’s amend that expression to “Thanks Forever.” Because that’s what today was all about. Now and Forever. That’s the way real love works. And that’s the way all really passionate love for history works. And that’s what happened today.

_____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Dedication of the Fairgrounds Base Ball Park Historical Plaque.
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More News of the 1888 Houston Babies

February 20, 2016

The Houston Base Ball Club 1889 Primary Tenants Fair Grounds Park Milam @ McGowen Houston, Texas

The 1889 Houston Base Ball Club
(Our Search for a Photo of the 1888 Club Remains a Work-in-Progress)
Primary Tenants
Fair Grounds Park
Milam @ McGowen
Houston, Texas

Bearer of New Houston Babies Uniforms is Almost a Gunslinger *

“G.H. Genslinger, a member of the Texas Base-ball Association, was in the city today on his way from New Orleans to Austin. Mr. Genslinger has in his possession the new uniforms of the Houston “babies”.

~ Galveston Daily News, May 15, 1888, Page 5.

New Item Headline Assigned to this Item by The Pecan Park Eagle, 2/19/2016. Unfortunately, no description of the uniforms was included with the social note. What was most important about this news from 5/15/1888 – a full description for history of the uniforms? Or the fact that Mr. Genslinger passed through town with the uniforms in his possession? – That’s right, the newspapers weren’t writing for history, but over time, they are often the only source we have for finding information that was never reported directly or recorded officially. – And that, dear friends, takes in about 95% of the matters we need to resolve by social research. – Years ago we had a description of the original Houston Babies uniforms as being olive green of color with red lettering and red leg stockings. Sadly, we misplaced the citation, but we are reasonably certain that it exists in the early March 1888 reports from the Houston Post. We will attempt to find it again, but we do not possess access to the Houston Post at our “News Archives” Internet newspaper resource.

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Rock-a-Bye, Babies! Dallas Hams Dam Houston Pitcher Flood! Ham Makes Babies Sleepy, 7-1 *

“Houston, August 5 (1888) – About 1200 people witnessed the game (at Fair Grounds Park) between (the) Dallas (Hams) and (the) Houston (Babies). As predicted, the visitors won hands down. From the very start Dallas began to pound (Houston pitcher) Flood all over the field, much to the surprise of the average Houstonian, as he has heretofore been very effective against them.

“In the first inning, Hanlon, the umpire, was struck by a quickly pitched ball and injured severely, necessitating his retirement. Godar of Houston and Crothers of Dallas were agreed to by both teams to umpire the game to a close. Several pretty plays were made by both sides, but the maroons proved themselves too strong for the babies, and gently rocked them to sleep by the tune of 7 to 1. …”

~ Galveston Daily News, August 6, 1888, Page 7.

The anonymous 1888 reporter for the Galveston Daily News didn’t really need any help from The Eagle in the matter of finding a placement for the “rock-a-bye, baby” metaphor. All we did was move it to the headlines and change the emphasis to sleep being a bi-product also of too much “ham” consumption. “Damming the Flood” was also a sucker punch phrase application in this instance, but it is still fun writing it out here. – Also, I suppose we may presume that the two stand-in player umpires must have done a fair job. There were no further reports of fights or riots after the regular umpire was retired by a “quickly pitched ball.” Those quickly pitched balls are still far more dangerous than the underhand lob pitches our 2016 vintage Houston Babies see in their 1860s rules contests against the Barker Red Sox, the Katy Combine, and the Motor City Strikers, but our modern Houston preservationist players of the classic early base ball game are not all quite as young as these players from the 19th century were in their time. – Our “Blind Tom” umpire and most of our 2016 Houston Babies players are advised to watch out for the high lob pitches too. If a player isn’t careful, he could get hit on top of the head.

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Tomorrow, Saturday, February 20, 2016, at 11:00 AM, at the corner of Milam and McGowen, is the time and place we turn out to hear Mike Vance and the local and state historical groups dedicate the memorial plaque to the site of Houston’s first significant base ball park. Please join us. Base ball uniforms and 19th century attire is encouraged, but not required. And it’s free, but the sale of books and art on Houston baseball and important local historical parks will be for sale. The dedication ceremony itself will start promptly at 11 o’clock AM. The actual program will only last for 30 minutes, but there will be some hobnobbing time for those who want to talk local history, I’m sure. You will be out in crisp time to enjoy the rest of Saturday and maybe a lunch in some new or favorite old place in our downtown, midtown, or museum district areas. – We live in a great city – and the plaque dedication ceremony will be a great way to throw out the first pitch of a beautiful Saturday in the Bayou City.

Hope to see all of you tomorrow!

_____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Houston Babies Base Ball in 1888
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1888: Some Rough Times at Fair Grounds Park

February 19, 2016

Fair Grounds Park, 1888
Houston, Texas
Original Art Copyrighted By
Patrick Lopez

The 1888 Houston Babies were “the Good Guys” in this town back in the day. No doubt about it. If you don’t believe it, read the Houston Post coverage of the first season of the Houston Babies and the fledgling Texas League. “The Bad Guys”, on the other hand, were any team that stood in the Babies’ way on the road to sweet victory, but none more so than the mean and often discourteous Galveston Giants.

Predictably, the perspective on good guys and bad guys identification most often depended upon the location of the newspaper reporting on the game. Sometimes, however, one local newspaper would take published exception to the way another newspaper from the same community reported on matters, if the reporting source felt the other paper was not standing up for their own city – or treating the issue fairly. – Wouldn’t it be nice in 2016 to have another newspaper in Houston again – one that was large enough to wake up the Houston Chronicle every now and then on their often droll and partisan coverage of the news as the only newspaper in town?

Here’s how the Galveston Evening Tribune covered another report, apparently from the Galveston County Daily News, on the alleged miscreant behavior of two Galveston players in a game played against Houston at the Fair Grounds Park prior to this May 1, 1888 Tribune report. The Galveston Evening Tribune column headline on that date read as follows:

PRETTY ROUGH – The Statement Made by The (Galveston County Daily) News as to the Disgraceful Conduct of the Galveston Ball Team – The Report is Not Believed.

And so the article says –

The Galvestons are out on a tour of the state and it was hoped that the players would so conduct themselves, both on and off the field, as to win the respect of the public. It is possible for a man to be a gentleman under all circumstances, although he may not be a ball player. These preliminary remarks are based on reports that have reached Galveston – reports that every lover of the national game in Galveston most heartily wishes may be untrue.

Here are some sample paragraphs from the Houston Post and (they) apply to the Monday’s game.

“Manager Sullivan of the Galvestons wants clean ball playing and will stick fines to Pujol and Stallings for their hoodlumism yesterday.”

“If the umpire cannot manage Pujol, turn him over to the police. People do not pay their money to witness an example of hoodlumism. Nor do ladies occupy the ladies’ stand to hear startling, dirty talk to the umpire.”

The correspondent of the (Galveston County Daily) News at Houston furnishes a lot of stuff this morning that is not only sick(en)ing but untrue. It is pronounced untrue for the reason that the Houston Post of today makes no reference to anything of the kind and it is safe to say that if the Galveston players behaved as the News says they did that the (Houston) Post would have referred to it both elaborately and extensively. The Post says of the game:

“The Houston Babies redeemed themselves yesterday by playing the prettiest game of ball ever witnessed in Houston. They were mad with themselves for playing so listlessly on Monday and to ease their conscience they fairly wiped up the earth with the Galveston Giants. They jumped on (Galveston pitcher) Stallings with both feet and lined him right and left. (Houston pitcher) Flood pitched a beautiful game and was beautifully held by (Houston catcher) Lohbeck. Dunn, the new (Houston) man, showed up strong in the field and at the bat, and is dandy on the coaching line. The other (Houston Babies) players covered their territories in handsome style.”

~ Galveston Evening Tribune, May 1, 1888, Page 5.

And so it was. Another tempest in a teapot went away with the cooling of a road trip, but others would follow, full steam. That’s been the history of baseball, in all of its varied era, time and place beginnings.

Reminder: The Dedication of the Historical Plaque at the Site of Fair Grounds Base Ball Park, Milam at McGowen, is this Saturday, February 20, 2016 @ 11:00 AM. Please join us for this free public celebration of another important moment in Houston Historical Preservation.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:1888, Fair Grounds Park Fracas in Houston
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Robot Call Receivers: A Menace to Sanity

February 18, 2016

“Thank you for your patience. Your call is very important to us.”

Let’s face it, there are no “right” places in this world for robotic incoming call reception services, especialy when you are the frustrated supplicant caller-customer. They simply are put there by corporations and government entities for the dual purpose of saving salary money – and making you, the caller, reconsider, whether or not, your question or complaint is even worth the ride down the slippery slope to the land of the mechanized and digitized lost. And the context of your call resource explains it all. You are attempting to communicate a human concern through machines that eventually may hang up on the terminal binary winds of an abrupt “goodbye”.

Some of us have learned to compensate for this everyday growing sad evidence that civility in our culture is rapidly disappearing altogether. We use our daily trial by this digital curse of automated imbecility by dropping our loads of pent up aggression on the very obstacles that stand in the way of human contact by phone.

For a few us, it becomes a step out of normal character in our relations with real people, but isn’t that really the only therapeutic defense we have against the phony smiling robot voices that stand in the way of us speaking to a live person about an issue? Anything that isn’t as black and white as our bank balance is most often settled better and quicker with real person answers.

The “us versus the machine” game comes down to a very simple playing field with one goal in mind: Do whatever it takes to get the robot to pass you on to a live “customer service” person before the machine wins the contest with its classic electronic kiss ~ “Goodbye! And thank you for calling the Acme Weapons of Mass Distraction Supply Company!”

Here’s a hypothetical example of such an exchange between a typical caller and a robot employee of the Acme Produce Company:

Robot: Hello! Welcome to the Acme Produce Company! Please pay close attention to these instructions as our options have recently changed!”

Caller: I don’t want options, Robot! I want to speak to a live person!

Robot: I’m sorry. I didn’t quite understand you. Would you mind repeating your selection in fewer words? Otherwise, press the correct number of your choice on your telephone keyboard from among our five indicated service options.

Caller: Yes, I would mind, ***hole! – As for buttons, I’d rather press your nose, if you had one! Let me speak to a live person. you smiley voice sucker!

Robot: I’m sorry. I am still having trouble understanding your request.

Caller: I said, “LET ME SPEAK TO A LIVE FREAKIN’ PERSON, YOU DIGITAL DODO! ~ I’M TRYING TO BUY SOME BANANAS! ~ A BUNCH OF BANANAS! ~ NOT GO BANANAS! ~ AND YOU SAID NOTHING ABOUT BANANAS-AVAILABILITY IN THE FIVE CHOICES YOU GAVE ME!”

Robot: Yes, I said nothing. I said nothing because, “yes, we have no bananas. – We have no bananas today.”

Caller: Oh, REALLY? WELL, I WILL BELIEVE THAT NEWS ONLY WHEN I HEAR IT FROM A LIVE PERSON, YOU CHICAGO CUB OF MENTAL MIDGETS!

Robot: Please allow me to transfer your call to one of our customer service representatives.

CLICK. BEEP.

Robot #2: All of our service representatives are currently busy helping other customers. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.

Next: Music starts playing over the phone. It is a musical version of Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life.”

15 Minutes Later: More instrumental music. Now it’s a version of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello! Is It Me You’re Looking For?”

20 Minutes Later: More music without words. This time it’s “Yes, We Have No Bananas! We Have No Bananas Today!”

3 Minutes Later/Robot #1 is back on the line: “See there? – I told you so!”

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:the robot reception call experience in a nutshell
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Houston Ballpark Site from 1870s at Travis and McGowen to be Marked by Historic Plaque in Public Ceremony, This Sat., Feb. 20th at 11 AM

February 17, 2016

Copyright Art by Patrick Lopez

________________________________________________________

Come on out, Houston! This is a big deal in the rich history of Houston Baseball – and do as your invited to do – wear vintage base ball uniforms – or any kind of baseball attire – or 19th century clothing for the occasion.

Mike Vance, Executive Director of Houston Arts and Media and active member of the Harris County Historical Commission, will be on hand to serve as Master of Ceremonies and also talk about our reasons for honoring the physical block that is now occupied by a restaurant and other commercial interests.

Built in the early 1870s, the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park served as home to the first professional baseball team in Houston from 1888 to 1904. It was replaced by West End Park, nearer downtown Houston, and that site was honored in 2015 with an historical plaque for its service as the home of Houston baseball from 1905 to 1927.

Buffalo Stadium, about 4 miles southeast of downtown Houston at the site of the old now closed Finger Furniture Store on the Gulf Freeway at Cullen, took Houston the rest of the way through its minor league history from 1928 to 1961.

1962 marked the start of Houston’s major league history. The original name for the Houston MLB club was “Colt .45s” and these Houston MLB pioneers played their games at a temporary venue on the grounds of the future Astrodome from 1962 to 1964 in a place called (guess what?) Colt Stadium. Then when the MLB club moved into the first indoor air-conditioned multiple purpose home, the club name changed to “Astros” as the Eighth Wonderland park became even more famous as the “Astrodome.” The “dome” was home to Houston MLB from 1965 to 1999, when the Astros moved to their current retractable roof downtown park at Crawford and Texas. From 2000 to the our 2016 present, this same downtown venue has been, and remains, the home of Houston big league baseball. The current park started as Enron Field, became Astros Park while the Enron scandals were going on, and then, finally, settled into squeezable OJ comfort as “Minute Maid Park.”

And all of this started with the Fair Grounds Baseball Park some 145 years ago.

Two other very, very good reasons to attend:

Limited Edition Prints of the Old Houston Baseball Parks by Patrick Lopez will be for sale – as will the magnificent 368-page hard cover, with artful dust jacket, history researched and written by members of the Larry Dierker SABR Chapter, and published in 2014 by Bright Sky Press as “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961.” Income from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) book sale go to the support of other local research, historic enactment, and preservation activities chosen by the non-profit Larry Dierker chapter.

Come join us. Think of it as another day of celebrating the fact that spring and the 2016 baseball season are just around the corner. They are already getting closer with our wishful sighs and internal smiles, but the time passes even sweeter in the close company of others who also care about baseball and the active preservation of Houston history!

Hope to see you Saturday.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Historic Plaque in Houston will honor 19th century ballpark
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Keuchel and McHugh, The Dynamic Astro Duo

February 17, 2016

DALLAS KEUCHEL, LHP
HOUSTON ASTROS
2016

Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh were the dynamic duo as the ace and near ace of the 2015 Houston Astros:

(1) Keuchel was 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA on the year; McHugh was 19-7 with a 3.89 ERA;

(2) Keuchel’s W/L differential with the Astros over 2014 was 8-1; 8 more wins 1 fewer losses in 2015;

(3) McHugh’s differential with the Astros over 2014 was 8-2; 8 more wins and 2 fewer losses in 2015;

(4) Keuchel started 33 games, completing 3; McHugh started 32, completing none;

(5) McHugh needed only one more starting win and he could have tied Keuchel in starts and also reached the 20 win bar;

(6) Keuchel was the power guy (236 K in 232.0 IP) over McHugh at 171 K in 203.2 IP;

(7) Keuchel gave up 185 hits in 232.0 IP; McHugh surrendered 207 hits in 203.2 IP;

COLLIN McHUGH, RHP
HOUSTON ASTROS
2016

(8) McHugh hit 9 batters in 2015; Keuchel hit only 2;

(9) Keuchel threw 9 wild pitches; McHugh threw only 2;

(10) Keuchel pitched to 911 batters in 2015; McHugh faced 859 batters;

(11) Dallas Keuchel won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award for pitching and also the NL Gold Glove Award for fielding;

(12) No other pitchers on the 2015 Astros roster, starters or relievers, won more than 7 and that closer Luke Gregerson;

(13) The Astros need Keuchel and McHugh to maintain, at least, their productivity from last year in 2016; and,

(14) Double digit win production, at least, from two of the other three 2016 starters would be extremely helpful to the club’s goal of winning everything.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Keuchel and McHugh, The Dynamic Astro Duo
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Houston Buffs’ Upcoming 1947 Season

February 15, 2016

Manager Johnny Keane was optimistic going into the 1947 Houston Buff season, but did worry a little about the club’s lack of power and the absence of any left-handed pitching prospects.

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In the spring of 1947, MLB club control of players at all levels through the reserve clause was the dynamic that determined what minor league city fans could hope to see from their local teams from year. The Houston Buffs of the AA Texas League had the good fortune of being not only a farm club, but a 100% property of the St. Louis Cardinals since the early 1920s – and the beneficiaries of a talent deep organization, as you probably know, that was the base of General Manager Branch Rickey when he put together the first working model for using a controlled minor league farm club system for meeting the Cardinals’ ongoing needs at the major league level.

So, the primary movement of players during the reserve clause era was up and down, and much less so laterally from one organization to another. Players lost their free agency for all time, or until they were released from the total control bondage of the reserve clause by the team that owned their most recent contract.

The major direct suppliers of talent for the AA Buffs were the Cardinals and their two AAA clubs at Columbus, Ohio and Rochester, New York. Players coming down came primarily from these places – and they included younger players who simply needed more seasoning at a level of play they could handle – and also older players whose diminishing skills at the major league and AAA levels were forcing them down baseball’s established competition level system. Others came up to Houston from the Cardinal talent pool at the Class A and lower levels in the St. Louis chain.

The following report was written by long-time Houston Chronicle sports writer Dick Freeman prior to the 1947 season. Freeman didn’t know it at the time, of course, but the 6th place Buffs from 1946 were about to transform into the 1947 team that would go on to win the Texas League pennant and the Dixie Series under future Manager Johnny Keane of the 1964 World Series Championship St. Louis Cardinals. But this piece was written prior to 1947. It would be a Houston Buffs club that also included another future Cardinals player and manager, a fellow named Solly Hemus.

At the conclusion of the article, we have added a link to the “1947 Houston Buffs Roster Page” at Baseball Reference. If your interest is sufficient, you may go there and see for yourself who contributed to the total success of the ’47 Buffs at the AA level – and also note which players from Freeman’s article seemed to disappear from the face of baseball’s hallowed earth in 1947 or shortly thereafter.

Hope some of you have some fun with this information. Just a word of caution. If you’ve never done this sort of thing before, be careful. Baseball research is a very addictive pastime.

____________________

Houston Buffs Offer Potent Pitching Staff,

One of Best Defense Clubs in Texas Loop

By Dick Freeman of the Houston Chronicle

For the Associated Press

HOUSTON, April 2 (1947) ~(AP)~ The Houston Buffs will not be a doormat of the Texas League this season, unless they get plenty of tough breaks.

They are better, much better, than they were in 1946 when they wound up in 6th place.

Looking back at the 1946 Buffs, it’s hard to imagine why they finished in the league. They started with some 100 players in camp, and not a single one of them lasted through the season. It was one of those trial and error periods, with accent on the error. The Buffs do have a glaring weakness they have to overcome, but Manager Johnny Keane and President Allen Russell are convinced that the Cardinals will come to the rescue, if at all possible.

They won’t have a single left-handed pitcher, and believe it or not, they didn’t have one in camp last year.

They were pretty glum when they found the seasoned catcher on whom they were leaning on so heavily, Gerry Burmeister, the big power-hitter who had eye trouble last year, but who looked swell in spring training until he hurt his ankle so badly that he was laid up for some six weeks, wouldn’t be available for season opening. But Buff hopes were bolstered along this line when came from Rochester that Joe Niedson, hustling and capable receiver, was being returned to Houston. Joe did the major part of catching for the herd last year, and although his batting average was none too high, he has power.

Gregory Masson, a nice receiver, but not too much at the plate, has been holding down the job.

The outfield is Keane’s pride and joy. It includes three guys who are Speed Demons, who can hit, but who don’t have too much power. They are Hal Epps, Eddie Knoblauch (both familiar figures in the Texas League) and Vaughn Hazen, who comes down from Columbus in the American Association, and can hold his own in this loop.

Backing them are Gil Turner, who wound up as a Buff last season, and Joe Muzzo, who hit a lusty .413 for Johnson City, Tenn., last season.

The regular infield probably will find Jim Halkard at first, Lou Ortiz at second, Billy Costa at short and Solly Hemus at third. Halkard, Ortiz and Costa all were with the Buffs last season and should be better with a year’s experience. Hemus is a sound player, hit .363 with Pocatello last season, and looks as if he will be a big help to the team.

The pitching staff is also impressive. Roman Brunswick, 17-game winner last year; Clarence Beers, Charlie Sproull, Art Nelson, Don Shuchman, are back from the 1946 team. Addition(s) include Jack Creel, former Columbus and Cardinal hurler; Hugh East, formerly with the Giants and Jersey City; and some fine looking youngsters, with Bob Elsiminger, who 14 games for St. Joseph last season despite the fact that he pitched home tilts while going to college, and Floyd Thierolf among the most promising.

“We believe we can go with any of them defensively, but we are little short on power,” Keane says. “The league is going to be tougher, but we look tougher, on paper anyway.”

~ Dick Freeman, Houston Chronicle, for the Associated Press, Brownsville Herald, April 2, 1947, Page 35.

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Link to the 1947 Houston Buffalos Roster and Statistical Report Page:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=8dfd3b06

____________________

Epilogue, 2/17.2016:

Of the 31 players who shuffled through the roster of the 1947 Houston Buffs, 11 of them logged some past or future big league service time, with most of them being of the “cup-of-coffee” history file of former big league players. These included:

1) Hal Epps (1938, 1940, 1943-1944)

2) Jack Creel (1945)

3) Roy Lee (1945)

4) Charlie Sproull (1945)

6) Bill Endicott (1946)

7) Clarence Beers (1948)

8) Grady Wilson (1948)

9) Al Papai (1948-1950, 1955)

10) Tommy Glaviano (1949-1953)

11) Solly Hemus (1949-1959)

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Dick Freeman Pre-Season Article on the 1947 Houston Buffs
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Our 2016 Valentine’s Day MLB Lineup

February 14, 2016

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Rolling out of our Valentine’s Day morning meditations comes this special 2016 Valentine to Baseball All Star Team. How each man-made the roster will be about as obvious to the aims of love as the current presidential debates are to the service of self-interest and the cacophony of rancor:

Our Team of Seasonal Love is dedicated as a tribute to the Game of Baseball that we love!

Manager ~ “Candy” Cummings, a 19th century pitcher who claims to have invented the curve ball. Cummings is a member of the Hall of Fame, but could not qualify for the playing roster here because “Candy” was only a nickname and his legal surname “Cummings” is not synonymous with love, unless you have a dirty mind.

P1 ~ Slim Love (1913-1920) (28 W, 21 L, 3.04 ERA)

P2 ~ Corky Valentine (1954-1955) (12 W, 11 L, 4.45 ERA)

P3 ~ John Valentine (1883) (2 W, 10 L, 3.53 ERA)

P4 ~ Joe Valentine (2003-2005) (2 W, 4 L, 6.70 ERA)

P5 ~ Vincente Amor (1955, 1957) (1 W, 3 L, 5.67 ERA)

C1 ~ Rick Sweet (1978, 1982-1983) (.234 BA, 6 HR)

C2 ~ Bob Valentine (1876) (.000 BA, 0 HR)

1B ~ Ed Hug * (1903) (.000 BA, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1.000 OBP)

2B ~ Pete Rose (1963-1986) (.303 BA, 4,256 Hits, 160 HR)

3B ~ Jim Ray Hart (1963-1974) (.278 BA, 170 HR)

SS ~ Jake Flowers (1923-1934) (.256, 16 HR)

LF ~ Bobby Valentine (1969-1979) (.260 BA, 12 HR)

CF ~ Fred Valentine (1959-1968) (.247 BA, 36 HR)

RF ~ Ellis Valentine (1975-1985) (.278 BA, 123 HR)

____________________

Ed Hug played only one MLB game as a replacement catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas on June 6, 1903. He drew a walk in his only career time at bat. We cannot prove that Ed was capable of playing first base, based on his limited career experience, but, conversely, there is also no way to prove that he could not have handled that critical first corner sack – and the fact that we really wanted to add a guy named “Hug” to our Valentine’s Day team was the deciding factor here. We also figured that a guy named “Hug” might be pretty adept at keeping runners close to the bag at first.

Happy Valentine’s Day again, dear friends! ~ We hope your day is going along happy, peaceful, loving, well and …. well, what else is there to wish for?

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:2016 Valentine to Baseball All Star Team
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Houston, Be Glad It’s Not Valentine’s Day 1895

February 14, 2016

Main Street in Houston February 14/15, 1895 Courtesy UH Digital Archives

Main Street in Houston
February 14, 1895
Courtesy, University of Houston Digital Archives

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everybody!

If you are a Houstonian, be happy too that our Valentine’s Day 2016 is set to be relatively balmy, and maybe a little rainy, but nothing like it was on this same candy and love sweet day in 1895.

According to the National Weather Service, Houston experienced a 20″ standing snowfall on February 14/15 of 1895, a margin of difference over the next largest measured snowfall in Houston. 1895 was the “Secretariat” of snowfall in Houston history. The second largest snowfall in the city since that time occurred on February 12, 1960 when 4.2 inches fell. Almost all other infrequent snowfall in Houston has been of the “trace’ level variety.

Market Square in Houston February 14, 1895 Courtesy of University Houston Digital Library

Market Square in Houston, Travis & Prairie Avenues
February 14, 1895
Courtesy, University of Houston Digital Archives

Link to Snowfalls in Houston Chart:

http://www.wxresearch.com/snowhou.htm

Thanks again to Twitter-watcher/tenacious researcher Darrell Pittman for alerting us to this historical imprint on our history with Cupid’s special day.

Hope you all have a special day with the loved ones in your own lives, even if snowball endearment fights will not be probable for you this year in southeast Texas.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

Hot Times are Great,

But only Real Love is True!

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:1895: 20" snowfall in Houston
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Sports Quotes with the Memphasis on Funny

February 13, 2016

Dan Conaway Entrepreneurial Writer And Today's Guest Contributor to TPPE

Dan Conaway, Memphasis Columnist &
Entrepreneurial Writer, Memphis TN
And Today’s Guest Contributor to TPPE

Writer Dan Conaway is a friend of Rob Sangster, my writer friend since we worked together on “The St. Thomas Eagle” in high school, sometime after the Civil War.

Today Rob sent me a link to a weekly column that Dan writes. It’s called “Memphasis” – a catchy name for an apparently “most things Memphis” approach to column writing that we try to do here in allegiant support of our own sweetheart affectionate love for our dear city of Houston.

We could have identified ourselves here from our 2009 start as “The Houstoner” in tribute to our addictive support of “most things Houston,” but we fear that might have left the door open for too many wrong ideas about who we are – and what we do around here. We are happy to be simply who we are, the lifelong seeker who survived his flight to a larger world, but never forgot or lost his connection to Pecan Park, the southeast Houston neighborhood where he grew up. Hail Houston! Hail Pecan Park! They are the same to me. And I am of them and always will be. And that includes liking the work of others as I stumble or am led to its discovery.

Dan Conaway writes a really nice weekly “Memphasis” column for the Memphis Daily News. Rob Sangster, my cool author brother of such really fine international action/intrigue novels, like “Ground Truth” and “Deep Time”, just happened to think I might enjoy a column that Dan Conaway did this week on sports quotes, since The Eagle also had done something along those lines too, only a few days ago.

I not only like Conaway’s selections, but I told Dan that I liked them even better than the ones I used in my own piece. He’s given me permission to use them here, but I simply wanted to make sure that these independently selected copyright-free by quotation lines were credited to Dan Conaway. He’s the one who wove them into a really fine column. I will also close Dan’s list here with a quote by Memphis-born and bred Paul Berlin, the 85-plus years old radio disk jockey who still works the weekend FM airways with a selection of songs he once played for a lot of us Houston kids in the early to late 1950s during the birth years of sweet ballads shifting to rock and roll. You will also find the link to Dan Conaway’s website at the end of this column, with a parting question for Dan.

Paul Hornung’s plans always contained a Plan B for recovery from early morning disappointments.

SPORTS QUOTES YOU HAVEN’T HEARD

By Dan Conaway for The Memphis Daily News

February 12, 2016

Talking-head post-game/primary/poll analysis:

“I won’t know until my barber tells me on Monday.” – Knute Rockne, when asked why Notre Dame had lost a game.

“I have discovered in 20 years of moving around the ballpark, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats.” – Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox owner.

“Last year we couldn’t win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure as a coach was that I couldn’t think of anyplace else to play.” – Harry Neale, professional hockey coach.

“We were tipping off our plays. Whenever we broke from the huddle, three backs were laughing and one was pale as a ghost.” – John Breen, Houston Oilers.

“I found out that it’s not good to talk about my troubles. Eighty percent of the people who hear them don’t care and the other twenty percent are glad you’re having them.” – Tommy Lasorda, LA Dodgers manager.

“The film looks suspiciously like the game itself.” – Bum Phillips, New Orleans Saints, after a lopsided loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

The Pecan Park Eagle’s favorite: “The only difference between me and General Custer is that I have to  watch the films on Sunday.” – Rick Venturi, Northwestern football coach.

On game/campaign plans:

“I’m working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can just die after lunch Tuesday, everything will be perfect.” – Doug Sanders, professional golfer

“When it’s third and ten, you can have the milk drinkers; I’ll take the whiskey drinkers every time.” – Max McGee, Green Bay Packers receiver.

“I have a lifetime contract. That means I can’t be fired during the third quarter if we’re ahead and moving the ball.” – Lou Holtz, then Arkansas football coach.

“My theory is that if you buy an ice-cream cone and make it hit your mouth, you can learn to play tennis. If you stick it on your forehead, your chances aren’t as good.” – Vic Braden, tennis instructor.

Player/candidate interviews/profiles:

“Blind people come to the ballpark just to listen to him pitch.” – Reggie Jackson commenting on Tom Seaver.

“I tell him ‘Attaway to hit, George.’” – Jim Frey, Royals manager, when asked what advice he gives George Brett on hitting.

“I don’t know. I only played there for nine years.” – Walt Garrison, Dallas Cowboys fullback, when asked if Tom Landry ever smiled.

And Dan Conaway’s favorite: “Because if it didn’t work out, I didn’t want to blow the whole day.” – Paul Hornung, Green Bay Packers running back, on why his marriage ceremony was before noon.

And our TPPE Additional Quote: “Memphis is a town of great ingenuity. It’s the only town in the country that’s both built on a bluff – and run on one too.” ~ Paul Berlin, Native Memphian, Lifelong Houstonian, and Houston’s Iconic Radio DJ.

The link to Dan Conaway’s column site:

http://www.wakesomebodyup.com/ranting/

Addendum from Dan Conaway, Saturday, 2/13/2016:

A Parting Question for Dan Conaway: Houston once had a print news writer and early TV commentator named Ray Conaway. – Are you related?

Addendum from Dan Conaway, Saturday, 2/13/2016:

“Thanks, Bill, for the kind words. I’m not related to Ray but I’m glad the name has positive Houston history and no outstanding warrants. I’d also like to leave your readers with one more quote a friend reminded me of – from former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, “He’s the kind of player you can give the ball to and a band starts playing. Whether it’s our band or theirs, you never know.” ~ Dan Conaway.

____________________

Thanks for the inspiration, Dan! On the rocky road search for everyday column freshness, this one was a twenty-foot can-kicking hoot of fun!

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags:Dan Calloway, Funny Sports Quotes, Memphasis
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