The Pecan Park Eagle

Buff Biographies: Ruben (Mora) Amaro

July 25, 2013

Infielder Ruben (Mora) Amaro was a two-season former Houston Buff (1956-57); outfielder Ruben Amaro, Jr. was not.

Ruben (Mora) Amaro (5’11”, 170) was born January 6, 1936 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; Ruben Amaro, Jr. (5’10”, 170) was born February 12, 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ruben the Father (BR/TR) batted .257 with 35 HR in 9 seasons (1954-71) as a minor leaguer; Ruben Jr. (BB/TR) batted .304 with 44 HR in 10 seasons (1987-96) as a minor leaguer.

Ruben (Mora) Amaro played shortstop for the last two Houston Buff Dixie Series championship clubs of 1956 and 1957. In each year, the Buffs defeated the Atlanta Crackers in six-game sets. Daddy Amaro batted .266 in 152 games for Houston in 1956 and .222 for the Buffs in 142 games in 1957. He was more than happy to collect his glory when it came to him, playing good defense both seasons, even if his offensive production fell hard in 1957. The Buffs both needed and benefited from the game he brought to the park as an infield spark plug and defensive leader.

Ruben Amaro, Jr. (He’s almost a dead ringer for his father in the featured 1965 baseball card shown above.)

Ruben the Father batted .234 with 8 HR in 11 seasons as a major leaguer with the Cardinals (1958), Phillies (1960-65), Yankees (1966-68), and Angels (1969); Ruben the Son batted .235 with 16 HR in 8 seasons as a major leaguer with the Angels (1991), the Phillies (1992-93), the Indians (1994-95), and the Phillies again (1996-98),

Ruben Amaro, Jr. stopped playing 1998, but he had earned a reputation as a good judge of talent and a leader. by this time. After joining the Phillies as a coach, he quickly ascended to the title of Assistant General Manager under burgeoning HOF executive GM Pat Gillick, and then taking over the GM job in 2008 upon the retirement of his boss and mentor. Recent decay in the 2013 Phillies plan and some of the big contracts that Amaro has written for players who aren’t performing at their megabuck-expectation levels have left this son of a former Buff on shaky grounds in Philadelphia.

The only cure is winning. It’s the baseball way.

Tags: Houston Buff Biographies, Ruben Amaro
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Buff Biographies: Walt Alston

July 24, 2013

Walt Alston

Bill Johnson’s biosketch for the SABR biography project at Baseball Reference (d0t) Com is the best, most comprehensive you are likely to find. Check it out for a fact-packed good page of information you may not already completely have about the legendary Dodger manager and Miami (O) University graduate. Were you aware, for example, that Brooklyn players Jackie Robinson and Billy Loes weren’t exactly happy with Alston as the two-straight-years NL champion Dodgers (1952-53) lost the 1954 pennant to the New York Giants in Walt’s first year at the helm of his 23-season career as manager of the boys in royal blue? Check it out:

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cfc65169

Walter Alston was also once a Houston Buff, if ever so briefly, and it came on the heels of his even most brief career as a three-pitch strikeout victim for the St. Louis Cardinals in his only MLB time at bat on September 27, 1936. Alston was on the big league club roster as an end-of-season call-up player, but he only got into the game as a replacement for first baseman Johnny Mize after the latter was ejected. Alston then followed this opportunity by committing an error on one of his two chances in the field and then striking out on three pitches in his only time at bat. The next spring, Walt Alston started the 1937 season as a first baseman fo the Houston Buffs.

In 65 games for the 1937 Houston Buffs, Walt Alston hit only .212 with no home runs in 208 times at bat. Somehow he was promoted from Houston to Rochester that same season where he hit .246 with 6 HR in 66 games and 203 times at bat. Go figure.

Over his 13-season minor league career (1935-47), first baseman Walt Alston batted a very respectable .295 with 176 home runs. He also built a reputation as a quiet, mild-mannered, unassuming personality who was slow to anger on the outside, but a guy who was totally committed to doing what he felt was right. Sometimes that mild exterior was misunderstood by those who count on explosions of rage as their first choice for managerial reactions to disputes that come up in many games.

As he would prove over time as the 23-season manager of the Dodgers (1954-76), Walt Alston was neither slow nor weak. He was simply the “real deal” as the strong silent type.

In his time at the Brooklyn/LA Dodger helm, as you probably know, Alston was the first and only manager of a Brooklyn Dodger World Series winner in 1955, but he also led the Brooklyns to another pennant in 1956. That second time, the Dodgers lost to the Yankees that they had defeated in 1955. The Dodgers lost out to the Braves in 1957 and then moved to Los Angeles in 1958. They returned to the World Series again in 1959, defeating the Chicago White Sox for their first World Series win as the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Under Alston, the Dodgers played in seven World Series. They won in four tries (1955, 1959, 1963, & 1965) and they lost in three (1956, 1966, & 1974).

Walt Alston was a three-time MLB manager of the year and a six-time NL manager of the year. He won 2,040 games as a major league manager and was selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1983.

When Walt Alston yielded the managerial reins to Tommy Lasorda late in 1976, he tuned things over to a guy who would also stay on the job for a Hall of Fame managerial career (1976-1996). Think about that. – For 43 seasons (1954-1996), the Dodgers had only two managers – and they together won over 4,000 games and places for each of them in the Hall of Fame. How great does great have to be before we find another word for it?

Walt Alston’s life began and ended in places far away from the big spotlight of the country’s media spotlight. The (6’2″, 195 lb.) (BR/TR) former first baseman was born December 1, 1911 in Venice, Ohio. He died October 1, 1984 in Oxford, Ohio at the age of 72.

The man was Dodger Blue all the way, but it’s still nice to remember that his path to managerial greatness includes the time he passed through our town in 1936 as a member of the Houston Buffs.

Tags: Houston Buff Biographies, Walt Alston
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Buff Biographies: Floyd Wooldridge

July 23, 2013

Floyd Wooldridge
1955

Pitcher Floyd Wooldridge (6’1″, 185 lb.) (BR/TR) was born on August 25, 1928 in a little place called Jerico Springs, Missouri and, like a lot of the baseball-talented kids in that state in those times, he signed as a young man to play ball in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. At age 21, he broke in with Class D Albany, Georgia in 1950, posting an excellent starting mark of 14-12 with a 3.36 ERA. He kept improving, going 12-6 with a 3,81 ERA the next year for the 1951 Class A Columbus, Georgia club – and that was good enough to earn Floyd a promotion to AA Houston for the following season.

Wooldridge found some resistance to he effort and ability on the pitching staff of the 1952 Houston Buffs. His 7-18, 2.34 ERA was a reflection of a pitcher getting better while playing for a bad team that didn’t hit well in support of him. The ’52 Buffs would finish last in the 8-club Texas League with a 66-95 record. Wooldridge would remain a Buff in 1953.

1953 was a turnaround year for Floyd. He went 15-13 with a 2.20 ERA for a Buffs club that improved only to 6th place with a 72-82 season win-loss record. The Cardinals now saw Wooldridge as a guy who might be able to jump AAA and go straight to the big league staff.

Then, as life often brings it, tragedy struck. In late 1953, Floyd Wooldridge was injured in a car wreck that could have killed him. He escaped with a broken leg, but thought that he might fully recover by the early regular season. The Cardinals took him to camp, but it soon became obvious that Wooldridge might be in danger of hurting himself by compensating for how the injured leg caused him to throw. And, even in those still days of low concern, the Cardinals had learned something from the loss of Dizzy Dean to compensatory motion injury in the late 1930s. It’s doubtful they saw Floyd Wooldridge as the second coming of Dizzy Dean, but they valued him, nonetheless.

Floyd Wooldridge was shutdown from pitching anywhere in 1954. It was time to heal all the way.

Floyd got his shot with the Cardinals in 1955. In 18 games that split almost evenly between starting and relieving, Wooldridge went 2-4 with a 4.84 ERA for the ’55 Cards.

Wooldridge was never the same, even though his 2-4, 2.70 mark with the ’55 Buffs was briefly deceiving. His 0-2 mark that same year at AAA Rochester offered fairer warning that his psychological or physical injuries from the car wreck had done a greater damage to his prospects as a pitcher – and, by the end of year, he’s now 27 – and falling off the prospect list.

The Cardinals dealt him away to the Kansas City Athletics and they assigned him to AAA Columbus, Ohio for the 1956 year. He went 6-9 with a 4.80 ERA in his last serious season of ball. The A’s sent him to AAA Buffalo in 1957 where he got into 4 games before retiring from baseball with no W/L record for the 1957 season.

When you’re done, you’re done. Floyd may not have made it, anyway, but the car wreck injury had put the cap on any chances he might have had. Wooldridge retired with a career 57-62, 3.00 ERA minor league record. That’s life.

Floyd Wooldridge passed away in Springfield, Missouri on May 25, 2008 at the age of 79.

Thanks for the time you gave us in Houston, Floyd! – When you took the mound during the terrible seasons you were here, you at least gave us the hope that winning was possible. And that’s important because it’s the one thing no real baseball fan can live without – and that’s hope. Hope in somebody. And hope in things getting better. – You brought both items to the table.

Tags: Floyd Wooldridge, Houston Buff Biographies
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Buff Biographies: Howie Phillips

July 22, 2013

The Buff with a 1954 Buffs cap. No Photo of Howie Phillips was available. Try to visualize Huckleberry Finn in an old flannel uniform that is a size too big for him. That will get you there as fast as an actual photo.

That’s the Buff with a 1954 Buffs cap. No Photo of Howie Phillips was available. Try to visualize Huckleberry Finn in an old flannel uniform that is a size too big for him. That will get you there as fast as an actual photo.

He almost falls in the cracks of most baseball memories. It’s easy to do when you’ve been a slender of build guy with only modest accomplishments at the minor league level and no time in the big spotlight of the major circuits. Yet, as much as the descriptors fit him to a tee, no Houston Buffs fan who watched him play out his greatest season in 1954 as a second basemen for the Texas League champions will ever forget him.

His name was Howard Dale (Howie) Phillips (5’10”, 162 lb.) (BL/TR). He was a little guy (DOB: 1/07/1930) who could play second base at the age of 24 with all the cool, clear look of a legitimate prospect for the big leagues, except for one legitimate career complication: Howie was digging ’em out of the dirt for a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals, behind several other prospects and a guy at the keystone sack who was coming off a .342 season in 1953 and another .300 plus year in the majors on his way to the Hall of Fame playing ahead of him. Still, no one could see the unthinkable in 1954: Two seasons later, a new Cardinal GM named Frank “Trader” Lane would be dealing the “elder” Red Schoendienst off to the New York Giants.

It wasn’t hard for Phillips to get lost from attention among his fellow infielders on the 1954 Houston Buffs. Third baseman Ken Boyer was the

Howie Phillips
Buffs 1954

hottest prospect going for the Cardinals that year and he was manning third base, playing great defense, and knocking the cover off the ball. Ditto Bob Boyd at first base on the productivity scale – and Boyd also drew attention as the first black player in Houston Buffs history. That left shortstop open to be ably filled by another very popular hot prospect named Don Blasingame – and a little barely wind resistant fellow named Howie Phillips to play second base for the second year in a row in 1954.

Phillips had batted only .257 in his 1953 first season as the Buffs second sacker and no one really expected him to have the best season of his pro career in 1954, but he did – and it still went pretty much unheralded by the media, perhaps, due to the attention the other infielders were drawing to the cause of winning.

Howie Phillips, Courtesy of Contributor Bill Hickman. (Looks like elsewhere he got a uniform that fit.)

Howie Phillips batted .306 for the ’54 Buffs. He hit only 3 HR, but he sprayed out 200 hits in the 161 games he played. It was his only season as a plus .300 batter. after playing 1955 for Rochester, Phillips came back in 1956 to hit .290 for the Buffs for his second best offensive year in eleven all minor league seasons (1948-58). He was on his way to a career batting average of .272 and 30 homers. Like many others of those reserve clause days, Howie simply never got a shot at one major league time at bat. He was always one of those guys who, in spite of their hustle, never got to see a single official pitch in the big leagues.

One other note about Howie: he probably looked even smaller because of his preference (or assignment to a uniform that was a little too big for him. We always kidded that he chose the big size for its greater weight support against the wind.

The guy was a hustler, a good fielder, a pesky base runner at the top of the batting order, and he also just may have been for the 1954 Buffs a variant of that old Reggie Jackson descriptor as “the straw that stirred the drink” of victory for the 1954 Buffs.

Howie Phillips passed away at the age of 70 on July 10, 2000 in Fresno, California.

Photo Courtesy of Darrell Pittman. – In this one of the 1954 Buffs, Howie Phillips is the 2nd from right on front row. He got a fitting uniform in time for the late season team photo.

Tags: Houston Buff Biographies, Howie Phillips
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Buff Biographies: Don Gutteridge

July 21, 2013

Don Gutteridge

The 1934 Houston Buffs weren’t the greatest baseball herd in this city’s history, by far. Managed by famous former Buff Carey Selph, the boys could finish no better than 6th place, near .500 at 76-78, .494, but 13 games back of Galveston, the first place club and playoff winner of the 1934 Texas League pennant.

The ’34 club also fought uphill all season against the challenges of the Great Depression, bringing in a final tally of only 61,180 paying fans to all their home games in Houston that season.

It was within this mire that quiet-spoken, but feisty spirited Don Gutteridge played out his only Buff season as a 22-year old 3rd baseman for the Houston Buffs, batting .272 with 167 hits in 149 games at the hot corner, including 20 doubles, 8 triples, and 7 home runs. The kid never gave up on things and his hustle and effort just broadcast the idea that he intended to get everything out of his ability that he could find and put into play. And that’s how I got to know about him first hand from the general drift of comments from his surviving St. Louis Browns and Cardinals teammates who spoke with me about Don at annual banquets for the old St. Louis Browns in the 1990s.

Everybody loved Donald Joseph Gutteridge of Pittsburg (without an “h”), Kansas. The 5’10” 165 lb. infielder was born in Pittsburg, Kansas on June 19, 1912. Don Gutteridge (BR/TR) played ball at Pittsburg State University prior to signing with the Cardinals and turning pro in 1932 at the age of 20. Over the course of all 10 of his minor league seasons (1932-36, 1941, 1946-50), Gutteridge batted .294 with an OBP of .311. After Houston and two moe quick stops at Columbus, Ohio, Don broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936. He would play five seasons for the Cards (1936-40), four seasons for the St. Louis Browns (1942-45), two seasons with the Boston Red Sox (1946-47), and one doughnut coffee dip spell with the 1948 Pittsburgh (with an “h”) Pirates for a twelve MLB season record of a .256 BA with 200 doubles, 64 triples, and 39 HR. before finishing his active play in two more seasons as a minor leaguer.

Jerry Witte (L) hit .312 with 46 HR and 120 RBI under manager Don Gutteridge at Toledo in 1946

Don Gutteridge also spent six seasons as a minor league manager (1946, 1951-54, 1967) and two partial years as an MLB manager for the Chicago White Sox (1969-70). The guy looked the part too in his later years. He looked a lot like the movie manager in the film version of “Damn Yankees”, but with a much milder social personality. Whenever he walked into a group of us visiting in the hotel lobby at one of those Browns functions, I kept waiting for him to break into that famous pep talk from that famous baseball movie: “Now listen to me! – This game of baseball is only one-half skill! – The other half is something bigger! – You gotta have – HEART! – MILES AND MILES AND MILES OF HEART! …”

He never did, but he could have. These were the old St. Louis Browns I was sitting among. They knew as much about losing as the old Washington Senators ever did – and even more, if you care to check their comparative records from the old days.

Don Gutteridge & Pepper Martin

Don Gutteridge did hold an unusual history with the Cardinals after breaking into the majors with the St. Louis NL club. After he left them, he played for both of his next two clubs in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He played for the St. Louis Browns against the Cardinal in 1944; and he played for the Boston Red Sox against the Cardinals in 1946. Unfortunately for Don Gutteridge, he was on the losing team both times.

A few years ago, Don Gutteridge wrote and published his autobiography with friends and colleagues Ronnie Joyner and Bill Bozman. The book is a beautiful little baseball life story. Copies may still be available over Amazon for those who may be interested.

Don Gutteridge passed away at his home in Pittsburg, Kansas on September 7, 2008, not too long after the death of his sweet wife of a thousand years. He was 96 years old when he died.

Tags: Don Gutteridge, Houston Buff Biographies
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Buff Biographies: Al Papai

July 20, 2013

Al Papai

In his four seasons as a Houston Buff (1947, 1951-53) knuckleballing ace Al Papai (6’3″, 185 lb.) (BR/TR) was a 20 plus win guy for two Texas League championship clubs (1947, 1951), tagging a 69 win, 48 loss total as his Buff career record. As a 14 season minor league pitcher (1940-41, 1945-48, 1951-58), Al Papai complied a career record of 172 wins, 128 losses, and a 3.29 ERA. He also had a 4 season major league record (1948-50. 1955) with the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox, mostly as a reliever, for an MLB total of 9 wins, 14 losses, a 5.37 ERA, and 4 saves.

Papai’s knuckler too often escaped his control in the big leagues, but it served him well as a Texas League starter, allowing a 38-year old Al to go 23-7 for a 1955 Oklahoma City TL club and 20-10 at age 39 for the 1956 Memphis Chicks of the also AA class Southern Association.

Papai was also a droll, strange-looking character. Born May 7, 1917 in tiny Divernon, Illinois, Al had keen sense of irony and humor about everything that was going on around him – and for years after the fact of whatever it may have been. In 1951, for example, Al Papai had to step in at the last-minute as the escort for bathing suit contest contestant Kathryn Grandstaff at a Buff Stadium presentation walk when teammate Larry Miggins bailed out as her assigned escort because he was too embarrassed to walk in public with a woman he thought was “almost naked”.

Kathryn Grandstaff went on from her walk with Papai to win the Houston Buff and Texas League beauty queen contests. From there, she went on to Hollywood to pursue an acting career as “Kathryn Grant”. She ended up meeting and getting married to superstar Bing Crosby – and making several now forgettable movies that drew some attention at the time, partially because of her famous husband.

The former beauty queen’s success wasn’t lost on the mind of Al Papai. When asked what he thought about her later success, Al Papai replied: “I just hope she remembers that I gave her the start long ago that made her what she has become today!”

Unfortunately, Al Papai missed the late September 1995 Last Round-Up of the Houston Buffs that former Buffs President Allen Russell staged at the Weston Galleria Hotel in Houston. I was helping Russell search and find the former Buffs whose addresses or whereabouts had fallen off the cliff somewhere. As a result, it was the first week in September before our invitation went out to Al Papai’s home address in Springfield, Illinois.

The Buffs Reunion invitation ended up reaching the family’s residence on the day of Al Papai’s funeral. Al Papai had passed away on September 7, 1995 at the age of 78. His wife Claire came alone to the Houston reunion and was warmly greeted by old friends. Claire said she wanted to make sure that Al was represented at a homecoming that only death could have kept him from making.

That old Houston Buff and minor league baseball veteran blood bond was some mighty powerful stuff.

Goodnight, Sweet Buffs, wherever you are! ~ Away from our hearts, you will never be far!

Tags: Al Papai, Houston Buff Biographies
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TCM Baseball Movie Fest Brings Smiles

July 20, 2013

Yesterday proved itself a dawn-to-dusk baseball movie parade on the Turner Classic Movie channel, stating at 5:00 AM with Joe E. Brown in “Alibi Ike” (1935) and moving continuously on through Robert Young in “Death on the Diamond (1934), William Bendix in “The Babe Ruth Story” (1948), Ray Milland in “It Happens Every Spring” (1949), Jackie Robinson playing himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story” (1950, Paul Douglas in the original and best version of “Angels in the Outfield” (1951), and Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander in “The Winning Team” (1952).

Except for “Alibi Ike”, which I already have on DVD, I recorded them all on DVR. – What a treasure. Now all I have to do is figure out what I need to do to transfer them all from the Direct TV DVR to DVD disks. Just another item for the “ASK NEAL” list I keep close by for the next free time I have with my very busy adult son.

My late mom had a saying that came quickly to mind yesterday as I looked in on some of the movies that I was recording. I’d seen them all many times over, of course, but Mom’s words rang loudly on Friday. She used to say: “Sometimes you can stretch the truth so far that all the rubber falls out of a good story.”

No kidding, Mom!

How about two Cardinals getting murdered by gamblers on the day of their big pennant-deciding game with the Giants in “Death on the Diamond”. One is given a poison hot dog prior to the big game. The other is shot in the heart during the big game as he rounds third, trying to score the winning run. (The Giants catcher even tags him out before they even start checking his vital signs.)

Bendix as Babe Ruth, of course, is one truth stretch or lie piled upon another. This Ruth doesn’t merely point to center field when he calls his shot, he deliberately takes two called strikes before jabbing his finger defiantly to center and then crushing the ball there for a home run that he had promised to hit for a seriously ill kid. When Ruth dies, he is operated upon by the same doctor who saved the life of a little dog in Chicago much earlier when Ruth accidentally pulled a foul ball that hit another kid’s pet, causing Ruth to miss the game while he and the kid searched for help with “poor little Pee Wee” in an action which saves the pup but gets Ruth fined and suspended from the Yankees. The whole movie is that hokie, but I still love it because of the effect it had on this tender-hearted kid who fell in love with the goodness and greatness of Babe Ruth back in 1948. Yes, I know Ruth did not really yield his position to a rookie in the 9th inning of his big 3-HR game in Pittsburgh in 1935, and never play again, but it feels good to think he could have done so, had it occurred to him.

Mom, stretching the truth so far that all the rubber falls out of the story? Were you trying to tell me that Ray Milland could not have been an unbeatable pitcher had he been given a wood repellant substance to rub on the ball before he threw to the best hitters in baseball? I suppose you think some umpire along the way would have checked the glove he wore and discovered that big hole in the pocket with moist sponge behind it!

As for Jackie Robinson playing himself in the original movie version of what became “42” in 2013, there was no stretching of the truth here. Jackie Robinson was a great ballplayer and a terrible actor – and that’s exactly how the movie played out.

“Angels in the Outfield”? – It came off credible to me in 1951 and it still does.

As for Ronald Reagan and Doris Day as his wife in “The Winning Team”, it was a total rubber fallout for me when I learned from my own studies of that time that Alexander had not really struck out the last batter in Game Seven. That 1926 World Series ended with Babe Ruth getting thrown out on an attempted steal of second base, but that wasn’t good enough for Hollywood. They had to make it a dramatic example of how Alexander succeeded only because his loving wife was there to support him through the experience as the other member of “the winning team”.

She may have been his personal Mojo in what is arguably the greatest clutch performance by a pitcher in a World Series, but it wasn’t necessary to change the ending of the Series to get that point across. – Hey, they could’ve had Doris Day as Mrs. Pete Alexander winking at first base runner Ruth and shouting something like, “Hey, Babe! I double dare you to try to steal second base on my husband!”

Have some fun this weekend, folks! ~ Go write you own happy endings!

Tags: baseball movies on TCM
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How Much Baseball Do Today’s Fans Really See?

July 18, 2013

Who’s really watching?

Friend and fellow SABR member Tony Cavender recently sent me this link to a Wall Street Journal article in which they disclose the results of their attempt to put the clock on “how much action” really takes place these days in your average three-hour baseball game (with the value emphasis on action over stillness in the field as important to the fans).

Time was when tuning into the stillness moments – and where the players were positioning themselves on the field – were both parts of the game that fans watched. Not today. They are too busy consuming – or getting blasted by tee-shirt slingshots – or texting – or waiting to be awakened by a home run.

Here’s the WSJ article link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323740804578597932341903720.html?mod=trending_now_1

According to the WSJ piece, the average three-hour game today contains only 17 minutes and 58 seconds of “action” as their researchers define action for this study. The details are all laid out for you in the article.

The point here is that – if we have finally reached the point of trying to define baseball as only valuable by the volume of action it generates, we have totally lost our appreciation for what made the game great on those earlier pastoral fields as the closest game to “chess in motion” ever devised as an athletic competition.

If baseball has to be sped up, or put more in motion for continuous action, or loaded with more gimmicky side actions, just to keep today’s crowds entertained between slurps and texts, then we may as well just surrender all the stadium fans to football and basketball right now. Those sports were made for continuous motion, but baseball was not. It’s what managers and players do, and fail to do, in between action plays that most often determines a baseball game’s outcome, but you won’t see any of these things, if you’ve not been taught what to look for on the field that simply looms before your very eyes, begging for an attention level you either cannot, or will not, give it.

On a related note, I received a professional flyer in the mail yesterday that came as a reminder that my mental health counseling field is now shifting gears to the new “DSM-5” diagnostic and statistical manual as a tool for diagnosing psychological and emotional disorders in children and adolescents. The flyer was prepared by a group of educators who are hoping that people like me will pick them as a source of continuing education on how to best use the changes in the new device.

There are now six new diagnostic “disorder” categories for children that all have something to do with shorter attention spans.

Gee! How hard is this picture to figure? We have become a culture of short attention spans. Is it any wonder that we are seeing more children born into this world today with some kind of attention deficit disorder already built into their systems? In effect, we seem to be in the middle of a neurological re-wiring process that emanates from our increasing dependency upon the always evolving technology that drives our cravings for more.

Whoa! That’s a heavy thought!

I’m not sure that there’s anything we can do about it, but let’s start with developing a clearer recognition of what’s going on. It isn’t all that pretty, but it is very real – and its threat goes way beyond people losing interest in baseball. Shorter attention spans breed less patience and an increase in anger and a faster trip to polarization on political issues.

I have no interest in going political here. I’m just concerned that the old ways we used to have for finding our middle ground on political problems that scream at us are now disappearing for everyone. And it all seems to share a common thread. People just cannot pay attention to anything for very long these days.

Have a nice day, everybody – and don’t forget to be patient with yourself and others along the way.

Tags: short attention spans
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Buff Biographies: J.C. Hartman

July 17, 2013

J.C. Hartman Today!

J.C. Ballplayer

Shortstop J.C. Hartman was one of three men who played for both the last Houston minor league club and the first Houston major league team. The others were First Baseman Pidge Browne and pitcher Dave Giusti. Each man played for the 1961 last Houston Buffs team and then for the 1962 first Houston Colt .45’s club.

J.C. Hartman (6’0″, 175 lb) (BR/TR) was bon on April 15, 1934 in Cottonton, Alabama. He broke into baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1955, ending up as the shortstop choice for the West in the 1955 Negro League All Star Game. His playing contract was sold to the Chicago Cubs from there, but further professional baseball was held off after a single season in Class C BALL while Hartman honored a draft invitation from the U.S. Army in 1957-58. His 1957 Fort Collins team won the All Army team championship for that year and J.C. also had a chance to team with future Country and Western singer Charley Pride and future San Francisco Giant Willie Kirkland on that military base club.

Over the course of his entire 10-season minor league career (1956, 1959-67). Hartman batted a hefty .280 with 32 homers. In his only 1961 season with the Houston Buffs, J.C. batted .259 with 6 H in 144 games.

J.C. Cop

In his two MLB seasons (1962-63), both with the new Houston Colt .45’s, J.C. Hartman batted only .185 with 0 HR in an MLB career total of 90 games. His great attitude and defense wee good enough to get him a big league shot, but his bat killed his chances for longevity.

After baseball, J.C. Hartman settled here and began a law enforcement career in 1973 as a member of the Houston Police Department. He became the first black officer ever promoted to a HPD supervisory position and he takes great pride in that fact. He also married his wife Jamesetta in Houston in 1961. The couple then had a boy and a girl together they named Jay Clayton and Jessica – and everyone lived happily ever after.

J.C. Hartman was also a successful business man and investor. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have purchased several apartment complexes, in Houston. Now, I spend a lot of my time maintaining the apartments. There is always something to do.”

J.C. Landlord

In 2006, J.C. Hartman added “author” to his list of occupational titles when he wrote and published his life story as “Field’s Way: Through the Negro Leagues -> Major Leagues -> Law Enforcement.” What the book lacks in professional editorial and publication assistance, it makes up for it in the presentation of genuine stories of fun from a man who really took his best shot at life and made the best of everything that broke right for him along the way.

The book is still available though Amazon and I thoroughly recommend it as a true work of a good man’s heart.

Continued Good luck in All Things, J.C. Hartman – and stay as young as you look today – for as long as you can.

At age 79, you are an inspiration to us all.

“J.C. Author” Hartman with “The Pecan Park Eagle” in 2008.

Tags: Houston Buff Biographies, J.C. Hartman
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Worst of the First ~ The Colt .45 All Stars

July 16, 2013

Our Worst of the First Colt .45 All Stars

In homage to tonight’s MLB All Star Game, here’s my humble lineup for a special All Star Team from the three-year history of the Houston Colt .45’s, 1962-64. It’s special only in the sense that I tried to select the players that did the worst statistically at their respective positions over the course of that three year stint who also played in a minimum of 100 games for the season they were selected.

Some of these guys were pretty good ball players who just happened to have a down year during their Colt .45 history. Such was the case with Bob Aspromonte, who also happened to have been the only third baseman of note in Colt .45 history. “Aspro” made the team by hitting .214 in 1963.

Of some interest is the fact that none of the “position player worst” stats came from the original 1962 season. Six of the position players came from 1963 and two came from 1964. Only the pitcher, Turk Farrell, came from 1962, and he made this glorious team speciously by losing 20 games in 1962, even though his ERA was a healthy 3.02. It’s like Turk explained it himself: “Do you realize how good I had to be to lose 20 games in one season for the 1962 club?”

Yup. We do, Turk. We just had to have you in the lineup because this exercise is all in fun. Were it truly for real, we would at least have a fighting chance with you on the mound.

Here’s the batting order for our 2013 Pecan Park Eagle presentation of The Worst of the First Houston Colt .45 All Stars:

Bob Lillis (1963) SS (.198 BA/.229 OBP/.237 SLG) 1 HR in 147 G.

Ernie Fazio (1963) 2B (.184 BA/.273 OBP/.281 SLG) 2 HR in 102 G.

Cal Warwick (1963) RF (,254 BA/.319 OBP/.348 SLG) 7 HR in 150 G.

Rusty Staub (1963) 1B (.224 BA/.309 OBP/,308 SLG) 6 HR in 150 G.

Al Spangler (1964) LF (.245 BA/.311 OBP/.334 SLG/4 HR in 135 G.

Bob Aspromonte (1963) 3B (.214 BA/.276 OBP/.306 SLG) 8 HR in 136 G.

Howie Goss (1963) CF (.209 BA/.264 OBP/.328 SLG) 9 HR in 133 G. (extra: 128 K)

Jerry Grote (1964) C (.181 BA/.240 OBP/.262 SLG) 3 HR in 100 G.

Turk Farrell (1962) P (10-20, 3.02 ERA)

Too bad the laws governing reality get in the way of us issuing a challenge to the winners of tonight’s MLB All Star Game, but I will have my hands full enough simply adjusting to the fact that we Houston fans are now supposed to be pulling for the American League club tonight.

Happy All Star Game Day, baseball fans!

Tags: 2013 All Star Game, Special Colt .45 All Stars
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