The Pecan Park Eagle

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.