The Pecan Park Eagle

Colt Stadium in Houston
1962-1964
We called it “The Skillet” for good reason.

Back on June 9, 1962, a younger, more fully feathered, less afternoon nap sleepy Pecan Park Eagle went out to the then new Colt Stadium on OST @ Fannin to watch a mid-day Saturday afternoon game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and our home town Houston Colt .45s. It was a bright sunshiny day and the Eagle wore his usual baseball cap as protection from the conditions of the place that was his destination during this hatless Kennedy era of unprotected male heads. Colt Stadium had no roof and the Houston summer sun was a real brain broiler without any protection.

It was one of those Saturdays in which the Eagle would be convinced that the elements would help take down the less acclimated Dodgers and also help send about a dozen capless Houston fans to the nearby Texas Medical Center for observation of heat stroke symptoms. I cannot today connect all the dots, but I’m sure that someone like long-time Colts/Astros executive icon Tal Smith could do so quickly to show how the summer heat in Houston resulted in a successful petition by Houston in favor of Sunday night baseball locally. The transition apparently worked so well that soon after the Houston exception, MLB expanded the Sunday Night Baseball concept to all major league cities.

The change probably saved some lives and made Sunday night baseball more pleasant an option for cities that had no Astrodome to protect them. And the MLB cities that had no air-conditioned domed stadium at their disposal back in the 1960s was a pretty high figure.

If you can read between the lines of this west coast report on a game played between  the Dodgers and Colt .45s on June 9, 1962, you should get some feel for the heat index that actually helped our expansion club that day.

Roof Falls on Dodgers, 13-1

by George Lederer of the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram, Sunday, June 10, 1962.

I.P.T. Staff Writer

It.s a good thing Houston does not yet have its domed stadium because the roof fell on the Dodgers Saturday (afternoon).

No one was injured, however, in the Colts’ 13-1 avalanche because the Giants managed ti lose their fourth in a row to keep intact the Dodgers’ one-half game lead. No one, however, was injured in the Colts’ 13-1 avalanche because the Giants managed to lose their fourth in a row to keep intact the Dodgers’ one-half game lead.

(According to the Weather Bureau, it was only 88 degrees with a humidity registry at a mere 84% on June 9, 1965, but fans were still dropping like flies in the bright uncovered sun at Colt Stadium. We didn’t call that baptismal baseball ground in Houston “The Skillet” without cause. And the heat attack casualty list among fans would only grow larger for mid-day weekend games once the temp and moisture counts approached 100 on deeper summer days.)

The Dodgers’ worst beating of the year cannot be blamed on the heat or the humidity. It was just the humility that was in evidence as the Dodgers trudged into the clubhouse with only their fourth loss in 14 games on this trip.

Bob Bruce tossed a seven-hitter and outlasted three Dodger pitchers while the Colts ran up their largest score and exploded for eight runs in the fifth, their record inning.

Every Colt starter except Bob Lillis drove in a run and only Bob Bruce failed to hit or score. The Colts amassed 13 hits, including 2-run homers by Carl Warwick, Roman Mejias, and Bob Aspromonte.

Starter Stan Williams trailed only 3-1 until a walk to Joe Amalfitano and Mejias’ 16th homer launched the 13-run fifth inning. Aspromonte homered in the same round against Ed Roebuck, who also yielded triples to Merritt Ranew and Al Spangler.

Warwick hit a two-run homer in the opening inning after Norm Larker had singled home the Colts’ first run. It was No. 4 for Warwick and his third against Dodger aces (Stan) Williams, Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale.

Williams (6-2) was charged with his first loss since April 16 when the Giants slaughtered the Dodgers for the previous record loss. The Dodgers had won seven in a row from the Colts after losing the series opener here.

Williams was charged with six runs, Roebuck with five and Phil Ortega with two in a mop-up role. (Dodger) Manager Walt Alston threw in the towel after the fifth inning when he rescued Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, and John Roseboro for much-needed rests. (There’s that temp/humidity cocktail again. By the end of the fifth, about a half-dozen capless-era fans had collapsed and been taken away for medical treatment and further observation.)

At that, two of the replacements did as well as the varsity. Daryl Spencer and Lee Walls each contributed a single.

(Bob) Bruce was deprived of a shutout when Tommy Davis homered to start the second inning. It was No. 11 for Tommy, who regained the lead from Willie Davis.

(Don) Drysdale (9-4) and Joe Moeller (4-4) oppose Jim Golden (3-3) and Hal Woodeschick (2-3) in a doubleheader that concludes the series this (Sunday) afternoon.

~ THE LONG BEACH INDEPENDENCE PRESS TELEGRAM, JUNE 10, 1962.

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresLos Angeles Dodgers 1, Houston Colt .45s 13
Game played on Saturday, June 9, 1962 at Colt Stadium
Los Angeles Dodgers ab   r   h rbi Wills ss 3 0 1 0   Spencer ss 1 0 1 0 Gilliam 3b 2 0 1 0   Walls 3b 1 0 1 0 Davis W. cf 3 0 0 0 Davis T. lf 4 1 1 1 Fairly 1b 4 0 0 0 Moon rf 4 0 2 0 Roseboro c 1 0 0 0   Camilli c 2 0 0 0 Burright 2b 4 0 0 0 Williams p 2 0 0 0   Roebuck p 0 0 0 0   Ortega p 1 0 0 0   Howard ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 33 1 7 1	Houston Colt .45s ab   r   h rbi Spangler lf 6 1 1 1 Amalfitano 2b 3 3 2 1 Mejias rf 4 1 1 3   Pendleton rf 0 0 0 0 Larker 1b 4 2 1 1   Buddin ss 0 0 0 0 Warwick cf 5 2 2 2   Busby cf 0 0 0 0 Ranew c 5 2 2 2 Aspromonte 3b 4 1 1 2 Lillis ss 3 1 2 0   Browne 1b 1 0 1 0 Bruce p 4 0 0 1 Totals 39 13 13 13
Los Angeles 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 7 2 Houston 3 0 0 0 8 0 1 1 x – 13 13 0   Los Angeles Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO Williams  L (6-2) 4.0 4 6 6 5 5   Roebuck 0.1 4 5 4 0 0   Ortega 3.2 5 2 2 2 0 Totals 8.0 13 13 12 7 5   Houston Colt .45s IP H R ER BB SO Bruce  W (4-1) 9.0 7 1 1 3 4 Totals 9.0 7 1 1 3 4 E–Wills (12), T Davis (6).  DP–Houston 1.  3B–Houston Ranew (7,off Roebuck); Spangler (3,off Roebuck); Amalfitano (2,off Ortega).  HR–Los Angeles T Davis (11,2nd inning off Bruce 0 on, 0 out), Houston Warwick (4,1st inning off Williams 1 on, 2 out); Mejias (16,5th inning off Williams 1 on, 0 out); Aspromonte (4,5th inning off Roebuck 1 on, 0 out).  Team LOB–8.  Team–9.  SB–Roseboro (3,2nd base off Bruce/Ranew); Wills (33,2nd base off Bruce/Ranew); Amalfitano (2,2nd base off Williams/Roseboro).  U-HP–Frank Walsh, 1B–Ken Burkhart, 2B–Chris Pelekoudas, 3B–Jocko Conlan.  T–2:47.  A–11,908.
Game played on Saturday, June 9, 1962 at Colt Stadium
Baseball Almanac Box Score |