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1962 Houston Colt .45s
Major league affiliations
Location
1962 Information
Owner(s) Craig F. Cullinan, Jr., Roy Hofheinz
General Manager(s) Paul Richards
Manager(s) Harry Craft
Local television KTRK
(Al Helfer, Gene Elston, Guy Savage)
Local radio KPRC (AM)
(Al Helfer, Gene Elston, Loel Passe)

The Houston Colt .45s' 1962 season was a season in American baseball. Harry Craft was named Houston's first manager. The Colt .45s finished eighth among the National League's ten teams, with a record of 64-96, 36½ games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants.

Contents

Offseason

Expansion draft

Main article: 1961 MLB expansion draft

Regular phase

$75,000 per player

Premium phase

$125,000 per player

Regular season

The Colt .45s started their inaugural season on April 10, 1962 with an 11-2 win against the Chicago Cubs, highlighted by a three run home run in the bottom of the third inning by Román Mejías.[7] The .45s would go on to sweep the Cubs in their first three game series at Colt Stadium. The team finished April with a 7-8 record, 4 games in front of the expansion Mets and only 5 games behind the National League leading Pirates and Giants. By June 2, with the second loss to the Pirates in Pittsburgh, the Colt .45s had fallen to 16 games behind eventual National League Champion Giants, a deficit that no pre-wild card team had recovered from to make the post season.[8] And, with an August 21st loss at the hands of the Phillies[9], the Houston Colt .45s were mathematically eliminated from the postseason with a 37 game deficit to the Dodgers with 37 games left.

To get an idea of how the first season was for Houston, look at the team's best pitcher, Richard "Turk" Farrell. A starter for the Colt .45s, he was primarily a relief pitcher when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Turk lost 20 games in 1962, but had an ERA of 3.02. Turk was selected to both All-Star games that year.[10]

There was a bright spot in the line up in 1962. Román Mejías, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the expansion draft, was named the Colt .45s starting right fielder. It was in Houston that Mejías would play the best season of his career. While he played better the first half of the season, an injury slowed him the second half of the season. However, he still finished with a .286 batting average, 24 home runs, and 76 RBIs. His modesty and his hard play made him a fan favorite that year. Despite his good year, Mejías was traded to the Boston Red Sox in the fall of 1962.[11]

Season standings

National League W L GB Pct.
San Francisco Giants 103 62 -- .624
Los Angeles Dodgers 102 63 1 .618
Cincinnati Reds 98 64 3.5 .605
Pittsburgh Pirates 83 68 8 .578
Milwaukee Braves 86 76 15.5 .531
St. Louis Cardinals 84 78 17.5 .519
Philadelphia Phillies 81 80 20 .503
Houston Colt .45s 64 96 36.5 .400
Chicago Cubs 59 103 42.5 .364
New York Mets 40 120 60.5 .250

Notable transactions

Roster

1962 Houston Colt .45s roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log

Houston Colt .45s 1962 Regular Season Game Log

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Positional abbreviations: C = Catcher; 1B = First base; 2B = Second base; 3B = Third base; SS = Shortstop; LF = Left field; CF = Center field; RF = Right field

Pos Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB
C Smith, HalHal Smith 109 345 32 81 14 0 .235 12 35 0
1B Larker, NormNorm Larker 147 506 58 133 19 5 .263 9 63 1
2B Amalfitano, JoeyJoey Amalfitano 117 380 44 90 12 5 .237 1 27 4
3B Aspromonte, BobBob Aspromonte 149 534 59 142 18 4 .266 11 59 4
SS Lillis, BobBob Lillis 129 457 38 114 12 4 .249 1 30 7
LF Spangler, AlAl Spangler 129 418 51 119 10 9 .285 5 35 7
CF Warwick, CarlCarl Warwick 130 477 63 124 17 1 .260 16 60 2
RF Mejías, RománRomán Mejías 146 566 82 162 12 3 .286 24 76 12

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI Avg. SB
Roberts, DaveDave Roberts 16 53 3 13 3 0 .245 1 10 0
Taussig, DonDon Taussig 16 25 1 5 0 0 .200 1 1 0
Gernert, DickDick Gernert 10 24 1 5 0 0 .208 0 1 0
Williams, GeorgeGeorge Williams 5 8 1 3 1 0 .375 0 2 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L ERA R ER BB K
Farrell, TurkTurk Farrell 43 29 241.2 10 20 3.02 91 81 55 203
Johnson, KenKen Johnson 33 31 197 7 16 3.03 100 84 46 178
Bruce, BobBob Bruce 32 27 175 10 9 4.06 92 79 82 135
Woodeshick, HalHal Woodeshick 31 26 139.1 5 16 4.39 84 68 54 82

Other pitchers

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K
Golden, JimJim Golden 37 18 152.2 7 11 1 4.07 84 69 50 88
Brunet, GeorgeGeorge Brunet 17 11 54 2 4 0 4.50 31 27 21 36
Drott, DickDick Drott 6 1 13 1 0 0 7.62 12 11 9 10

Relief pitchers

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K
McMahon, DonDon McMahon 51 76.2 5 5 8 1.53 14 13 33 69
Tiefenauer, BobbyBobby Tiefenauer 43 85 2 4 1 4.34 42 41 21 60
Anderson, JohnJohn Anderson 10 17.2 0 0 0 5.09 12 10 3 6
Cicotte, AlAl Cicotte 5 4.2 0 0 0 3.86 4 2 1 4

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Connie Ryan
B Durham Bulls Carolina League Lou Fitzgerald
C Modesto Colt .45s California League Fred Hatfield
D Moultrie Colt .22s Georgia-Florida League Jim Walton

Notes

  1. ^ Rusty Staub page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Al Cicotte page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ a b [http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/phillda01.shtml Dave Philley page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Merritt Ranew page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Don Taussig page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Norm Larker page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Houston Colt .45s 11, Chicago Cubs 2". Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. http://www.webcitation.org/5gWo8Lj9I. Retrieved 2009-04-17.  
  8. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_8_64/ai_n15370740/?tag=content;col1
  9. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Philadelphia Phillies 5, Houston Colt .45s 3 (1)". Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. http://www.webcitation.org/5gWo77LF0. Retrieved 2009-04-17.  
  10. ^ Coons, Ron (2006-05-10). "Richard "Turk" Farrell". find a grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13583471. Retrieved 2008-10-02.  
  11. ^ Briley, Ron (2003-06-10). "ROMAN MEJIAS – BRIEF BIOGRAPHY". McFarland & co. Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. http://www.webcitation.org/5gWo7urgO. Retrieved 2008-10-02.  
  12. ^ John Anderson page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ a b Bob Cerv page at Baseball Reference

References

1962 MLB season by team
American League
National League
1962 First All-Star Game • 1962 Second All-Star Game • 1962 World Series
Houston Astros
Formerly the Houston Colt .45s • Based in Houston, Texas
The Franchise
Ballparks
Culture
Important Figures
Retired Numbers
5 • 7 • 24 • 25 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 40 • 42 • 49
Key Personnel
Owner: Drayton McLane, Jr. • General Manager: Ed Wade • Manager: Brad Mills
National League
Pennants (1)
Division Titles
Western: 1980 • 1986 • Central: 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2001 • Wild Card: 2004 • 2005
Minors
AAA: Round Rock Express • AA: Corpus Christi Hooks • A: Lancaster JetHawks • Lexington Legends • Tri-City Valley Cats • Rookie: Greeneville Astros • Gulf Coast League Astros







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