Transcript |
Vol. 2—No. 1
Jan., 1962
2nd MAJOR LEAGUE DINNER SPOTS MUSIAL, SPAHN, MANTLE, .45s
GILES, RICHARDS, CRAFT,
GOMEZ ATTEND
Houston's second annual major league
dinner, looking like a real Who's Who in
baseball, featured nine of the 1962 Colt
.45s.
The Cardinals' all-time hitting great,
Stan Musial, Milwaukee's pitching star
Warren Spahn, and the Yankees' Mickey
Mantle received the three top awards at
the gala baseball banquet in the Shamrock Hilton Hotel.
The real "heroes" of the evening were
Houston's own Colt .45s who were introduced to the Houston public for the first
time.
Manager Harry Craft, catcher Hal
Smith, first baseman Norm Larker,
second baseman Joe Amalfitano, shortstop Don Buddin, third baseman Bob
Aspromonte, outfielder Al Spangler and
pitchers Dick Farrell, Jim Umbricht and
Jerry Nelson all joined in to make the
event a memorable one.
National League president Warren
Giles, Lefty Gomez, Colt .45s general
manager Paul Richards and Bart Shirley were other baseball dignitaries at
the speakers' table.
Musial received the
second annual Tris
Speaker Award for
an outstanding contribution to baseball
over a period of
years.
Spahn received the
Dickie Kerr Award
as baseball's outstanding pitcher of
the decade.
™ ^ • , SPAHN
Mantle received
the Eddie Dyer Award as the most
courageous athlete of 1961.
Young Bart Shirley received the first
annual Jimmy Delmar award to be given
each year to a Texas native who played
in the minor leagues the previous season
and showed the most promise for major
league stardom. Shirley is a shortstop
in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and lives in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The dinner is co-sponsored by the
Houston Colt .45s and the Houston Chapter, Baseball Writers Association of
America.
DOMED STADIUM BEGINS JAN. 3 WITH A BANG
World's First — Future
Home of Colt .45s
The world's first air-conditioned, domed
stadium is now being built in Houston, on
a 238-acre tract bounded on south Main
and O.S.T., one mile for the Shamrock
area.
Ground was broken Jan. 3 for the excavation phase of the $22,000,000 multipurpose stadium which has attracted attention from Tokyo to New Delhi, India.
When it's finished in 1963, Houston will
be the home of one of the world's show-
places.
County, City and Houston Sports Association officials were all on hand for
the ground breaking facilities that attracted leading citizens from all walks of
life realizing the tremendous impact the
stadium will have on the Houston area.
The dirt moving and digging of a 25-
foot-deep hole, 700 feet in diameter, by
the John Kraak Construction company
will take 120 days or less at which time
the construction of the stadium itself
will begin. Kraak won the excavation
contract with a low bid of $430,311, which
was $689 below county estimates.
Domed stadium work started with a bang Jan.
3 as HSA and county officials break ground
with Colt .45s. Bottom row (L to R) Craig Cul-
linan, HSA pres., county judge Bill Elliott, general manager Paul Richards, HSA board chairman R. E. (Bob) Smith. Back Row (Lto R) county commissioners Kyle Chapman, V. V. Ramsey,
Phil Sayers and E. A. (Squatty) Lyons.
1962 Season Ticket Holders Have First Priority on Domed Stadium Seats.
Call CA 2-1111 for Ticket Information
MUSIAL
MANTLE
•45s Draft Stone and Weekly
Dean Stone, 31-year-old left hand
pitcher formerly with the St. Louis Cardinals, Washington and Boston, and
Johnny Weekly, 24-year-old fleet footed
outfielder with the San Francisco Giants,
were the Colt .45s draft choices in the
annual major league baseball meetings.
Stone, 6-4, 195 pounds, won 12 and
lost 8 for Charleston in the International
League last season with a 2.73 ERA.
Weekly hit .287 with 21 home runs,
82 runs-batted-in and 18 stolen bases for
Victoria in the Texas League last season.
Richards Trades for Buddin,
Bruce and Montejo
General manager Paul Richards' American League experience proved valuable
in the Colt .45s first player trades in
history. Richards acquired shortstop Don
Buddin from the Boston Red Sox, and
27-year-old right hand pitchers Bob
Bruce and Manuel Montejo from the
Detroit Tigers during the inter-league
trading period.
Buddin, 27, hit .263 last year for the
Red Sox where he has been the regular
shortstop the past four seasons. The
.45s traded Ed Bressoud, their first
selection in the N.L. player pool, for
Buddin.
Richards traded aging Sam Jones, 37,
to the Tigers for two younger pitching
prospects—Bob Bruce and Manuel Montejo.
Bruce has been highly thought of and
is the type of pitcher that Richards has
often been able to develop into a star
performer.
Montejo is a side wheeling relief pitcher with outstanding strikeout records
everywhere he has pitched including 15
strikeouts in 16 innings with the Tigers
this season.
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