1963 Houston Colt .45s season

The Houston Colt .45s' 1963 season was a season in American baseball. The team finished ninth in the National League with a record of 66–96, 33 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1963 Houston Colt .45s
League	National League
Ballpark	Colt Stadium
City	Houston, Texas
Record	66–96 (.407)
League place	9th
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Paul Richards
Managers	Harry Craft
Television	KHOU (TV) (Gene Elston, Guy Savage, Loel Passe)
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Mickey Herskowitz)
← 1962 1964 →

Offseason

• November 1, 1962: Joe Morgan was signed as an amateur free agent by the Colt .45s.^[1]
• November 26, 1962: Conrad Cardinal was drafted by the Colt .45s from the Detroit Tigers in the 1962 first-year draft.^[2]
• November 26, 1962: Ellis Burton was drafted by the Colt .45s from the Milwaukee Braves in the 1962 rule 5 draft.^[3]
• November 26, 1962: Don Taussig was drafted from the Colt .45s by the Milwaukee Braves in the 1962 minor league draft.^[4]
• November 30, 1962: Joey Amalfitano was traded by the Colt .45s to the San Francisco Giants for Manny Mota and Dick LeMay.^[5]
• November 30, 1962: Norm Larker was traded by the Colt .45s to the Milwaukee Braves for Jim Bolger, Don Nottebart, and Connie Grob.^[6]
• March 28, 1963: Hal Haydel, Dick LeMay and Merritt Ranew were traded by the Colt .45s to the Chicago Cubs for Dave Gerard and Danny Murphy.^[7]

Regular season

Broadcaster Harry Kalas made his major league debut in 1963 with Houston, replacing Al Helfer and working alongside Gene Elston and Loel Passe.^[8][9]

On May 17, Don Nottebart pitched the first no-hitter for an expansion team when Houston defeated Philadelphia by a score of 4–1.^[10]

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	99	63	0.611	—	50–31	49–32
St. Louis Cardinals	93	69	0.574	6	53–28	40–41
San Francisco Giants	88	74	0.543	11	50–31	38–43
Philadelphia Phillies	87	75	0.537	12	45–36	42–39
Cincinnati Reds	86	76	0.531	13	46–35	40–41
Milwaukee Braves	84	78	0.519	15	45–36	39–42
Chicago Cubs	82	80	0.506	17	43–38	39–42
Pittsburgh Pirates	74	88	0.457	25	42–39	32–49
Houston Colt .45s	66	96	0.407	33	44–37	22–59
New York Mets	51	111	0.315	48	34–47	17–64

Record vs. opponents

1963 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MIL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Chicago	—	9–9	9–9	7–11	12–6	11–7	9–9	8–10	10–8	7–11
Cincinnati	9–9	—	11–7	8–10	10–8	10–8	8–10	11–7	8–10	11–7
Houston	9–9	7–11	—	5–13	5–13	13–5	8–10	6–12	8–10	5–13
Los Angeles	11–7	10–8	13–5	—	8–10–1	16–2	7–11	13–5	9–9	12–6
Milwaukee	6–12	8–10	13–5	10–8–1	—	12–6	10–8	7–11	10–8	8–10
New York	7–11	8–10	5–13	2–16	6–12	—	8–10	4–14	6–12	5–13
Philadelphia	9–9	10–8	10–8	11–7	8–10	10–8	—	13–5	8–10	8–10
Pittsburgh	10–8	7–11	12–6	5–13	11–7	14–4	5–13	—	5–13	5–13
San Francisco	8–10	10–8	10–8	9–9	8–10	12–6	10–8	13–5	—	8–10
St. Louis	11–7	7–11	13–5	6–12	10–8	13–5	10–8	13–5	10–8	—

Notable transactions

• April 2, 1963: Ellis Burton was purchased from the Colt .45s by the Cleveland Indians.^[3]
• April 4, 1963: Manny Mota was traded by the Colt .45s to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Howie Goss and cash.^[5]

Roster

1963 Houston Colt .45s
Roster
Pitchers 38 Hal Brown 30 Bob Bruce 33 George Brunet 34 Conrad Cardinal 41 Danny Coombs 42 Jay Dahl 34 Jim Dickson 36 Dick Drott 13 Turk Farrell 35 Jim Golden 48 Joe Hoerner 40 Ken Johnson 39 Russ Kemmerer 31 Don McMahon 43 Don Nottebart 32 Jim Umbricht 46 Hal Woodeshick 47 Larry Yellen 44 Chris Zachary		Catchers 8,24 Dave Adlesh  7 John Bateman  9 Jim Campbell  6 Jerry Grote 8,9 Hal Smith Infielders 14 Bob Aspromonte 11 Ernie Fazio 18 J. C. Hartman 19 Sonny Jackson 15 Bob Lillis 12 Joe Morgan  3 Pete Runnels 10 Rusty Staub 16 Johnny Temple  4 Glenn Vaughan 16 Mike White		Outfielders 29 Brock Davis 27 Howie Goss 26 Carroll Hardy 23 Ivan Murrell 22 John Paciorek 17 Aaron Pointer 21 Al Spangler 20 Carl Warwick 26 Johnny Weekly 18 Jimmy Wynn		Manager  1 Harry Craft Coaches  2 Jimmy Adair  4 Jim Busby (Third Base)  5 Cot Deal (Pitching)  6 Lum Harris

^[11]

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	John Bateman	128	404	23	85	8	6	.210	10	59	0
1B	Rusty Staub	150	513	43	115	17	4	.224	6	45	0
2B	Ernie Fazio	102	228	31	42	10	3	.184	2	5	4
3B	Bob Aspromonte	136	468	42	100	9	5	.214	8	49	3
SS	Bob Lillis	147	469	31	93	13	1	.198	1	19	3
LF	Al Spangler	120	430	52	121	25	4	.281	4	27	5
CF	Howie Goss	133	411	37	86	18	2	.209	9	44	4
RF	Carl Warwick	150	528	49	134	19	5	.209	7	47	3

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	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
Pete Runnels	124	388	35	98	9	1	.253	2	23	2
Johnny Temple	100	322	22	85	12	1	.264	1	17	7
Jim Wynn	70	250	31	61	10	5	.244	4	27	4
Jim Campbell	55	158	9	35	3	0	.222	4	19	0
J. C. Hartman	39	90	2	11	1	0	.122	0	3	1
Johnny Weekly	34	80	4	18	3	0	.225	3	14	0
Hal Smith	31	58	1	14	2	0	.241	0	2	0
Brock Davis	34	55	7	11	2	0	.200	1	2	0
Carroll Hardy	15	44	5	10	3	0	.227	0	3	1
Glenn Vaughan	9	30	1	5	0	0	.167	0	0	1
Joe Morgan	8	25	5	6	0	1	.240	0	3	1
Dave Adlesh	6	8	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Mike White	3	7	0	2	0	0	.286	0	0	0
Jerry Grote	3	5	0	1	0	0	.200	0	1	0
Ivan Murrell	2	5	1	1	0	0	.200	0	0	0
Aaron Pointer	2	5	0	1	0	0	.200	0	0	0
John Paciorek	1	3	4	3	0	0	1.000	0	3	0
Sonny Jackson	1	3	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Ken Johnson	37	32	224.0	11	17	2.65	86	66	50	148
Turk Farrell	34	26	202.1	14	13	3.02	76	68	35	141
Don Nottebart	31	27	193.0	11	8	3.17	80	68	39	118
Bob Bruce	30	25	170.1	5	9	3.59	73	68	60	123
Hal Brown	26	20	141.1	5	11	3.31	54	52	60	68
Larry Yellen	1	1	5.0	0	0	3.60	4	2	1	3
Jay Dahl	1	1	2.2	0	1	16.88	7	5	0	0

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Dick Drott	27	14	97.2	2	12	0	4.98	61	54	49	58
Chris Zachary	22	7	57.0	2	2	0	4.89	38	31	22	42
Conrad Cardinal	6	1	13.1	0	1	0	6.08	14	9	7	7
George Brunet	5	2	12.2	0	3	0	7.11	11	10	6	11
Jim Golden	3	1	6.1	0	1	0	5.68	4	4	2	5

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Hal Woodeshick	55	114.0	11	9	10	1.97	29	25	42	94
Don McMahon	49	80.0	1	5	5	4.05	38	36	26	51
Jim Umbricht	35	76.0	4	3	0	2.61	23	22	21	48
Russ Kemmerer	17	36.2	0	0	1	5.65	28	23	8	12
Jim Dickson	13	14.2	0	1	2	6.14	13	10	2	6
Joe Hoerner	1	3.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	2
Danny Coombs	1	0.1	0	0	0	27.00	1	1	0	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Hal Woodeshick, reserve

^[12]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	Pacific Coast League	Grady Hatton
AA	San Antonio Bullets	Texas League	Lou Fitzgerald
A	Modesto Colts	California League	Dave Philley
A	Durham Bulls	Carolina League	Billy Goodman
A	Moultrie Colt .22s	Georgia–Florida League	Jim Walton

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oklahoma City

References

1. Joe Morgan at Baseball Reference
2. Conrad Cardinal at Baseball Reference
3. Ellis Burton at Baseball Reference
4. Don Taussig at Baseball Reference
5. Manny Mota at Baseball Reference
6. Norm Larker at Baseball Reference
7. Hal Haydel at Baseball Reference
8. Reed, Robert. A Six-Gun Salute: An Illustrated History of the Colt .45s. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1999.
9. Barron, David "Phillies announcer Kalas dies after collapsing in booth" Houston Chronicle, Monday, April 13, 2009
10. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 143, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
11. Geisler Young, LLC –. "1963 Houston Colt .45s Roster by Baseball Almanac". from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
12. "1963 All-Star Game".

External links

• 1963 Houston Colt .45s season at Baseball Reference
• 1963 Houston Colt .45s season at retrosheet.org ( 2009-05-04)