1963 Houston Colt .45s season explained

Houston Colt .45s
Season:	1963
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)

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.

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]

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	CatchersInfielders	Outfielders	ManagerCoaches (Third Base) (Pitching)

^[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	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	128	404	23	85	8	6	.210	10	59	0
1B	150	513	43	115	17	4	.224	6	45	0
2B	102	228	31	42	10	3	.184	2	5	4
3B	136	468	42	100	9	5	.214	8	49	3
SS	147	469	31	93	13	1	.198	1	19	3
LF	120	430	52	121	25	4	.281	4	27	5
CF	133	411	37	86	18	2	.209	9	44	4
RF	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

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
124	388	35	98	9	1	.253	2	23	2
100	322	22	85	12	1	.264	1	17	7
70	250	31	61	10	5	.244	4	27	4
55	158	9	35	3	0	.222	4	19	0
39	90	2	11	1	0	.122	0	3	1
34	80	4	18	3	0	.225	3	14	0
31	58	1	14	2	0	.241	0	2	0
34	55	7	11	2	0	.200	1	2	0
15	44	5	10	3	0	.227	0	3	1
9	30	1	5	0	0	.167	0	0	1
8	25	5	6	0	1	.240	0	3	1
6	8	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
3	7	0	2	0	0	.286	0	0	0
3	5	0	1	0	0	.200	0	1	0
2	5	1	1	0	0	.200	0	0	0
2	5	0	1	0	0	.200	0	0	0
1	3	4	3	0	0	1.000	0	3	0
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

G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
37	32	224.0	11	17	2.65	86	66	50	148
34	26	202.1	14	13	3.02	76	68	35	141
31	27	193.0	11	8	3.17	80	68	39	118
30	25	170.1	5	9	3.59	73	68	60	123
26	20	141.1	5	11	3.31	54	52	60	68
1	1	5.0	0	0	3.60	4	2	1	3
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

G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
27	14	97.2	2	12	4.98	61	54	49	58
22	7	57.0	2	2	4.89	38	31	22	42
6	1	13.1	0	1	6.08	14	9	7	7
5	2	12.2	0	3	7.11	11	10	6	11
3	1	6.1	0	1	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

G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
55	114.0	11	9	10	1.97	29	25	42	94
49	80.0	1	5	5	4.05	38	36	26	51
35	76.0	4	3	0	2.61	23	22	21	48
17	36.2	0	0	1	5.65	28	23	8	12
13	14.2	0	1	2	6.14	13	10	2	6
1	3.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	2
1	0.1	0	0	0	27.00	1	1	0	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Hal Woodeshick, reserve

^[12]

Farm system

External links

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morgajo02.shtml Joe Morgan
https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cardico01.shtml Conrad Cardinal
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burtoel01.shtml Ellis Burton
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taussdo01.shtml Don Taussig
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/motama01.shtml Manny Mota
https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/larkeno01.shtml Norm Larker
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haydeha01.shtml Hal Haydel
Reed, Robert. A Six-Gun Salute: An Illustrated History of the Colt .45s. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1999.
Barron, David "Phillies announcer Kalas dies after collapsing in booth" Houston Chronicle, Monday, April 13, 2009
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 143, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
Web site: 1963 Houston Colt .45s Roster by Baseball Almanac . Geisler Young, LLC – . https://web.archive.org/web/20090323032712/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1963&t=HO1 . March 23, 2009 . live . April 19, 2009 . mdy-all .
Web site: 1963 All-Star Game.