1964 Houston Colt .45s season

The 1964 Houston Colt .45s season was the team's third season in Major League Baseball. It involved the Houston Colt .45s finishing in ninth place in the National League with a record of 66–96, 27 games behind the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. It was their final season for the team at Colt Stadium before relocating their games to the Astrodome in 1965, along with the accompanying name change to the "Astros" for the '65 season.

1964 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, Lum Harris
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe)

Offseason

On April 8, just a few days before Opening Day, Colt .45s pitcher Jim Umbricht died of cancer. Umbricht had come back from cancer in 1963 to pitch in 35 games, but it returned during the offseason. His uniform number 32 would be retired by the Astros the following season.

Notable transactions

• October 10, 1963: Claude Raymond was drafted by the Colt .45s from the Milwaukee Braves in a 1963 special draft.

Regular season

On April 23, Houston pitcher Ken Johnson became the first pitcher in major league history to lose a complete game no-hitter in nine innings when he was beaten 1–0 by the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati's Pete Rose scored the only run of the game in the ninth inning, when he reached second base on an error and later scored.

Season standings

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	93	69	.574	—	48‍–‍33	45‍–‍36
Philadelphia Phillies	92	70	.568	1	46‍–‍35	46‍–‍35
Cincinnati Reds	92	70	.568	1	47‍–‍34	45‍–‍36
San Francisco Giants	90	72	.556	3	44‍–‍37	46‍–‍35
Milwaukee Braves	88	74	.543	5	45‍–‍36	43‍–‍38
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	82	.494	13	42‍–‍39	38‍–‍43
Los Angeles Dodgers	80	82	.494	13	41‍–‍40	39‍–‍42
Chicago Cubs	76	86	.469	17	40‍–‍41	36‍–‍45
Houston Colt .45s	66	96	.407	27	41‍–‍40	25‍–‍56
New York Mets	53	109	.327	40	33‍–‍48	20‍–‍61

Record vs. opponents

1964 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MIL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Chicago	—	6–12	11–7	10–8	8–10	11–7	6–12	9–9	9–9	6–12
Cincinnati	12–6	—	12–6	14–4–1	9–9	11–7	9–9	8–10	7–11	10–8
Houston	7–11	6–12	—	7–11	12–6	9–9	5–13	5–13	7–11	8–10
Los Angeles	8–10	4–14–1	11–7	—	8–10	15–3–1	8–10	10–8	6–12	10–8
Milwaukee	10–8	9–9	6–12	10–8	—	14–4	10–8	12–6	9–9	8–10
New York	7–11	7–11	9–9	3–15–1	4–14	—	3–15	6–12	7–11	7–11
Philadelphia	12-6	9–9	13–5	10–8	8–10	15–3	—	10–8	10–8	5–13
Pittsburgh	9–9	10–8	13–5	8–10	6–12	12–6	8–10	—	8–10	6–12
San Francisco	9–9	11–7	11–7	12–6	9–9	11–7	8–10	10–8	—	9–9
St. Louis	12–6	8–10	10–8	8–10	10–8	11–7	13–5	12–6	9–9	—

Opening Day starters

• Bob Aspromonte
• John Bateman
• Walt Bond
• Nellie Fox
• Eddie Kasko
• Jim Owens
• Pete Runnels
• Rusty Staub
• Jimmy Wynn

Notable transactions

• May 26, 1964: Walt Williams was selected off waivers from the Colt .45s by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Roster

1964 Houston Colt .45s
Roster
Pitchers 45 Don Bradey 38 Hal Brown 30 Bob Bruce 44 Danny Coombs 49 Larry Dierker 13 Turk Farrell 39 Dave Giusti 44 Joe Hoerner 40 Ken Johnson 34 Gordon Jones 31 Don Larsen 43 Don Nottebart 33 Jim Owens 36 Claude Raymond 46 Hal Woodeshick 47 Larry Yellen 37 Chris Zachary		Catchers  8 Dave Adlesh  7 John Bateman  8 Jerry Grote  9 John Hoffman Infielders 14 Bob Aspromonte 23 Walt Bond  2 Nellie Fox 17 Steve Hertz 19 Sonny Jackson 11 Eddie Kasko 15 Bob Lillis 35 Joe Morgan 26 Dave Roberts  3 Pete Runnels 10 Rusty Staub		Outfielders 22 Jim Beauchamp 29 Brock Davis 22,27 Joe Gaines 20 Carroll Hardy 23 Ivan Murrell 21 Al Spangler 26 Johnny Weekly 16 Mike White 28 Walt Williams 24 Jimmy Wynn		Manager  1 Harry Craft  6 Lum Harris Coaches 42 Jimmy Adair (First base)  4 Jim Busby (Third base)  5 Cot Deal (Pitching)  6 Lum Harris (Bench)

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	Jerry Grote	100	298	26	54	9	3	.181	3	24	0
1B	Walt Bond	148	543	63	138	16	7	.254	20	85	2
2B	Nellie Fox	133	442	45	117	12	6	.265	0	28	0
3B	Bob Aspromonte	157	553	51	155	20	3	.280	12	28	6
SS	Eddie Kasko	133	448	45	109	16	1	.243	0	22	4
LF	Al Spangler	135	449	51	110	18	5	.245	4	38	7
CF	Mike White	89	280	30	76	11	3	.271	0	27	1
RF	Joe Gaines	89	307	37	78	9	7	.254	7	34	8

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
Bob Lillis	109	332	31	89	11	2	.268	0	17	4
Rusty Staub	89	292	26	63	10	2	.216	8	35	1
Mike White	89	280	30	76	11	3	.271	0	27	1
John Bateman	74	221	18	42	8	0	.190	5	19	0
Carroll Hardy	46	157	13	29	1	1	.185	2	12	0
Dave Roberts	61	125	9	23	4	1	.184	1	7	0
Jim Beauchamp	23	55	6	9	2	0	.164	2	4	0
Pete Runnels	22	51	3	10	1	0	.196	0	3	0
Joe Morgan	10	37	4	7	0	0	.189	0	0	0
Sonny Jackson	9	23	3	8	1	0	.348	0	1	1
Johnny Weekly	6	15	0	2	0	0	.133	0	3	0
John Hoffman	6	15	1	1	0	0	.067	0	0	0
Ivan Murrell	10	14	1	2	1	0	.143	0	1	0
Dave Adlesh	3	10	0	2	0	0	.200	0	0	0
Walt Williams	10	9	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Steve Hertz	5	4	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Brock Davis	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	35	35	218.0	11	16	3.63	100	88	44	117
Bob Bruce	35	29	202.1	15	9	2.76	73	70	62	135
Turk Farrell	32	27	198.1	11	10	3.27	80	72	52	117
Don Nottebart	28	24	157.0	6	11	3.90	76	68	37	90
Hal Brown	27	21	132.0	3	15	3.95	68	58	26	53
Chris Zachary	1	1	4.0	0	1	9.00	5	4	1	2

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
Jim Owens	48	11	118.0	8	7	6	3.28	48	43	32	88
Don Larsen	30	10	103.1	4	8	1	2.26	36	26	20	58
Larry Dierker	3	1	9.0	0	1	0	2.00	4	2	3	5
Don Bradey	3	1	2.1	0	2	0	19.29	7	5	3	2

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	61	78.1	2	9	23	2.76	32	24	32	58
Claude Raymond	38	79.2	5	5	0	2.82	28	25	22	56
Gordon Jones	34	50.0	0	1	0	4.14	24	23	14	28
Larry Yellen	13	21.0	0	0	0	6.86	19	16	10	9
Dave Giusti	8	25.2	0	0	0	3.16	10	9	8	16
Danny Coombs	7	18.0	1	1	0	5.00	10	10	10	14
Joe Hoerner	7	11.0	0	0	0	4.91	11	6	6	4

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	Chuck Churn
A	Durham Bulls	Carolina League	Billy Goodman and Walt Matthews
A	Statesville Colts	Western Carolinas League	Dave Philley and Rudy York
Rookie	Cocoa Colts	Cocoa Rookie League	Dave Philley

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Antonio

Statesville affiliation shared with Boston Red Sox

External links

• 1964 Houston Colt .45s season at Baseball Reference
• Colt .45s on Baseball Almanac (Archived 2009-05-04)