1963 – Colts score four times against Sandy Koufax in the sixth to emerge with a 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. Howie Goss drives in two runs. Carroll Hardy and Hal Smith also generate RBI singles.
1963 – Colt .45s trade outfielder Manny Mota to Pittsburgh for outfielder Howie Goss, who lasts one season. Mota torments Houston pitchers for the next twenty years.
1963 – Reliever Jim Umbricht undergoes 6-1/2 hours of surgery at Methodist Hospital to remove malignant cancer tumors from his leg, thigh and groin. Two months later, he is back on the mound pitching for the Colt .45s.
Craig Shipley is born in Parramatta, Australia. The utility infielder bats .263 in 1995, his lone season as an Astro.
1962 – Righthander Don Nottebart is purchased from the Milwaukee Braves on the advice of ex-teammate Don McMahon. Nottebart’s three-year record in Houston is 21-34, including the franchise’s first no-hitter. Infielders Norm Larker and Joey Amalfitano are also traded in two separate deals for four players who do not make Houston’s roster. Larker is swapped to the Braves while Amalfitano is shipped to the Giants.
1962 – Colt .45s draft infielder Jim Wynn from Cincinnati. The 20-year-old is disappointed to be leaving his hometown’s farm system but gains a fast track to the majors, appearing in Houston the next season as an outfielder.
1962 – Colt .45s sign 19-year-old infielder Joe Morgan as a free agent. Morgan relates in later years how few ballclubs were willing to give the 5-7 player a chance, deeming him too small to be a big-leaguer.
1962 – Houston loses a twinbill with Philadelphia, 3-2 and 5-3, even though it is “Break The Jinx Night” with fans admitted at half-price for bringing their good luck charms. Bob Bruce is the hero the next day in a 4-1 triumph or the Colts would have become the first big league team ever to be swept in a season series.
1962 – Snapping a nine-game losing skid, the Colts sweep a twinbill from the Reds, 2-1 and 6-4. Lefty George Brunet scatters five hits in the opener, outdueling Jim Maloney. In the nightcap, Johnny Temple, a former All-Star in Cincy, singles home the winning runs in the ninth inning before Jim Umbricht strikes out the side to finish the sweep. Jim Campbell adds a two-run homer for Houston.
1962 – Carl Warwick ‘s four hits pace the Colts past St. Louis, 8-3. He cracks a two-run double off Bob Gibson in the first then adds a two-run bomb in the third. Ken Johnson earns the victory, supported by 15 Houston hits.
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