1966 – Angry Cub Manager Leo Durocher rips the dugout phone off the wall and throws it onto the Astrodome field. Bob Aspromonte deepens Leo’s misery with a grand slam home run that sparks a 7-4 comeback victory. Southwestern Bell replaces the phone the next day and the Astros hand Durocher the repair bill.
1966 – 19-year-old Larry Dierker outduels Hall-of-Famer Sandy Koufax for a 3-0 whitewash of the Dodgers. Dierker surrenders just five hits. A two-run single by Chuck Harrison and a solo shot by Bob Aspromonte supply the offense.
1965 – New York broadcaster Lindsay Nelson calls the Mets’ 12-9 loss to Houston from the gondola at the top of the Astrodome, located 208 feet above second base . The umpires tell Met skipper Casey Stengel that any ball which might hit Nelson would still be considered in play. That doesn’t occur but a lot does as the two teams trade the lead. Bob Aspromonte’s bases-loaded single delivers the game-winner.
1965 – Joe Morgan singles home Bob Aspromonte in the 11th inning for a 5-4 triumph over Pittsburgh. It’s the first day game at the Astrodome after the ceiling tiles had been painted to reduce the glare. Pirate outfielder Bill Virdon couldn’t use it as an excuse when Jim Wynn scores on his three-base error. Umpire Vinnie Smith couldn’t use it as an excuse when he overturns his own home-run call on Walt Bond’s drive off the fence.
1965 – Bob Aspromonte is the first to set off the Astrodome scoreboard’s home run display for its intended purpose during a 5-0 shutout of the Pirates. Vern Law is the victim. Jim Wynn adds another blast two innings later to delight the crowd. Dick Farrellscatters seven hits.
1965 – Bob Aspromonte is the first recipient of the Jim Umbricht Award, given to the team’s most valuable player for the previous season. The honor was renamed after Umbricht’s death from cancer the previous April.
1964 – Don Larsen, of World Series no-hit fame, tosses a five-hitter in the Texas heat to best Warren Spahn and the Milwaukee Braves, 7-1. It is Larsen’s first complete game in five years. Bob Aspromonte and Walt Bond launch solo bombs to pace the Colts. Rookie catcher Jerry Grote adds two hits, including a two-run double.
1964 – Nellie Fox delivers his third hit, a single off Barney Schultz, scoring Al Spangler for an 8-7, ten-inning triumph over St. Louis. Bob Aspromonte drives in four, including a game-tying hit with two out in the ninth to push the game into overtime.
One loss shy of tying the major league record of 19 consecutive defeats, Roger Craig switches his uniform number to 13 in an attempt to change his luck. The move appears to work when Jim Hickman lofts a short fly ball in the ninth inning with two outs and the bases-full in a tie game, that just ticks the upper-deck overhang in left field at the Polo Grounds for a walk-off grand slam, giving the Mets an improbable 7-3 victory over the Cubs.
On July 26, 1963 – With ten year-old Bill Bradley, who had regained some of his eyesight, in the stands and the bases loaded in the first inning of a game against New York at Colt Stadium, Bob Aspromonte sends Tracy Stallard’s pitch over the left-field wall for a grand slam, fulfilling his young fan’s…
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