1964 Houston Colt .45s season

Offseason

On April 8, just days before Opening Day, Colt .45s pitcher Jim Umbricht died of cancer at age 33. Umbricht had returned after diagnosis and treatment in 1963 to pitch in 35 games, but relapse occurred during the offseason. The team officially retired his jersey number 32 the following Opening Day, on April 12, 1965, during a pre-game ceremony and the regular-season opening ceremony of the Astrodome. His jersey number was the first to be retired by the team.

Notable transactions

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

Regular season

Summary

April

The Colt .45s triumphed over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, 6–3, for Opening Day on April 13, to obtain sole possession of first place for the only time during their first three years. In the top of fifth, Nellie Fox's two-run batted in (RBI) single extended Houston's lead, 3–0. and Cincinnati native Jimmy Wynn homered in the sixth inning. President Lyndon B. Johnson, in attendance, looked on as Colts starter Ken Johnson painted a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning, before Bob Skinner launched a two-run blast. Hal Woodeshick recorded the final out for the save.

Bob Bruce's immaculate inning

During the eighth inning versus the St. Louis Cardinals on April 19, Bob Bruce entered in relief and hurled the first immaculate inning to club history.{{cite web |url=https://astrosdaily.com/history/strikeouts.html |title=The Strikeout Zone |work=Astros Daily |date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=December 9, 2025}} The right-hander set down Bill White swinging, Charlie James looking, and Ken Boyer swinging. However, the Colts lost to Bob Gibson in a masterful complete game, 6–1. Bruce returned for ninth inning, whom Johnny Lewis greeted with a single to center field and then stole second base. However, Bruce proceeded to strike out the side again, ringing up Tim McCarver, Julián Javier and Gibson.

Ken Johnson's no-hitter

On April 23, Houston starter 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 contest. In the ninth inning, he reached second base via error on Vada Pinson's batted ground ball and later scored.

Prior to Johnson's remarkable—though dubious—accomplishment, nine other mound slingers had lost no-hit games in extra innings.

This magnus opus succeeded Don Nottebart after less than one year on May 17, 1963, in a 4–1 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies as the second no-hitter in franchise history.

In addition to becoming the only pitcher to lose a no-hitter, Johnson's was just the third in the major leagues to have been thrown by an individual pitcher which also did not result in a shutout. Rather, Joe Nuxhall, Johnson's mound opponent, was credited with the shutout and victory.

Among no-hatters by individual pitchers that were not shutouts, Johnson was preceded first by Bob Feller on July 1, 1951, when he led the Cleveland Indians to a 2–1 triumph over the Detroit Tigers, then by Nottebart's effort. This made the Houston Colt .45s the all-time record-holders as a franchise for no-hitters that were complete games but not shutouts. The next bout of this type was imposed by Dean Chance on August 25, 1967, in a 2–1 Minnesota Twins triumph over the Indians. Moreover, on September 8, 1993, Astros moundsman Darryl Kile stymied the New York Mets, 7–1, in this class of no-hitter to extend the Colt .45s/Astros franchise as the major league leader.

June

On June 11, Bob Aspromonte smashed a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring Houston to a 5–2 lead over the Cincinnati Reds. The shot, off Reds starter John Tsitouris (2–4), provided all the support required for winner Claude Raymond (2–1), who tossed innings in relief of Bob Bruce as Houston held on to win, 5–3. However, all of Houston's runs were scored with a two-out upstart in the fifth and were unearned. Facing a 2–0 deficit, Al Spangler worked a base on balls and Nellie Fox followed with a single. Next, Mike White reached on a third-strike passed ball to load the bases, and first baseman Dave Roberts coaxed the second walk of the frame to force in Houston's first run. Aspromonte then followed with his thunderous blast deep to left. Aspromonte's third career slam, it arrived one year to the day following his 10th inning, walk-off grand slam which defeated the Chicago Cubs.

Ken Boyer of the Cardinals connected for the first—and only—cycle at Colt Stadium on June 16. Bob Bruce yielded the double and triple to Boyer, who smacked the home run off Don Larsen in the top of the seventh. The Colt .45s' only tally for the game arrived via Rusty Staub's home run to right off Curt Simmons in the bottom of the seventh. Houston dropped this contest, 7–1.

In another first for pitcher Ken Johnson, he slugged his first career home run on June 21, during the fifth inning of a doubleheader nightcap. The victim was Denny Lemaster of the Milwaukee Braves. Every run counted as Johnson departed the mound with three runs surrendered over innings pitched for a 5–3 lead. Joe Gaines also homered for the Colts, a two-run shot in the seventh. During the bottom of the eighth, Gene Oliver scored on a Denis Menke ground ball double play to shortstop, but Hal Woodeshick got out of rest of the inning unscathed and closed out the contest for his 14th save.

Following the doubleheader sweep of the Braves on June 21, the Colts had assembled a four-game winning streak. They played to their best showing on the season to date, and in seventh place in the National League, but stumbled to the rest of the way.

Bob Aspromonte connected for the final grand slam hit at Colt Stadium on June 29.

July

On July 4, Joe Gaines cranked the final inside-the-park home run at Colt Stadium.

September

The Colt .45s relieved manager Harry Craft of duty on September 19 and promoted coach Lum Harris to guide the club for the remainder of the season. Craft was Houston's first major league manager as well as the city's final minor league manager, of the Buffaloes. General manager Paul Richards indicated the move was made to allow Craft to pursue other offers for the same position, as two other clubs had interest in his services. Craft had led the club to a record, while the club performed to under Harris for the remaining 13 contests.

Right-hander Larry Dierker made his MLB debut on his 18th birthday on September 22 at Colt Stadium, starting versus the San Francisco Giants. Dierker walked the leadoff batter, Harvey Kuenn, and surrendered a hit to the next hitter, Matty Alou, but retired the next three in order without allowing a run, including retiring Jim Ray Hart for his first career strikeout, and striking out Willie Mays looking to retire the side. However, Orlando Cepeda blasted a home run off Dierker leading off the second. He aggregated innings pitched, surrendered four total runs with two earned, five hits, three bases on balls and three strikeouts. The Colt .45s managed just one run while San Francisco triumphed, 7–1, handing Dierker the loss. Dierker is the last major leaguer to make his debut during his age-17 season.

Final game at Colt Stadium

The final contest at Colt Stadium transpired on September 27,

In the bottom of the 12th, with the game having remained scoreless, Morgan led off with a single, becoming the only player in the game to attain more than one hit. Next, Staub took Morgan's place on a failed sacrifice hit, and Walt Bond was retired on a groundout. With two out, Bob Aspromonte took what would be the stadium's last intentional base on balls so Perranoski could face Jimmy Wynn. However, Wynn foiled the strategy to deliver the final, walk-off, hit, which scored Staub for the concluding run at the stadium and a 1–0 Houston triumph.

Bruce (15–9), who pitched all 12 innings, earned the closing victory via a five-hit, six-strikeout, complete game shutout, and a game score of 96. Each of the nine members of the Colts' starting lineup played through the entire 12 innings. Moreover, he became Houston's first-ever 15-game winner in a single season.

Performance overview

The Houston Colt .45s concluded their third season at , replicating their record and ninth-place standing in the National League from the year prior. It was also their third straight 96-loss season, at the time, tying the club record since their premier season of 1962. The Colt .45s hosted 725,793 fans during the season, an improvement by over 6 thousand from the year prior but second-lowest in club history. By contrast, during the inaugural season of the Astrodome the following year in 1965, Houston drew over 2 million for the first time.

During their three-year stay at Colt Stadium, Aspromonte was the club's all-time home run leader at the park, with 21.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

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

Roster

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

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

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

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

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

Awards and achievements

Grand slams

Awards

• Houston Colt .45s Most Valuable Player (MVP): Bob Aspromonte
• MLB All-Star Game—Reserve pitcher: Turk Farrell

Minor league system

;Championships

• Texas League champions: San Antonio

;Awards

• Texas League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP): Joe Morgan, 2B

References

;Footnotes

;Sources

References

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