On February 16, 1962 the expansion Houston Colt 45’s took the field in Apache, Junction Arizona for their inaugural spring training. Baseball’s newest member of the National League played second-fiddle to another expansion team the New York Mets but were just as interesting.
The team was assembled with an emphasis on the future by General Manager Paul Richards. Richards was hired away from the Baltimore Orioles after Gabe Paul resigned to take the same post with the Cleveland Indians. So Houston was on its second GM before opening their first spring training.
Unlike the Mets, Richards felt that it was more important to build a team than draft stars to attract fans. One of his prospects was a young man by the name of Daniel Joseph Staub, better known as Rusty. Another was pitcher Dave Giusti who would later gain fame with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The team was managed by Harry Craft. He had managed the Chicago Cubs on an interim basis in 1961.
When Craft and the Colts 45’s arrived in Apache Junction they found conditions that were less than ideal. Future GM Spec Richardson described the town as, ‘the bare minimum…and a lot of rattlesnakes.’ Spring training was to eventually be the Apache Junction project a brainchild of local businessman W. Winfield Creighton. It was to include $150,000 Geronimo Stadium, a hotel and a training complex. But Creighton’s idea never came to fruition and the Colts were gone by 1964.
As for 1962 the team was actually competitive despite losing their first game on March 10 to the Los Angeles Angels in Palm Springs, California. They would finish the campaign winning 17 of 28 games. This did not stop them from having their comedic moments.
Many of the outfielders complained in spring training that the Arizona sky made it hard to track fly balls. One who did not was Al Spangler. A Duke graduate he dismissed the issue saying, ‘I would merely allow for the force of impact and the rate of descent and could catch the ball while making change for a $20 bill.’ Then in the first game he let one ball fall in front of him and another behind him. When asked to explain what happened Spangler said, ‘I forgot to figure on the curvature of the Earth.’
In his first Colt 45’s at bat Staub struck out swinging. He would not leave spring training with the big club.
Houston got its first win on March 13 against the Cleveland Indians. Jack Waters drove in the winning run. Waters was a career minor leaguer and never got a hit in the majors.
The rattlesnakes persisted and the Colts left for Houston where they would go 64-96.
Two years later it was off to Cocoa Beach Florida. Apache Junction and its project were left behind, but would always be remembered as the first spring training home of the Houston Colt 45’s.
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