'We shouldn't forget our history': Houston's Colt Stadium gets historical marker

HOUSTON -- Anyone who spent any time inside Colt Stadium in the mid-1960s as a player, fan or employee will tell stories of the heat and humidity that were impossible to escape, and the mosquitoes that followed as a result. The makeshift ballpark’s history carries significance in that it helped launch Major League Baseball in Houston before giving way to the Astrodome.

“If it hadn’t been for Colt Stadium, you wouldn’t have had that,” said longtime Astros executive Tal Smith, who was a liaison for the Houston Sports Association during the construction of the Astrodome.

Colt Stadium, which is where the Houston franchise played for the first three years of its existence in 1962-64 as the Colt .45s, received a Texas historical marker on Tuesday at the spot where the ballpark stood, just north of the Astrodome. The team moved next door to the air-conditioned Astrodome in 1965 and was rebranded as the Astros, launching baseball stadiums into the space age.

Colt Stadium, which was eventually disassembled and shipped to Mexico, was not only the home to a National League expansion team, but several Hall of Famers played there, including Ron Santo, Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson, Stan Musial and Sandy Koufax. Houston pitcher Ken Johnson threw a no-hitter at Colt Stadium in 1964, but lost to the Reds.

“That’s the first time that ever happened in MLB history,” said baseball historian Mike Vance, who helped get the marker established. “Ernie Banks, who was famous for saying, ‘Let’s play two!’ got heat stroke in the first game of a doubleheader at Colt Stadium and couldn’t finish.”

The marker, which took about two years to get put in the ground, sits on the site of the first Major League game in Texas history, which was played at Colt Stadium on April 10, 1962, with the expansion Colt .45s beating the Cubs, 11-2.

“It was sort of ironic playing in a temporary stadium while [the Astrodome] was under construction,” Smith said. “They were such interesting times. Colt Stadium brings back a lot of memories as people have alluded to, like the heat and the humidity and the mosquitoes and everything else, but it gave us a foundation for baseball here. And then the transition was even more remarkable.”

Vance said the Colt Stadium marker was paid for by a grant from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), but it took a couple of years to get it into the ground.

“You write your narrative and it goes through some editing process with the local historical commission,” he said. “The Texas Historical Commission looks at it and then they approve it and they send if off to the foundry, and you just kind of wait. It’s great to actually see it in the ground. That’s a milestone we’re looking forward to.”

Tuesday’s ceremony was attended by officials from the Astros, Harris County, historical societies, the local SABR chapter and descendants of former players and other dignitaries who helped bring baseball to Houston. Several older fans with Colt .45s hats were there as well.

Larry Dierker made his Major League debut at Colt Stadium on his 18th birthday in September 1964, striking out Willie Mays. It was the only game he played in the ballpark, spending most of his playing days inside the Astrodome before a long career as a broadcaster and later as a manager in Houston. He’s glad Colt Stadium will always be remembered.

“What it means to me in the larger sense is we shouldn’t forget our history -- our good history, our bad history, all of our history,” Dierker said. “Doing things like this connects us back to people in time to bring back memories, and with the memories come a few smiles and people telling stories. That’s here for people to see. To me, it’s important to remember where you came from, and old Colt Stadium is where I came from.”

Vance said Colt Stadium is the fourth professional baseball stadium to get a historical marker in Houston, joining the Astrodome and a pair of parks which played host to semiprofessional baseball in the city’s early days. He’s hoping Buff Stadium, which was the home of the Minor League Houston Buffs, will be next in line.