With this photo, I resume my photo sleuthing series that I generally run in baseball offseasons.
Before I get to this one, I’ll again put out a call: If you have any old Cubs or Wrigley Field (or even other baseball) photos you’d like me to sleuth, please send them along!
The sleuthing project for this photo isn’t about the date or location, because I already know that from the filename of the photo when I found it. It was “houstoncoltsfirstgamecubs.jpg.”
So this photo shows the very first pitch thrown
by Houston’s MLB franchise. The pitcher is Bobby Shantz, who had been a pretty good lefty for the Philadelphia A’s a decade earlier — AL MVP in 1952 — and also put together some good years for the Yankees later in the 1950s, pitching for them in the World Series in 1957 and 1960. By 1961 he was about to turn 36 and so was left unprotected in the expansion draft.
Picked up by Houston, he was made their Opening Day starter on this day, April 11, 1962. This photo depicts him throwing that first pitch, to Lou Brock, that day’s leadoff hitter for the Cubs. Shantz wound up striking out Brock.
The sleuthing I’d like you to do is this. On the scoreboard, it shows Brock’s average as .353. That might be a bit small in the photo at the top of the post, so here’s a screenshot enlarging it:
Now, that couldn’t be possible if you’re the first batter of the season in your first at-bat, right?
I thought maybe this might be his BA from spring training. Unfortunately, back in that day, newspapers didn’t really keep track of spring numbers like they do now. In fact, MLB doesn’t have any spring stats on its website from before 2006. In trying to find out Brock’s 1962 spring BA, I did find one note that said he had hit safely in 18 straight spring games. Based on that, a .353 spring BA for Brock is certainly plausible.
Thus I’ll leave it to the sleuths among you: Can you find definitive proof of Brock’s 1962 spring batting average? Let us know.
The Cubs went 18-9 in spring training in 1962. Billy Williams had been the 1961 NL Rookie of the Year, and many observers were very high on Brock, who was about to turn 23 and who had played just four games for the Cubs in ‘61, and another rookie, Ken Hubbs. Many writers thought the Cubs could finish sixth or seventh in the new 10-team NL in 1962, which would have been an improvement over their 90-loss, seventh out of eight finish in ‘61.
Welp. Didn’t happen. The upstart expansion Colts pounded 13 hits, including three home runs, off five Cubs pitchers and won that Opening Day game 11-2. Ernie Banks’ first homer of the year (he’d hit 37 that year) was about the only Cubs highlight of the game. In fact, Houston swept that opening series and wound up finishing ahead of the Cubs, going 64-96 to the Cubs’ 59-103. It was the first-ever 100-loss season for the Cubs, which they wound up matching in 1966.
Shantz threw a complete game that day, but it was one of only three games he would pitch for Houston. On May 7 he was traded to the Cardinals for John Anderson and Carl Warwick. Warwick would later play for the Cubs in 1966, and Shantz pitched in 20 games for the Cubs in 1964 after coming over in the infamous deal that would send Brock to the Cardinals.
Just another little slice of Cubs and MLB history. And let us know if you find definitive proof of Lou Brock’s spring BA in 1962.
