April 16, 1861: The Houston Stonewalls.

A mere 75 days beyond the date that Texas seceded from the Union, in a room above J.H. Evans’s Store on Market Square in downtown Houston, the Houston Base Ball Club was formed for the purpose of playing some serious amateur ball. Delayed by the impairing effect of the Civil War upon roster recruitment, the club finally got underway in 1866 as the Houston Stonewalls. Until further research is undertaken, little is known today about the overall proficiency of the Stonewalls – although we do hold tight to one interesting fact, as well we also do to an important historical conclusion: (a) on April 21, 1867, the Houston Stonewalls defeated the Galveston Robert E. Lees by a score of 35-2; and (b) the 1861 founding date of the club proves that Houston’s interest in base ball existed prior to, not because of, the Civil War. Remember: The City of Houston was founded by two brothers from New York in 1836.

March 6, 1888: The Houston Babies.

After two decades of thriving local amateur base ball action, the first-ever Houston professional base ball club played its early season games by the dubiously honorable sobriquet, the Houston Babies. The Houston club acquired their informal first name offering by being the last of eight clubs to sign up as a member of the new Texas League. Before the season was done the Babies had morphed into the Red Stockings before switching to Mud Cats in 1889. Over the rest of the early years (1890-1906), the local club played variously in a couple of minor leagues as the Houston Magnolias (most of the 1890s), (Buffalos (1903), and Wanderers (1904), before becoming the Buffalos again for good in 1905 and returning to the Texas League in 1907 for a 56-year, extended minor league stay as the Houston Buffalos or Buffs. The Houston club of 1889 captured the first professional championship by winning the Texas League under manager Big John McCloskey, the same man who came to be remembered as the Father of the Texas League for his pioneer work in getting the circuit started.

1905-1961: The Houston Buffalos/Buffs.

Hall of Famers Tris Speaker (1907), Dizzy Dean (1930), Joe Medwick (1930), and Billy Williams (1960) are the brightest stars in a long line of stellar performers who rocketed through Houston as Buffs on their way to the big leagues. The list of very memorable ballplayers and managers includes first class folks like Curt Walker, Harry McCurdy, Chick Hafey, Pepper Martin, Tex Carlton, Homer Peel, Danny Murtaugh, Watty Watkins, Don Gutteridge, Howie Pollet, Eddie Dyer, Johnny Keene, Red Munger, Solly Hemus, Hal Epps, Larry Miggins, Jerry Witte, Al Papai, Frank Mancuso, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Al Hollingsworth, Ken Boyer, Bob Boyd, Ron Santo, and far too many others to mention here.

The Buffs were the direct heir of Houston’s early Babies, et al clubs (188-1896). They were returning charter members of the Texas League from 1907 through 1958, spending most of that time from the 1922 to 1958 as a farm club property of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Buffs were sold clandestinely to the Cardinals continuously through a third party straw man purchaser in order to avoid the strong disapproval of Commissioner Landis, who opposed major league ownership of minor league teams. It still made Houston the first official farm club of any major league team once the deal closed. The straw man eventually released his claim on the Buffs to the Cardinals prior to the 1928 season, clearing the way for the construction of a new ballpark in 1928.

Fred Ankenman served as Houston’s franchise president from 1925 through the 1942 last Texas League season prior to the three-year suspension of annual play (1943-1945) due to World War II. It was Ankenman who solidified local support for a baseball club that basically existed to season players for the major league St. Louis Cardinals.

Under the post World War II leadership of Allen Russell (President, 1946-1952), Houston made a growing name for itself as a baseball-savvy and game-hungry town, four times (1947, 1948, 1950, 1951) outdrawing the American League St. Louis Browns at the gate and paving the way for the city’s acceptance as one of the first two National League expansion clubs in 1962.

On May 27, 1954,1^st Baseman Bob Boyd became the first black player in Houston’s organized sports history to integrate an established club when he joined the Texas League’s Houston Buffs. Boyd not only started on this date, but he quickly won the hearts of Buffs fans by roping out a double and a triple in his very first game. Boyd hit .321 with 7 HR for the Buffs in 1954. He returned in 1955 to hit .309 and 15 home runs.

The Houston Buffs played out the last three years of their existence as an independent club that was partially owned by former Cardinal great Marty Marion. The club had a working agreement with the Chicago Cubs for those last three seasons as an American Association, AAA-level team, allowing Houston the temporary use of two promising young players named Billy Williams and Ron Santo.

1924-1962: The Houston Monarchs/Black Buffs:

The following information on the Houston Black Buffs was supplied in writing by the son of one of the club’s founders, Frank J. Liuzza, on 10/17/2007:

Founders & Owners of Houston Black Buffalos Baseball Team:
James J. Liuzza & John J. Liuzza.
 
Owners of East End park and Monarch Stadium:
James J. Liuzza & John J. Liuzza.

The first baseball park was known as the East End Park located in the 3300 block of Cline St. within the fifth ward.  The time reference is early 1920 to 1928.
 
The second baseball park was known as Monarch Stadium located on Gillespie St.  It was in use from late 1928-1942. It was also located in the fifth ward. For your information this land was purchased from Mr. & Mrs. Clark Gable, yes it is the movie star. At this stadium there was a concession stand, estimated seating capacity of 1,500 fans, & a clubhouse. The clubhouse was the first ballpark for minorities to have showers and sanitary facilities. Also the Liuzza brothers provided access to Monarch stadium to Wheatley High School for their football team and band practices. Admission was 10 cents. The team began its existence as the Houston Monarchs and at some period later they became the Houston Black Buffalos.  In l939 James J. Liuzza traveled to Canada with the Houston Black Buffalos.  Pat Johnson Ford Company loaned them cars for the trip. Upon their return the cars were displayed in the window advertising their intercontinental trip to Canada and were for sale.
 
I have no record of their wins and losses. In 1937-38 John J. Liuzza traveled with the team to Tampico, Mexico.  No win/loss record.  The team was disbanded during the early forties and Frank J. Liuzza in 1958 finally and officially dissolved the franchise and all organizational business related to the baseball club. The reason was that the NAACP was getting ready to sue Frank J. Liuzza for the removal of the stigma that the word "black" inferred.   
 
Frank J. Liuzza, son of James J. Liuzza, Houston Black Buffs Co-Founder

A Black Buffs Anecdote: Several of us in SABR have been searching for years for evidence to establish that the Houston Black Buffs once played a record-breaking 27-inning extra inning game against the Austin Black Senators in about 1934. The search goes on, but in 2007, the search itself led to a really eerie discovery of the Liuzza statement list above. Until October 2007, all we had were a few scattered box scores, here and there, to let us know that black baseball was alive, well, and flying low under the radar of the disinterested media, both black and white. From what little I could find, the black print media of the 1920s and 1930s in Houston were far more focused on social event reporting than they were on lowly baseball teams. The mainstream white media was simply racist and unwilling to do anything that gave any kind of long term support to black accomplishments in athletics – or anything else, for that matter.

Then one day in October 2007, I received a call from an old friend from graduate school at Tulane University named Sue Hepler. We went way back to the 1960s together, but our bond had nothing to do with baseball. As we were playing “catch up” over the phone after a hiatus of twenty plus years, I shared with Sue that I had reached a point in life of giving myself over to my passions for research and writing about baseball. That’s when Sue told me that she was married to a guy whose family once owned a baseball team here. Her husband turned out to be Frank Liuzza, the fellow that wrote the preceding summary and supplied us with the only two photos we have of the club and one of its ball parks.

When I couldn’t find the Black Buffs after all these years, the Black Buffs reached out in a bizarre way and found me. How freaky is that? And is it any wonder that baseball people are so often swallowed up by superstition and magical thinking? If you will explain how this little coincidence happened in some cool rational way that I can buy, I will be happy to turn in my card as a believer in sporadic or episodic destiny. – Bill McCurdy

PS (and not just by the way): Arthur Lee Williams was the long time manager of the Houston Monarchs / Black Buffs.

1949-1950: The Houston Eagles:

Once the proud warriors of the now Hall of Fame owner Effa Manley during their salad days as the Newark Eagles, the franchise was sold and moved to Houston in the death rattle days of the Negro Leagues. Further research on the club during their stay in Houston is needed. We do know that they played their games in Buff Stadium and that one of their star pitchers was the late Houstonian hard chunkier, Bill “Fireball” Beverly.

1962-1964: The Houston Colt .45s:

Taking the field at Colt Stadium in Houston for the first time on April 10, 1962, the brand new Houston Colt .45s launched the city’s major league illusions on a high arc to Hope City. Led by two home runs off the bat of Roman Mejiias and the finesse pitching of lefty Bobby Shantz, the Colts hammered the Chicago Cubs, 11-2, and put Houston on top of the baseball world, at least, for the day.

Bob Aspromonte collected the first time at bat, hit, and run-scored for the franchise, and future Hall of Famer Lou Brock was the first man to face Houston in the big leagues as an enemy batter.

During their first three years as the Colt .45s, the club would not win a lot of games, but they would add some major local icons to their roster in the presence of Larry Dierker, Jimmy Wynn, and Rusty Staub.

A couple of notable things did happen during the Colts’ short history: (1) Day game heat at the uncovered Colt Stadium was so great that Houston received permission to become the first big league club to play Sunday Night Baseball. Attendance swelled and “SNB” spread to many other cities too; (2) In 1964, Houston pitcher Ken Johnson became one of the few men in history to pitch and lose a no-hitter by an 0-1 score to the Cincinnati Reds.

By the end of the 1964 season, the Houston club was getting ready to move into their digs at their new domed stadium nearby. Throw in a little pressure from the Colt .45 Gun Co. for royalty payments from the club’s use of that patented Colt .45 name and team owner Roy Hofheinz was more than ready for another brainstorming marketing direction to help sell his club to the fans. Hofheinz dropped the western mode and went into space for his next idea. It would still be decades before Houston put together ability with opportunity and played their way into a World Series.

1965-PRESENT: The Houston Astros

The Astros came close to pennants in 1980 and 1986. Then they really started hammering hard on the door with NLC division wins in 1997, 1998, and 1999. After a disappointing first year in their new ballpark downtown in 2000, the club came back to make the playoffs for a fourth time under manager Larry Dierker before again failing to advance past the first round.

With Phil Garner now managing the club, the Astros again came close in 2004. Then they made it all the way in 2005 before losing to the Chicago White Sox in a four-game sweep. It is better to be there than not got get there at all.

During its forty-eight years, the Houston major league franchise has known four ownerships:

• The Houston Sports Association (Hofheinz, et al)

• Ford Motor Credit Company

• John McMullan

• Drayton McLane, Jr.

A lot us think that Drayton McLane, Jr. is the best owner that we’ve ever had in Houston. He may be a bottom liner who gets too involved in daily operations, but most of us couldn’t keep from doing the same thing, if we were in his position. At least, Mr. McLane keeps his bottom line high enough to usually field a team that has a chance of winning.

Over the years, we’ve seen a parade of topflight players come through Houston and not leave here until they had imprinted indelible memories in all of us as Astros. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell stand out above all others as the major icons of Astros history. Both men only played for Houston. One collected 449 homers as an Astro. The other retired with 3,060 hits. If I have to tell you which did which, you’re probably not a baseball fan in exploration of this website.

Bottom Line: The Houston Astros are our hope for the baseball future. We Believe.