WoodlandsOwl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
Home Plate of Buffs Stadium used to be in the corner of the former Finger's Furniture Showroom there on Cullen at 45. Had a nice little museum there as well.
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04-11-2013 03:40 PM |
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I45owl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
In the penultimate picture, are those portable lights? At first, I thought they were construction cranes.
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04-11-2013 03:52 PM |
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Tiki Owl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
(04-11-2013 03:52 PM)I45owl Wrote: In the penultimate picture, are those portable lights? At first, I thought they were construction cranes.
Those were the lights that were changed sometime around the name change. The originals were not bright enough for TV.
Most older Houstonians will also recall the suicide that took place during a televised game at Buff Stadium in 1951. From the really good blog Pecan Park Eagle:
Dick Gottlieb would achieve minor notoriety-by-association fame as the only known telecaster of a a suicide in the history of the medium. At a night game in 1951, a man sidled up beside lone broadcaster Gottlieb, announced that he was going to shoot himself, and then did so. The camera man responded instinctively, turning the camera from the field of play to the figure of the slumping dead man as he made his way to the floor. I didn’t see it, but I heard it. My dad and I were at that game, sitting about twenty rows back of Gottlieb and where it all took place. I remember that we were playing Tulsa that night and that the visitors were in the field when the gunshot boomed out. I can still see Tulsa’s Roy McMillan hitting the dirt, spread eagle. Many others did the same. Those who didn’t drop fast and hard ran like mad for the nearest dugout, not necessarily their own. Amazingly, Gottlieb recovered and finished the broadcast of the game. Not even violent death stopped the Buffs.
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04-11-2013 04:35 PM |
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WRCisforgotten79
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
Dick Gottlieb was a long-time host of the Houston Labor Day (Jerry Lewis) Telethon. He was also a Houston City Councilman, who lost a very close mayoral race to Fred Hofheinz in 1973.
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04-11-2013 11:48 PM |
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bobreinhold1
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
A few of my favorite memories of Buff Stadium were watching the Buffs and Ft. Worth Cats before a sold-out crowd and standing room all along the outfield fences, seeing one-armed Pete Gray play, seeing the Indians and Giants play an exhibition game every spring and seeing Hal Epps single win the 1947 Dixie Series for the Buffs.
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04-12-2013 10:22 AM |
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Owl 69/70/75
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
I never saw the Buffs, as I did not get to Houston until 1965. But my roommate's father had played for the Buffs, and I got to know lots of people who had played for them over the years, and there are a few like Larry Miggins that I still remain in touch with through SABR. They were a wonderful tradition and I would like to see more done to keep the memories alive.
One thing that I'd like to see is for the Astros to make room in Union Station for Bill McCurdy's Texas baseball museum. I think that would be an OUTSTANDING move.
(This post was last modified: 04-12-2013 10:34 AM by Owl 69/70/75.)
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04-12-2013 10:32 AM |
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Tiki Owl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
So you roomed with Billy Costa then.
Like Bob I remember games where the overflow were put on the warning track behind ropes. Saw 3 Dixie Series, 1954, 56, and 57.
Lots of really good memories. Always liked driving by Buff Stadium and seeing the "Game Today" sign lit.
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04-12-2013 10:41 AM |
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Owl 69/70/75
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
(04-12-2013 10:41 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote: So you roomed with Billy Costa then.
Like Bob I remember games where the overflow were put on the warning track behind ropes. Saw 3 Dixie Series, 1954, 56, and 57.
Lots of really good memories. Always liked driving by Buff Stadium and seeing the "Game Today" sign lit.
Have you ever talked to Bill McCurdy about the museum project?
That's something that I'd really like to see the Houston baseball community get behind. I really think it'd be great for the Astros if they could generate some traffic in Union Station other than on game days. Probably could make a buck or two off it too.
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04-12-2013 10:46 AM |
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Da.Owl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
(04-12-2013 10:46 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: (04-12-2013 10:41 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote: So you roomed with Billy Costa then.
Like Bob I remember games where the overflow were put on the warning track behind ropes. Saw 3 Dixie Series, 1954, 56, and 57.
Lots of really good memories. Always liked driving by Buff Stadium and seeing the "Game Today" sign lit.
Have you ever talked to Bill McCurdy about the museum project?
That's something that I'd really like to see the Houston baseball community get behind. I really think it'd be great for the Astros if they could generate some traffic in Union Station other than on game days. Probably could make a buck or two off it too.
The Skeeters have jumped on that bandwagon. They're already setting up some of the displays at Constellation Field.
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04-12-2013 11:02 AM |
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Tiki Owl
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RE: Happy Birthday Buff Stadium
(04-12-2013 10:46 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: (04-12-2013 10:41 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote: So you roomed with Billy Costa then.
Like Bob I remember games where the overflow were put on the warning track behind ropes. Saw 3 Dixie Series, 1954, 56, and 57.
Lots of really good memories. Always liked driving by Buff Stadium and seeing the "Game Today" sign lit.
Have you ever talked to Bill McCurdy about the museum project?
That's something that I'd really like to see the Houston baseball community get behind. I really think it'd be great for the Astros if they could generate some traffic in Union Station other than on game days. Probably could make a buck or two off it too.
That's a really good idea.
Bill had a good post on his blog some time ago about Bob Boyd who was the first black player on the Buffs. I enjoyed that watching Bob play was the reason I first started hitting LH.
I have been meaning to write him to see what info he knows of on the two years the Houston Eagles were playing at Buff Stadium. The sudden demise of popularity of the Negro Leagues after Robinson's entry into MLB caused Effa Manley to sell the Newark Eagles to a W. H. Young and Hugh Cherry they played at Buff Stadium for 1949 and 1950 before moving to New Orleans. Even the local black paper the Informer had cut their coverage of the Negro Leagues by 1949.
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04-12-2013 11:14 AM |
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