1961 Houston Buffs Statistics

American Association (AA) - Class: AAA
Team Record: 73-77
Finished 4th in the AA
Manager: Grady Hatton (0-0), Fred Martin (0-0), Lou Klein (0-0), Harry Craft (0-0)
Affiliation: Chicago Cubs
Location: Houston, Texas
Ballpark: Busch Stadium
Attendance: 120,104, Avg. 1,601

1961 Houston Buffs Roster

Playoffs - Houston Buffs 4 games, Indianapolis Indians 1
Finals - Louisville Colonels 4 games, Houston Buffs 2

The Houston Buffs of the American Association ended the 1961 season with a record of 73 wins and 77 losses, finishing fourth in the AA.

The Buffs scored 703 runs and allowed 672 runs. Jim McKnight led Houston with 24 home runs, while Bud Zipfel walloped 15 or more, too. Jim McKnight drove in 102 runs. Henry Mitchell paced batters with significant playing time with a .292 average. Al Lary topped the team with 15 wins and a team-best 3.58 ERA, best among pitchers with enough qualifying appearances.

Jim Campbell, J C Hartman, Cholly Naranjo, Mel Wright, Al Schroll, Bud Zipfel, Ben Johnson, Moe Thacker, Tom Hughes, Aaron Pointer, Dave Giusti, Phil Mudrock, Jim McKnight, Gordon Massa, Ed Donnelly, Ray Noble, Wally Wolf, Barney Schultz, Jim Proctor, Sammy Drake, Dave Gerard, Cal Browning, George Freese, Dave Roberts, Pidge Browne, Al Lary, Jim McAnany, Ron Davis and Harvey Branch were all players from the 1961 Houston Buffs who played in the Major Leagues during their careers.

Grady Hatton, Fred Martin, Lou Klein and Harry Craft served as manager.

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Pitching:

Player	W	L	W%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF
Al Lary	15	9	.625	3.58	37	32		12	2		231.0	217	102	92	27	72	9	149	0	0	7
Dave Gerard	11	9	.550	3.79	48	18		4	1		145.0	136	75	61	6	71	6	82	4	0	7
Jerry Nelson	9	8	.529	3.91	29	23		7	1		159.0	160	82	69	12	46	2	60	3	1	2
Barney Schultz	6	1	.857	2.76	24	0		0	0		49.0	37	16	15	6	17	1	40	0	1	0
Ben Johnson	6	10	.375	4.05	29	21		7	1		140.0	139	75	63	11	39	1	87	4	0	6
Phil Mudrock	6	11	.353	5.81	32	18		1	1		127.0	154	88	82	14	67	7	76	2	2	10
Wallace Mixon	5	6	.455	4.16	19	15		2	2		93.0	89	51	43	5	40	1	42	1	0	4
Ed Donnelly	4	4	.500	3.36	48	1		0	0		83.0	68	37	31	7	33	2	56	1	0	3
Harvey Branch	3	4	.429	4.18	15	6		1	1		56.0	64	29	26	5	26	1	38	1	0	2
Dave Giusti	2	0	1.000	3.00	3	2					18.0	23	6	6	1	3				0
Bill Griffin	2	2	.500	2.08	27	0		0	0		39.0	31	12	9	3	16	2	20	0	0	3
Cal Browning	1	0	1.000	2.88	15	1		0	0		25.0	22	9	8	1	13	3	17	1	0	0
Cholly Naranjo	1	1	.500	3.32	6	0					19.0	18	11	7	7	5				0
Al Schroll	1	2	.333	5.82	8	6		1	0		34.0	38	23	22	6	11	0	22	1	0	2
Jack Caffery	1	3	.250	4.76	5	2					17.0	18	10	9	3	10				0
Gordon Massa	0	0			2						0.0									0
Boyd Linker	0	0		0.00	1	0					1.0									0
Antonio Diaz	0	0		0.00	3	0					5.0									0
Mel Wright	0	1	.000	3.75	6	0					12.0	11	6	5	1	1				0
Tom Hughes	0	1	.000	5.00	6	2					18.0	26	10	10	2	8				0
Wally Wolf	0	1	.000	10.50	3	1					6.0	8	9	7	0	6				0
Jim Proctor	0	4	.000	4.32	6	4					25.0	27	12	12	2	9				0
Totals	73	77	.487	3.99	372	152	0	35	9	0	1302.0	1286	663	577	119	493	35	689	18	4	46	0

Batting:

Player	GP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	DP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
Jim McKnight	152	643	562	97	159	36	4	24	102	1		61	45	.283	.355	.489	.844	275		6	6	8	4
J C Hartman	144	633	599	64	155	19	3	6	53	7		20	50	.259	.283	.331	.613	198		1	10	3	1
Jack Waters	147	597	549	81	147	25	5	12	47	5		40	66	.268	.315	.397	.712	218		0	3	5	2
Henry Mitchell	134	557	493	84	144	37	5	14	75	7		54	137	.292	.367	.473	.840	233		6	1	3	3
Wayne Connally	148	587	506	59	130	25	6	2	44	1		64	59	.257	.345	.342	.687	173		5	10	2	4
Bud Zipfel	101	445	378	75	118	18	4	21	62	2		65	71	.312	.413	.548	.961	207		1	0	1	10
Sammy Drake	83	309	261	37	80	12	4	10	45	6		47	35	.307	.411	.498	.909	130		0	0	1	6
Jim McAnany	80	242	223	29	71	10	2	8	39	0		17	33	.318	.364	.489	.852	109		0	0	2	0
Pidge Browne	62	208	180	39	63	14	0	9	36	0		24	19	.350	.425	.578	1.003	104		1	1	2	4
Jim Campbell	88	270	241	32	63	14	2	6	34	1		23	40	.261	.320	.411	.730	99		0	1	5	0
Moe Thacker	55	212	190	13	47	10	0	1	23	0		18	49	.247	.311	.316	.627	60		0	3	1	1
George Freese	58	99	86	11	27	2	0	6	18	0		12	10	.314	.394	.547	.940	47		0	0	1	5
Dave Roberts	41	147	130	20	27	5	1	3	21	0		13	26	.208	.281	.331	.612	43		1	1	2	2
Layton Ducote	42	150	136	18	26	6	1	5	22	0		11	39	.191	.257	.360	.617	49		1	2	0	0
Gordon Massa	31	97	82	7	15	5	0	1	10	0		11	12	.183	.284	.280	.565	23		1	2	1	1
Phil Borders	16	31	27	1	8	2	1	0	2	0		4	8	.296	.387	.444	.832	12		0	0	0	0
Ben Johnson	29	48	39	3	8	2	0	0	5	0		6	12	.205	.311	.256	.568	10		0	3	0	0
Al Lary	46	86	76	6	8	0	0	0	4	1		7	21	.105	.181	.105	.286	8		0	3	0	0
Phil Mudrock	33	44	42	2	6	1	0	0	1	0		1	19	.143	.163	.167	.329	7		0	1	0	0
Jerry Nelson	30	58	53	4	6	1	0	1	2	0		1	22	.113	.130	.189	.318	10		0	4	0	0
Ron Davis	11	31	28	4	5	1	0	1	2	0		3	5	.179	.258	.321	.579	9		0	0	0	0
Wallace Mixon	19	37	30	3	5	0	0	0	0	0		4	13	.167	.265	.167	.431	5		0	3	0	0
Dave Gerard	48	47	37	2	5	0	0	0	2	0		3	14	.135	.200	.135	.335	5		0	7	0	0
Ed Donnelly	48	22	17	0	4	0	0	0	1	0		1	7	.235	.263	.235	.498	4		0	3	1	0
Lenny Neal	15	44	41	0	4	2	0	0	4	0		2	8	.098	.136	.146	.283	6		0	0	1	0
Jim Proctor	9	6	6		3									.500	.500	.500	1.000	3
Cholly Naranjo	6	6	6		3									.500	.500	.500	1.000	3
Aaron Pointer	4	8	8		3	0	0	0						.375	.375	.375	.750	3
Tom Hughes	7	8	8		3									.375	.375	.375	.750	3
Barney Schultz	24	11	10	0	3	0	0	0	2	0		0	2	.300	.300	.300	.600	3		0	1	0	0
Al Schroll	8	7	7		2									.286	.286	.286	.571	2
Harvey Branch	20	15	14	1	2	0	0	0	0	1		1	3	.143	.200	.143	.343	2		0	0	0	0
Ray Noble	5	4	4		1	0	0	0						.250	.250	.250	.500	1
Jack Caffery	5	4	4		1									.250	.250	.250	.500	1
Bill Griffin	27	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		0	2	.250	.250	.250	.500	1		0	0	0	0
Cal Browning	15	6	6	0	1	0	0	0	3	0		0	0	.167	.167	.167	.333	1		0	0	0	0
Dave Giusti	4	6	6		1									.167	.167	.167	.333	1
Wally Wolf	3	1	1		0	0	0	0						.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Mel Wright	6	4	4		0	0	0	0						.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Totals	1804	5734	5094	692	1355	247	38	130	659	32	0	513	827	.266	.334	.406	.740	2068	0	23	65	39	43

Fielding:

Player	Pos	GP	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/G	PB	SB	CS
Bud Zipfel	1B	101	983	55	21	111	.980	1.277
Pidge Browne	1B	45	389	33	3	48	.993	9.378
Wayne Connally	2B	148	324	454	25	130	.969	5.257
Jim McKnight	2B	14	30	31	6	6	.910	4.357
Jim McKnight	3B	130	106	223	15	26	.956	2.531
Sammy Drake	3B	22	16	41	7	6	.891	2.591
George Freese	3B	11	4	14	1	3	.947	1.636
Jim Campbell	C	70	324	27	13	3	.964	5.014	7
Moe Thacker	C	53	288	26	6	4	.981	5.925	5
Gordon Massa	C	27	136	21	1	3	.994	5.815	1
Lenny Neal	C	15	57	2	3	2	.952	3.933	0
Jack Waters	OF	141	325	17	12	3	.966	2.426
Henry Mitchell	OF	130	221	11	5	0	.979	1.785
Sammy Drake	OF	56	72	2	1	1	.987	1.321
Jim McAnany	OF	52	76	2	3	0	.963	1.500
Dave Roberts	OF	36	63	1	3	0	.955	1.778
Layton Ducote	OF	35	51	4	1	1	.982	1.571
Ron Davis	OF	10	9	1	0	0	1.000	1.000
Dave Gerard	P	48	12	35	2	2	.959	.979
Ed Donnelly	P	48	1	14	1	3	.938	.312
Al Lary	P	37	11	38	0	2	1.000	1.324
Phil Mudrock	P	32	8	24	0	2	1.000	1.000
Jerry Nelson	P	29	12	30	0	2	1.000	1.448
Ben Johnson	P	29	13	21	0	2	1.000	1.172
Bill Griffin	P	27	0	12	0	1	1.000	.444
Barney Schultz	P	24	1	7	1	2	.889	.333
Wallace Mixon	P	19	4	12	0	1	1.000	.842
Cal Browning	P	15	1	2	0	0	1.000	.200
Harvey Branch	P	15	1	15	0	0	1.000	1.067
J C Hartman	SS	140	254	470	28	100	.963	5.171
Jim McKnight	SS	14	21	44	4	9	.942	4.643
Totals		1573	3813	1689	162	473	.971	3.498	13	0	0

Average attendance is based upon the number of actual home dates where known (most leagues from 1992 and later). Where the number of home dates is not known, the average is calculated using half the team's total games.

Persons data from the Chadwick Baseball Bureau are Copyright Chadwick Baseball Bureau, and are made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License.