By Greg Lucas

During the 2006 Astro season one of the features on our telecasts will dig deeper into the sport of baseball. We will look at “inside baseball” as well as historical footnotes.

Along that line here are just some of the factoids that will likely make the air with a Texas flavor.

For instance, fans all remember Chuck Knoblauch who was a star with the Twins and Yankees after a career at Texas A&M. Many no doubt remember his dad, Ray, the longtime coach at Bellaire High School. But how many know that Chuck’s uncle—and Ray’s bother, Eddie, was one of the all time great players in the Texas League?

Eddie played 15 years with five clubs mostly in the Texas League. He had a lifetime minor league .313 average with 2543 hits. In 1955 at age 36 he hit .327 to win the Texas League batting title and then retired.

Another former Texas League player, Art Sunday, is the man for whom the Texas League hit was coined. The story goes he moved from the Texas League to play for Toledo where he amazed teammates by the number of blooping low fly balls he hit that just dropped in. In Texas at the time they were called “plinkers.” But in Toledo they soon became known as Texas Leaguers.

How about Randy Jackson? During World War II he played collegiately at both TCU and Texas in the old Southwest Conference. Not only did he play football for both schools in the Cotton Bowl, but he also played baseball and won the SWC batting title for both teams. Later he played Major League baseball for the Dodgers and Cubs.

Famed University of Texas baseball coach Bibb Falk was the man who replaced Joe Jackson as the regular left fielder for the Chicago White Sox after Shoeless Joe was banned from baseball in the Black Sox scandal.

Former Aggie hurler Kelly Wunsch is in the pro baseball record books. While in the minor leagues he once struck out five hitters in one half inning.

Remember Astro shortstop Ricky Gutierrez? Since records have been kept he is credited with the most pitches seen in one at bat. Hitting against the Indians’ Bartolo Colon in 1998 he faced 20 pitches including 14 foul balls. He eventually struck out.

Bob Cerv was a big power hitter in the American League for the A’s and Yankees. But his career ended in Houston when he was unable to score from second base on a triple. He was released the next day.

Only two Major League managers have won World Series titles in their first full years as manager. Both are Texas greats—Tris Speaker with Cleveland in 1920 and Rogers Hornsby with the 1926 St Louis Cardinals.

And finally for those who would like to tinker with the rules of the game, the University of Houston and Sam Houston State did just that in a doubleheader in 1958. Both games were played with three balls making a walk and two strikes a strikeout. The first game went 12 innings in just 1:38. The second game lasted just 1:18. Houston won both games, but a fan vote afterward was negative.

Just some of the sort of things we will be including in our Astros telecasts in 2006. Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies, Larry Dierker and I will see you on the tube.