Little big man
Joe Morgan as a rookie in 1963
In only his second major league game, future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan delivers a single with two outs in the ninth inning 62 years ago today to lift the Houston Colt .45ers over the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 before a small, mosquito-dodging Sunday night crowd of 3,493 at Colt Stadum.
Morgan’s game-winning hit comes off relief pitcher Johnny Klippstein – a ground single to right field that easily scores Jimmy Wynn from third base to cap a two-run, last-inning rally that gives the lowly Colts just their 61st victory in 156 games with less than a week remaining in the 1963 season.
Phillies manager Gene Mauch
Gene Mauch, the short-tempered Phillies manager, is not impressed to (a) lose a game to the Colts and (b) lose a game to a 20-year-old rookie like Morgan whose 5-foot-7, 160-pound stature becomes a point of derision for Mauch.
“Have you no shame?” Mauch reportedly barks at his team as he overturns their postgame meal spread.
“You just got beat by a guy who looks like a Little Leaguer.”
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