Roughly a year ago I saw an old episode of "The Eyes of Texas," Ray Miller's program about Texas on KPRC-TV. It ran for many years with Ron Stone taking over Miller's role as host after Miller retired.
The episode I saw included a 3 or 4-minute segment filmed in the mid-1960s about a family-owned ballpark in Richmond. Bill Worrell was the narrator. As the video showed game action and people in the stands, Worrell talked about pitching in a summer game against a local Richmond team. (Worrell pitched for U of H at the time.)
I cannot find this episode on the Internet, so I asked Lou Payton if he knew anything about this Richmond team and family-owned park. He said the team was called the Richmond Tigers, and the owners of the park were the Cuevas family. He said the Tigers were a predominately Hispanic team, but they had black and white players, too. He played for them for a few years after playing for the Jaybirds in the early '50s.
The Cuevas family would bring teams from Mexico to play local teams. If I recall correctly, Worrell mentioned this fact, too.
Among Lou's Jaybird archive is this account of a Jaybird - Tigers game played in the summer of '50 or '52, I can't pin the date down exactly.
As you can see from the clipping, the Jaybirds and their pitcher, Walter Deakin, were really clicking that day, winning a one-hitter by the score of 11 - 0. Since the report was filed from Rosenberg, I assume they played the game at the Jaybird's park, which stood near the old County Fair Grounds just off Highway-90A near the current site of the Fiesta supermarket. Real old-timers will remember the HL&P building stood in the same general vicinity, too.
The episode I saw included a 3 or 4-minute segment filmed in the mid-1960s about a family-owned ballpark in Richmond. Bill Worrell was the narrator. As the video showed game action and people in the stands, Worrell talked about pitching in a summer game against a local Richmond team. (Worrell pitched for U of H at the time.)
I cannot find this episode on the Internet, so I asked Lou Payton if he knew anything about this Richmond team and family-owned park. He said the team was called the Richmond Tigers, and the owners of the park were the Cuevas family. He said the Tigers were a predominately Hispanic team, but they had black and white players, too. He played for them for a few years after playing for the Jaybirds in the early '50s.
The Cuevas family would bring teams from Mexico to play local teams. If I recall correctly, Worrell mentioned this fact, too.
Among Lou's Jaybird archive is this account of a Jaybird - Tigers game played in the summer of '50 or '52, I can't pin the date down exactly.
As you can see from the clipping, the Jaybirds and their pitcher, Walter Deakin, were really clicking that day, winning a one-hitter by the score of 11 - 0. Since the report was filed from Rosenberg, I assume they played the game at the Jaybird's park, which stood near the old County Fair Grounds just off Highway-90A near the current site of the Fiesta supermarket. Real old-timers will remember the HL&P building stood in the same general vicinity, too.
