Post War Baseball League

May 19, 1965

San Diego -- Al Kaline singled to lead off the sixth inning in the Houston Buffs' 4-to-2 win over the San Diego Padres here, collecting the 2,000th hit of his 13-year PWBL career.

Kaline, a 30-year-old native of Baltimore, singled up the middle off Joe Sparma to reach a career milestone attained by only twelve other players in Postwar Baseball League history. The other active PWBL players with 2,000 career hits are Nellie Fox (2,492), Willie Mays (2,342), Hank Aaron (2,239), Eddie Mathews (2,155), and Mickey Mantle (2,080).

Kaline also singled in the seventh, driving home two runs and extending his Federal League-leading batting average to .395. The 6'2", 180-pound rightfielder has a 15-game hitting streak, despite battling knee problems all season.

Ron Herbel (2-4) went seven innings for Houston's victory. Dick Hall retired five of the last six batters for his 12th save as the Buffs won their fourth in a row. Sparma (1-3) was hung with the loss.

BOXSCORE: 1965 Houston Buffs At 1965 San Diego Padres               5/21/1965

  Buffs              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Padres             AB  R  H RBI AVG
  A.Kaline RF         4  1  2  2 .395     R.Clemente RF       4  0  2  0 .289  
  V.Pinson CF         3  0  1  0 .254     G.Coleman 1B        3  0  1  0 .246  
  R.Colavito LF       4  1  1  2 .331   B-J.Stewart PR,3B     0  0  0  0 .105  
  J.Gosger 1B         4  0  1  0 .240     M.Jones CF          4  0  1  0 .282  
  J.Edwards C         3  0  0  0 .269     H.Killebrew 3B,1B   4  0  0  0 .238  
  E.Bressoud SS       4  0  0  0 .149     W.Horton LF         4  0  1  0 .286  
  F.Malzone 3B        3  1  0  0 .210     G.Beckert 2B        4  0  1  0 .233  
  D.Hall P            0  0  0  01.000     R.McMillan SS       4  0  2  0 .217  
  B.Knoop 2B          4  0  0  0 .220     B.Tillman C         3  1  0  0 .127  
  R.Herbel P          3  1  0  0 .059     J.Sparma P          1  0  0  0 .083  
  D.Kelley P          0  0  0  0 ----     T.Fox P             0  0  0  0 .250  
C-J.Kennedy 3B        1  0  0  0 .237   A-W.Parker PH         1  1  1  2 .204  
                                          L.McDaniel P        0  0  0  0 ----  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      33  4  5  4                 Totals      32  2  9  2

A-Pinch Hit For Fox In 8th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Coleman In 8th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Kelley In 8th Inning

INJURY: Bob Tillman INJURED (for 1 more game) in 9th inning

Buffs........... 2 0 0  0 0 0  2 0 0  -  4  5  0
Padres.......... 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 2 0  -  2  9  1

Buffs (22-19)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
R.Herbel WIN(2-4)         7       7   2   2   1   5   1 112   3.12
D.Kelley HOLD(3rd)        0 1/3   1   0   0   1   0   0  13   0.00
D.Hall SAVE(12th)         1 2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0  15   0.41
Totals                    9       9   2   2   2   5   1

Padres (19-24)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Sparma LOSS(1-3)        6 1/3   5   4   2   3   6   1 110   3.75
T.Fox                     1 2/3   0   0   0   1   0   0  29   4.28
L.McDaniel                1       0   0   0   0   2   0  10   1.47
Totals                    9       5   4   2   4   8   1

ATTENDANCE- 27,624 DATE- Friday, May 21st 1965 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
T- 2:31
LEFT ON BASE- Buffs: 6  Padres: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- Buffs: 2  Padres: 0
ERRORS- M.Jones
DOUBLES- J.Gosger(3rd), G.Coleman(6th), W.Horton(6th)
HOME RUNS- R.Colavito(5th), W.Parker(1st)
SACRIFICE HITS- J.Sparma
WALKS- A.Kaline, V.Pinson, J.Edwards, F.Malzone, G.Coleman, B.Tillman
STRIKE OUTS- A.Kaline, V.Pinson, J.Edwards, E.Bressoud-2, F.Malzone, B.Knoop,
             J.Kennedy, R.Clemente, H.Killebrew, G.Beckert, B.Tillman, J.Sparma
GIDP- H.Killebrew, B.Tillman

Kaline's career record as of the May 19th game:

             G    AB    R     H   2B  3B   HR  RBI   BB   SO   AVG   OBP   SLG
1953 Hou    10    31    3     7    0   0    1    3    0    9  .226  .226  .323
1954 Hou   142   518   53   144   25   2    3   47   17   47  .278  .299  .351
1955 Hou   156   613   96   215   26   4   23  107   76   57  .351  .423  .519
1956 Hou   156   665  106   192   40   9   22  100   61   70  .289  .348  .475
1957 Hou   156   648   67   174   33   2   17   70   40   50  .269  .314  .404
1958 Hou   145   578  100   176   28   3   14   60   76   68  .304  .386  .436
1959 Hou   147   574  109   192   18   1   25   90   79   39  .334  .419  .500
1960 Hou   148   582   90   161   32   3   15   53   58   48  .277  .344  .419
1961 Hou   159   625  125   204   45   5   26  100   82   50  .326  .406  .539
1962 Hou   123   431   90   142   21   5   39  103   44   53  .329  .388  .673
1963 Hou   146   604  106   173   24   2   24   70   55   54  .286  .349  .452
1964 Hou   147   569  103   176   42   7   10   62   72   59  .309  .387  .460
1965 Hou    30   114   26    45    8   0    5   18   23   10  .395  .496  .596
          1665  6552 1074  2001  342  43  224  883  683  614  .305  .371  .472