YORKTON - When it comes to baseball Terry Puhl from Melville is likely to top most people’s lists as the best player to come from Saskatchewan.
And, he would easily make the top-10 Canadian players, at least when I did a little thinking on the subject.
Puhl broke into the Majors with the Houston Astros shortly after his 21st birthday in 1977.
“Just five days after his 21st birthday, the wide-eyed Saskatchewan native would start his first big league game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. So nervous he was shaking, Puhl would overcome his jitters to record his first hit and score the game-winning run. He would go on to hit .301 in 60 games that season and win himself a starting role in 1978,” www. baseballhalloffame.ca
“His steady offensive and defensive efforts would earn him all-star honors in 1978, when he hit .289 and stole 32 bases. He would top that the following campaign, when he recorded a career-high 172 hits and played 157 games – the entire season – in the outfield without making an error. He was just the fourth player in 124 years to suit up for at least 150 games in a season without a defensive miscue.”
I graduated high school the year Puhl accomplished his fielding feat, and while I was cheering for the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays back then, hearing about Puhl excelling was always good news in my books.
Considering his long tenure with the Astros -- Puhl played in 1,531 career games, all but 15 with Houston -- from 1977-90 it shouldn’t be a surprise he is finally being inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame this summer – he has already been inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995.
“It is first of all a great honour,” said Puhl when this reporter caught up to him from Houston just before batting practice as head coach with the University of Houston-Victoria. Puhl has been head coach of the Jaguars for 14 seasons capturing two Association of Independent Institutions Conference titles in 2009 and 2010, with three trips to the NAIA National Championships.
While Puhl acknowledged it’s gratifying to be inducted into any hall of fame, the call from the Astros was special.
“Honestly, it’s the one that I wanted,” he admitted. “. . .This is the big one for me. This is with my peers, my former teammates.”
Puhl said he has remained an Astro fan and to join so many players he has been involved with through the decades is putting something of an exclamation point on his baseball career.
“Absolutely, I love my Astros,” he said.
Certainly Puhl will be in familiar company when he is inducted prior to Houston’s Aug. 13 game against Oakland at Minute Maid Park.
“There’s at least five, (previous inductees), that are former teammates,” he said.
Of course that is testament to his longevity thanks to a good eye at the plate and stellar play in the outfield.
Puhl hit .300 or better three times and his .993 fielding percentage is the best among outfielders in Astros history.
So was his fielding natural talent coming to the forefront?
Puhl said that was certainly not the case.
“It did not come naturally,” he said, quickly crediting Bill Virden who managed the Astros from 1975 to 1982.
Puhl said Virden was “one of the greatest defensive players in history,” and he worked with Astro players hitting endless ‘fungos’ to help players ingrain good defensive skills.
“I worked my tail off every day with him,” said Puhl. “You get better creating good habits in what you do . . . That’s what we build into our young players here, (at college), if you do something do it right.”
So was playing errorless baseball almost every day what Puhl now looks back on with the greatest pride?
Perhaps surprisingly, it is not.
Puhl points to being a career .280 hitter first, commenting “how many are career .280 hitters today?” He also noted he managed to carry the batting average at the Astrodome noting “it was not a hitter friendly park.”
Puhl said if he played at Minute Maid Park a lot of his hits would have gone for home runs, but added being a good hitter means adapting to where you are playing to be most effective.
Today, Puhl still follows the Astros relishing in the recent World Series wins without regret of not himself winning a ring.
“You can’t look back and think I wish, I wish, I wish,” he said, adding he believes he and his teammates laid the foundation for a good organization that has prospered. “. . .We set a standard for how things should be done.”
This summer’s induction will also be just another step along a continuing circle of baseball for Puhl.
“At six or seven years old I was building a career at that time. I didn’t know it, but I was,” he said, thinking back to minor ball in Melville.
From there it was a long path to the pros, and eventually retirement as a player, although Puhl said he doesn’t think players ever retire. Baseball “is too great of a career” to ever want to retire from. “They kick you out.”
But Puhl didn’t land far from the game, coaching Team Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics and then his long run at Houston-Victoria. He said he might soon step away from the college job, and take a final step on the circle, spending time coaching his grandson Jackson in minor ball, where it all started for him.
