The Sugar Land Skeeters (independent; Atlantic League) are creating a home for the Houston baseball memorabilia collected by the Finger family and once displayed in the Finger Furniture store.
That furniture store was built on the site of Buff Stadium, longtime home to the Houston Buffs, a cornerstone of the minor-league Texas League. What that ballpark was torn down, the Finger family started collecting Houston baseball memorabilia and artifacts both relating to the minor-league history and also to the early days of the Colt .45s/Astros franchise. A statue of Dickie Kerr, who managed the Buffs after a Major League stint with the Chicago White Sox (he was part of the 1919 Black Sox team), is part of the collection, donated to the Finger family after it was removed from the Astrodome. That statue is now on the concourse level of Constellation Field. From The Examiner:
[Tom] Kennedy, the curator of the Finger collection, was on hand for the unveiling of the statue a week before opening day and credited [Tal] Smith, who is now a special advisor to the Skeeters, with contacting him to inquire about the future home of the collection.
Smith credits Thompson, the mayor of Sugar Land, with contacting Peter Kirk, the chairman of Opening Day Partners (who own and operate the Skeeters’ franchise), after reading a story written by David Barron in the Houston Chronicle.
“Jimmy Thompson saw that and immediately said something to Peter Kirk about the possibility of getting (the collection) and Peter asked me,” said Smith. “I called Tom and and he thought it was a great solution.”
There are logistical issues involved in getting more pieces in place and Smith said the process of getting the some of the items moved from storage into a new home at Constellation Field has taken longer than expected.
It’s good to see the renowned Finger collection find a new home after the closure of the furniture store.
Image of Buff Stadium from the Ballpark Digest Old Ballparks page on Facebook.
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