HOUSTON, April 28, 2007--The Houston Astros announced following tonight's game that the club has purchased the contract of outfielder Hunter Pence from Triple A Round Rock.

September Update: Hunter returned to the line-up in late August after missing 25 games because of an injury to his hand suffered in a head-first slide - the second time that has happened to him since joining the Astos. His batting average is still hovering around .330, among the best in the league (but he doesn't have enough at-bats to be listed with the leaders). Once a front-runner for Rookie-of-the-Year honors, his injuries probably cost him that chance.

Hunter Andrew Pence, born 13 April 1983, Fort Worth,Texas. Height: 6-4, Weight: 210; Bats R, Throws R; College: University of Texas-Arlington. hrows R; College: University of Texas-Arlington.

Until Hunter arrived in Houston this season, It had been 85 years since anyone with the name Pence played in a major league ballgame. And it barely happened then.

In 1922, a young man named Elmer Clare Pence ("Bats R, Throws R"), born 17 Aug 1900 in Calavaras County, California, appeared briefly in one game for the Chicago White Sox. Roni Pence sent word that Elmer played but one inning in the Major Leagues, had a putout while patrolling right field. He never got a chance to bat and then was heard from no more. So the line score for his career is no hits, no runs, no errors, 1 putout. He died 18 Sep 1968 in San Francisco.

The White Sox had a monopoly on the name Pence, for the preceding season, still reeling from the Black Sox scandal, the Pale Hose desparately sought players. One of these was a right-handed pitcher named Russell "Rusty" Pence, born March 11, 1900, in Marine, Madison County, Illinois. Rusty appeared in 4 games for the White Sox in 1921, pitching 5 and a third innings. He gave up 6 hits, walked 7, struck out 2 and allowed 7 earned runs. His won-lost record was 0-0. Rusty accomplished something that Elmer did not: He came to bat one time. Unfortunately, he was hitless, leaving the Pence Family batting average at .000 until Hunter arrived

The other great American game is politics - and in 2000 the Pence family broke a drought that had lasted 108 years when a young man named Michael Pence, born June 7, 1959, in Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana, was elected to the 107th U.S. Congress from Indiana's Sixth Congressional District. Mike, a Republican, is only the second person with the name Pence to have been elected to Congress.

The other was Lafayette Pence, born more than 100 years before Mike on December 23, 1857. Lafe Pence was elected as a Populist ("Silver Democrat") from Colorado's First District (Denver) to the 53rd Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895). He failed re-election.

Lafe Pence, renarkably, was also born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, as was Abraham Lincoln Pence, the father of Elmer Pence, the oh-so-brief Major League baseball player. What is even more remarkable is that the three men, sharing the same surname and all born in Bartholomew County, were not related.

And, as a closing coincidence, my third great-grandfather, John Pence, was one of the first elected associate judges in this same Bartholomew County in 1821. Judge Pence was not related to the family of Elmer, the family of Mike nor the family of Lafayette! -- Dick Pence, October, 2004