AFiBD posted something about this back in January but it was buried in a larger thread about the one in Cooperstown. I thought it deserved its own thread. The actual induction ceremony for Puhl and Tal Smith is next month as the tweet notes.
Besides seeing pics of those jerseys never gets old. Well unless you hate ‘‘em of course…
Puhl is # 9 on the list for most hits by Canadian born players.
Right behind Barenaked Ladies.
This deserves recognition. If only we did that here.
Have you explained that post to your dad?
He hasn’t asked yet.
Although he definitely knows who BNL are.
It’s been… five years since a post of the week
Stopped doing it and we’re all angry
POTW
Thanks Obama
Orange balls, if you will…
As a 10 year old I was amazed by his playoff performance in 1980.
Still special even after all this time and all the team’s more recent performances and accomplishments.
Set a then record for most hits in an NLCS with 10. Nice article about it including an interview with Terry below when he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball HOF…
The 24 people (20 players, 2 broadcasters, 1 owner, 1 exec) in the Astros HOF…
Guys who I think should also be in there…
Pre 2010: Doug Rader, Bill Virdon, Ken Caminiti, Billy Doran, Paul Richards
Richards I think still doesn’t get enough credit for the players signed/acquired under his watch during his reign as GM in the 1962-1965 period (perhaps because a number were subsequently pissed away by Spec Richardson). The most notable included Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Larry Dierker, Mike Cuellar, Jimmy Wynn, Bob Watson, Don Wilson, Doug Rader.
For obvious reasons this next group is much harder to assess but let’s call these guys the ones with the most arguments in their favor…
2010 & later: Altuve, Springer, Correa, Bregman, Verlander, Crane, Luhnow, Baker, Hinch
As far as the latter three, take your pick as far as individual arguments against: too short a tenure, the scandal, a problematic front office culture. Actually of the three I think Dusty is the one slam dunk. If for no other reason if he goes to Cooperstown (which seems highly likely), I would think the Astros would feel compelled to also recognize him.
I know this is a deep dive but Andres Reiner needs to be recognized in some way. He was the scout who convinced the Astros to open an academy in Venezuela in 1989- the first MLB team to do it.
He scouted and signed Bob Abreu, Freddie Garcia, Richard Hidalgo, Melvin Mora, Carlos Guillen and Johan Santana. Here is more on him.
Absolutely!
A major brain fart on me for not including him.
To add Duman’s great suggestion as well as one other name I felt I overlooked:
Pre 2010: Doug Rader, Bill Virdon, Ken Caminiti, Billy Doran, Paul Richards, Andres Reiner, Glenn Davis
Cheo hit 75 today.
Just a little over 34 years ago that he played his last game in the big leagues at age 40–for the Yankees against the Rangers on July 19, 1980. Knuckleballer Charlie Hough was on the mound for Texas and went 7 innings. Cruz went 0-4.
He was my first ‘favorite Astro’.
“Favorite Astros through the years” would be a good off-day discussion topic.
ETA: Mark’s first favorite Astro I can remember was Glenn Davis. He idolized him. I do not remember exactly how I did it, but I got him a Glenn Davis signed ball personalized to him. I was a hero for a short time. I hope he still has it.
Well, since the Astros were off yesterday and the game does not start for another hour, I’ll start.
Dickie Thon in ‘82-‘83. Sure there were better hitters and better fielders but I could watch him play short for hours on those rare times I would see the Astros on national TV. I’d find myself watching how he set up, how he backed others up, how he carried himself, etc…. I think it was the intersection of 1) I was 14 years old and could follow the game within the game, 2) my fandom being 4 or 5 years old at that point so I was starting to understand the nuance of the game and the value of players other than the marquee names and 3) a coach of mine was a huge Dodgers fan and expressed begrudging respect for Thon and 4) the Astros were still garnering a bit of attention after ‘79 & ‘80 so I had a little more access to something other than the newspaper, an occasional SI article and scratchy AM broadcasts from opposing teams like the Pirates or Phillies after the sun went down and AM boosted their signals.