Skip Guinn and Leon McFadden
1 Like
Tommy Davis, Sonny Jackson, John Bateman.
John, not Tom
He was not an Astro. Red Murff signed him.
That’s the timeframe when I started following them. Wade Blasingame, Dave Giusti, Wilson, Dierker, Billingham, Tom Griffin, lots of K’s
1 Like
When my family drove up from Corpus to catch a couple of Colt .45 games we stayed at a motel on So. Main called the Surrey House. It was an ok place then, nothing fancy at all, grew seedy over time and finally demolished for some new project on So. Main. The Surrey House was right across the street from Colt Stadium and the new Dome. Anyway, Fox lived at the Surrey House during the season when he played for Houston. We would go to a game and get back to the motel in time to see Fox arrive “home” post-game with his cigar in his mouth. It was such a different era and different financial dynamics in the business of MLB back then. A stark difference. Sadly, Fox died before age 50 of skin cancer.
1 Like
Not really. (re: missing Chris Truby). I blinked and he was gone.
Al Spangler has entered the chat.
1 Like
Pepitone’s HR trot included giving the “peace sign” as he crossed the plate. It seems incredibly tame by today’s standards, but there was real worry after Pepitone was traded to the Astros that the 'necks in Houston would react poorly to such counterculture antics.
It turns out Astros’ fans didn’t care about it, they just liked the homers.
1 Like
Turk Farrell took a liner off of his dome that ended up in Jimmy Wynn’s glove in CF for the 1-8 put out and kept pitching like nothing happened.
Mike Cuellar was my favorite Astros pitcher of the era but Spec Richardson traded him. Later, Richardson traded Rusty Staub and my young mood turned dark. My sister would taunt me by just speaking Richardson’s name.
2 Likes
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the absolute treasure that was Tony Eusebio.
2 Likes
I loved watching Eric Anthony. The start of each AB, I had this breathless anticipation that he was going to crush the ball. In retrospect, it was made all-the-more exciting by the fact that the clownish steroids-era HR numbers across baseball did not start until he was gone so the baseline was still “normal” and also so his prodigious blasts really stood out. His productivity also perfectly followed the script of my late 80’s - early 90’s Astros fandom: Hopeful anticipation interrupted by frequent disappointment.
Who knew that that style of baseball would become the norm league-wide and something I would come to loathe. I loved it with Anthony because it was a curiosity and so very different than the tactical, grinding small-ball style of the Astros at the time. As an overarching offense style, I find it dilutes the beauty and nuance of the game from back then.
2 Likes
Norm Miller, who wrote a pretty good biography
1 Like
thanks for posting that.
And coach knows the difference between John and Tom.
Seriously though, welcome aboard.
I had a sililar introduction ( but I really was pouting). Great site and great bunch of Astro fans.
Welcome aboard.
1 Like
Including Mitch Meluskey while snubbing Matt Mieske is some serious chaotic-evil shit.
4 Likes
Next Void topic: OWA regulars by D&D alignment
3 Likes
Another early favorite is former Waco Pirate Roman Mejias. His only season with Houston was by far his career best. The franchise’s first Cuban.
2 Likes
big John Mayberry and Nate Colbert were two other power hitters we briefly had that we traded away. Colbert went to SD and Mayberry hit a ton of HRs for KC…some of the moves we made were pure head scratchers.
1 Like
loved Stormin Norman Miller.