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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 50 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Houston Astros
Craig Biggio. Cabell is the single-season leader with 660.
| The one millionth run in Major Leauge Baseball history was hit by a Houston Astro. Who was that player? | Houston Astros
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Bob Watson. Bob Watson pulled off this feat in May of 1975. Nevertheless, the Astros lost the game.
| Who was the first Houston Astro to throw 20 wins in a season while playing for the Astros? | Houston Astros
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Larry Dierker. Mike Hampton has the most single-season wins with 22 in 1998, but Dierker did it first with 20 in 1969.
| Who threw the more strike-outs in a single season while playing for the Astros? | Houston Astros
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J.R. Richard. While Ryan may hold the MLB record for career strikeouts, the most he ever threw in a season as an Astro was 270. Rcihard threw 313 in 1979. Also beating Ryan were Mike Scott with 306 in 1986 and Richard again with 303 in 1978. Richard, Scott, and Richard again won 18 games in their 300-K years, but Ryan only had 8.
Colt 45's. The franchise began in 1962.
Harris County Domed Stadium. For 3 years, while the Astrodome was being built, the Astros were known as the Colt 45's and played next door in a rinky-dink field known as Colt Stadium. Then they moved into the Harris County Domed Stadium. They are currently in stadium #3, Minute Maid Park - which is on its third name! Previously, it was known as Enron Field and then Astros Field.
Don Nottebart. Don Nottebart threw the first in 1963, and Don Wilson threw two.
| Who hit the first official National League homer in the Astrodome? | Houston Astros
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1980. Under the management of Bill Virdon, the Astros won the National League West division in 1980 with a 93-70 record.
| On April 10, 1962 the Astros (then known as the Colt .45's) won their inaugural game. What former American League MVP was the Colt .45's starting and winning pitcher that day? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Bobby Shantz. Shantz was the 1952 American League MVP, going 24-7 with a 2.48 ERA for the fifth place Philadelphia Athletics
Roman Mejias. Mejias hit 24 home runs for the 1962 Colts, he hit only 30 home runs total in eight other big league seasons. At the conclusion of the 1962 season he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for American League batting champion Pete Runnels.
Ken Johnson. Johnson accomplished this dubious feat on April 23, 1964 against the Cincinnati Reds. Two errors in the ninth inning, one by Hall-of-Famer Nellie Fox, allowed Pete Rose to score the game's only run.
Don Nottebart. It happened in the Astrodome on September 13, 1965 in a 5-1 win by the Giants over the Astros.
| Eddie Mathews collected his 500th career home run while a member of the Astros. What future Hall-of-Fame pitcher surrendered the historic clout? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Juan Marichal. It happend July 14, 1967 at Candlestick Park. The three-run home run helped the Astros defeat the Giants that day 8-6.
| A little over a month after Eddie Mathews hit his 500th home run, the Astros traded him to the Detriot Tigers for which pitcher? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Fred Gladding. Gladding would not pitch for the Astros until the following year due to injury. Mathews would go on to play in only 67 games with Detriot before retiring in 1968. He did however, remain long enough to play in the 1968 World Series with the World Champion Tigers.
| On June 10, 1968, two Astro players refused to play in that day's game because of mourning for the slain Robert Kennedy and were later fined. Which two players? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Rusty Staub & Bob Aspromonte. Two American League games were postponed that same day due to the mourning and it was reported that the Dodger Maury Wills also refused to play that day and was also fined.
Don Wilson. It came on September 15, 1968 and helped the Cardinals defeat the Astros 7-4, thus clinching the NL pennant for the Redbirds.
| This Astro infielder was traded to the Braves at the end of the 1968 season. At that time he was the last of the original Colt .45's still with the franchise as an active player. Who was he? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Bob Aspromonte. When Aspromonte retired 3 years after the trade, he would also be the last active player to have worn the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers, having appeared in one game with Dodgers as an 18-year old in 1956.
1969. Oddly it was also the same year their 1962 expansion mates, the New York Mets, would reached .500 for the first time, although the Mets did a bit better by becoming the 1969 World Series Champions.
Jimmy Wynn. The "Toy Cannon" did it on June 15, 1967 against the Giants in the Astrodome. The Astros won the game, 6-2.
| Most baseball fans know that Bob Watson is credited with scoring the 1,000,000th run in major league history. Who drove in that historic run? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Milt May. It happend on May 4, 1975. May did it with a three-run home run off John Montefusco (Giants) in the second inning of the first game of a double-header. The Astro's went on to lose that game, 8-6. The Red's David Concepcion homered at about the same time and reportedly raced around the bases to try and score the historic run, but was beaten by Watson who was on second base when May connected.
| Pitcher Joe Niekro hit the only home run of his major league career while a member of the Astros. Which pitcher has the dubious honor of allowing this home run? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Phil Niekro. That's right, the only home run of Joe's career came off of older brother Phil. It happened at Atlanta on May 29, 1976 in the top of the seventh inning and tied the game that the Astros would go on to win, 4-3 with Joe getting the victory and Phil taking the loss.
| In 1978, which Astro pitcher became the first National League right hander to strike out 300 or more batters in a single season? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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J. R. Richard. The towering 6'8" Richard would strike out 303 batters in 1978 and then better his own mark the next year by striking out 313.
| In 1979 what former Astro standout, then playing in the American League, became the first major league player to hit for the cycle in both the American and National Leagues? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Bob Watson. On September 15, 1979, while a member of the Boston Red Sox, Watson hit for a "natural" cycle (single, double, triple and home run in that order) in a 10-2 Red Sox win over the Baltimore Orioles. He had also hit for the cycle in 1977 on June 24 in the Astros 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Don Sutton. Ryan hit a three-run home run off of Sutton on April 12, 1980, the first of only two homers he would hit in his entire career. The Astros went on to lose the game in 17 innings, 6-5.
Cesar Geronimo. Geronimo became Ryan's 3000th strikeout on July 4, 1980 and was Gibson's 3000th strikeout on July 17, 1974. Oddly, both Ryan and Gibson lose to the Reds on the days of their historical acheivements. Geronimo had been a member of the Astros from 1969 -71 and was acquired by the Reds in the same deal that brought them Joe Morgan.
| 1980: after 19 years as a member of the National League, the Astros finally reached the post season, but had to win a one game playoff against the Los Angeles Dodgers to do so. Which Astro hitter drove in four runs in the game, including a key three-run home run to help the Astros reach the post season for the first time? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Art Howe. Howe's hitting backed Joe Niekro's pitching as the Astros beat the Dodgers, 7-1 in the one game playoff. The Astros had come into the final three game set against the Dodgers with a three game lead in the division. They proceeded to drop all three games to the Dodger, necessitating the one game playoff. The victory in the game made Niekro a 20-game winner for the second straight year.
| In Game 4 of the 1980 NLCS, many Astro fans still cringe at the mention of umpire Doug Harvey's name for his call on the infamous "triple play that wasn't", but for my money the goat horns in this game belong to this Astro outfielder whose base running gaffes twice took the Astros out of potential big innings, once by leaving third too early on a potential sacrifice fly by Luis Pujols in the sixth inning. Can you name this outfielder? | Houston Astros History 1962-1980
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Gary Woods. Woods had hit .377 with 2 home runs and 15 RBIs in 54 games with the Astros in 1980.
| The Houston franchise joined the Major Leagues in 1962 as did the New York Mets. What was the Houston team called? | The Houston Astros!
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Colt .45s. They were the Houston Colt .45s for their first three seasons before taking on the Astros name in 1965. Harry Craft lasted for three seasons before manager Lum Harris took over. Almost like the dismal New York Mets, the .45s/Astros lost 90+ games in each of their first seven seasons. The Mets lost 100+ in five of their first six seasons.
| In the first 40 seasons of the Houston franchise, they won 100 games in a season only once. Which season was this? | The Houston Astros!
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1998. Under manager Larry Dierker, the Astros went 102-60 to win their division in 1998, but lost the NLDS to the Padres, who went on to the World Series and lost to the Yankees.
2005. In 2005, Phil Garner, managing his first full season with the Astros, won the NLDS against Braves, NLCS against the Cardinals, then lost to the White Sox four games to none in the promised land.
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