Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are one of the teams competing in Major League Baseball (MLB). This team has competed in both the National League (AL) and the American League (AL) of the MLB.

The Houston Astros were formed in 1888 as a minor league team called the Houston Buffaloes. They changed their name to Houston Colt .45s as a member of the National League before renaming themselves as the Houston Astros in 1965 and joined the American League (AL) in 2013. The team is notable for winning the World Series title twice and has also won multiple other titles in both the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). Unfortunately, the team gained notoriety for stealing signs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons which landed them in a huge controversy that ultimately proved to be true.

Despite all this, the team continues to gain support from its loyal fans and has redeemed themselves by better code of conduct. They are now dedicated towards winning their third World Series title.

Houston Astros History

The history of the Houston Astros goes back to the year 1888 when it was a minor league team called the Houston Buffaloes. They tried to join the MLB as an expansion team but interest in them was not shown by the MLB. Ultimately, in 1960, the MLB allowed the team to join them as an expansion and they joined the National League (NL) as Houston Colt .45s in 1962. Then they renamed themselves as the Houston Astros. They also moved to a new stadium called the Astrodome..

After maintaining well throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Houston Astros focused on building a stronger team during the 1990s. They played their first World Series in 2005 but unfortunately lost it to the Chicago White Sox. Following this, they suffered a decline from 2006 till 2009. The team played its final years in the National League (NL) from 2010-2012 and then moved to the American League (AL) from the 2013 season. The team also changed its appearance accordingly.

The team won its first World Series title in the 2017 season. Unfortunately, it also faced accusations of stealing signs for the 2017 and the 2018 seasons. The investigations into this situation proved that the accusations were true. Resultantly, the team was fined $5 million as repercussion by the MLB while the team manager and general manager, A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow were fired from the team.

The team has redeemed itself since then and has established a better code of conduct for the players and the staff. More recently, they also won their second World Series title in the 2022 season.

Houston Astros Owner

The Houston Astros is owned by James Robert Crane, also known as Jim Crane. He is a businessman from Houston, Texas, United States. Born in January 17, 1954 in the United States, he also owns restaurants, software companies, and the pizza chain Papa John’s Inc. for which he opened several franchises in Russia.

Jim Crane became the owner of the Houston Astros in 2011 for around $680 million. Since then, he has supervised the working of the team and its various assets. Fortunately, for him , he was found to be innocent and unaware of the team sign stealing scandal in 2017 and 2018 seasons. Regarding the situation, he expressed that he was troubled and upset about the whole fiasco and would immediately take steps to remedy the problem. Since then, he has established a better code of conduct for the team’s players and staff.

In the present times, Jim Crane continues the ownership of the Houston Astros and manages other businesses at the same time.

Houston Astros Jersey and Logo

The Houston Astros have designed their own home and road jerseys for playing their games. Currently, their home jersey is white colored shirts and pants. The shirt is buttoned down. There are orange pipings around the neck which run down on both sides of the buttons on the shirt. There is a deep blue Nike symbol on the upper left side of the jersey. The word “Astros” is seen across the chest of the shirt in an arched way. It is blue with orange outlines. Both the sleeves of the shirt have orange cuffs around them. Below this, the jersey number of the player appears in deep blue with orange outlines. The player name and the jersey number appears in blue with orange outlines in the back of the jersey. The logo of the team is a blue circle with two orange inner circles. Inside the second inner circle, there is the word “H” in white with an orange. Between the first and the second orange inner circles, the word “HOUSTON ASTROS” is written in white on the upper and lower side. This logo appears on one sleeve of the jersey. The caps and helmets of the jerseys are deep blue in color. There is a white “H” with an orange star in the background.

The road jersey of the team is gray colored shirts and pants. There are blue pipings running around the neck and on both sides of the shirt. There is a deep blue Nike symbol on the upper left side of the jersey. Below it is the city name “Houston” appears in deep blue with orange outlines in an arched way around the chest of the shirt. The jersey number of the player appears on the bottom left side of the shirt. It is also blue with orange outlines. The player name appears in an arched way in deep blue with orange outlines in an arched way with the jersey number below in the back of the shirt. The logo of the jersey is the same as is in the home uniform and appears on one of the sleeves of the shirt. The caps and the helmets of the road jerseys are also the same as the home jerseys. It is also a deep blue color with a white “H” with an orange star in the background.

Besides these uniforms, the team also wears an orange jersey and two deep blue jerseys in their games.

Houston Astros Nicknames

The Houston Astros have gained several nicknames till now, some of them are good while others are bad. These are the nicknames that have been gathered by the team so far.

• The Stros and The Astronauts - These are two nicknames received by the team. The first nickname is the short form of the word “Astros.” The second nickname is the larger form of the team name “Astros” which means the astronauts. The second nickname has been given as a tribute to the astronauts visiting the stadium.

• Crush City and The Blastros - The first nickname is used to refer to the team in 2015 that scored a lot of home runs. The second nickname was the pops received from the fans after the players scored home runs in the 2015 season.

• The Stars - This nickname is given due to the orange star in the logo of the team.

• The Astronomicals - This nickname was given to the team by Marty Brennaman, the Cincinnati Reds Radio broadcaster.

• 8th Wonder of the World - The team received this nickname because of their Astrodome stadium.

• Asstros - This nickname is mainly used by haters, critics and opponent fans of the team.

• The Asterisks, The Cheaters and Cheat City - All three of these nicknames have been given to the team after the 2017 signs stealing allegations against them were proved to be true.

Houston Astros Retired Jersey

The Houston Astros like all other major MLB teams paid tribute to their legendary players over the years by retiring their jerseys on special events. Here are the Astros whose jersey numbers have been retired by the team.

Houston Astros Home Stadium

The home stadium for the Houston Astros is the Minute Maid Park located in Houston, Texas, United States. It is a stadium with a retractable roof. The stadium has the capacity to support 41, 168 spectators. The surface of the field is made up of Platinum TE Paspalum.

One of the important features of the stadium was Tal's Hill, which had an incline of 90 feet. It has been named after the former president of the team Tal Smith. There is also the ancient Union Station which now serves as the largest entryway to the Park. Moreover, there is also a railway with a train as a tribute to the ancient station. The train is driven by Bobby Dynamite (real name Bobby Vasquez) after the team takes to the field in the first innings, when players score a home run and when the team wins a game. The Crawford Boxes are a group of seats that run in a parallel manner to the Minute Maid Park. There are various restaurants for the spectators to try out different foods. Among other facilities for the spectators are fully air-conditioned facilities and statues of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell in front of the stadium.

Besides baseball, this stadium is also used for soccer, pro wrestling (WWE 2020 Royal Rumble) and musical concerts by artists and bands like Paul McCartney, Madonna, The Eagles, Green Day, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (RHCP) and more.

Houston Astros Tickets and Broadcasting Details

The Houston Astros have developed the best possible way for the fans to get the tickets without any troubles.

• There are mini plans that allow the fans to enjoy more than 15 games with children aged 3 years old.

• The single game tickets help the fans to get the tickets for the game that they want to watch. Partial plans allow them to enjoy games on the weekends, weekdays or series.

• The Premium seat tickets offer the fans to watch the game comfortably with friends and family members.

• Group tickets allow fans to bring friends and family members to the games. They can get these tickets for musical concerts too.

• SeatGeek is the ideal place to get the above mentioned tickets for the Houston Astros games. The prices start as low as $7 and go higher up as per the requirement of the fans.

The Houston Astros have made significant changes to their broadcasting details in recent years.

• While the AT&T SportsNet remains the tv broadcaster for the Houston Astro games, the team might change their tv partner to the newly launched Space City Home Network in the future. For now, broadcasters Todd Kalas, Geoff Blum and Julia Morales are responsible for getting the action to the fans at home.

• SportsTalk 790 KBME is the radio broadcaster for the Houston Astros. The commentary team includes Robert Ford, Steve Sparks and Matt Boltz. The Spanish commentary will be handled by Francisco Romero and Alex Trevino.

• MLB.TV will stream the Houston Astros games for out of market areas.

Houston Astros Coaching Staff

The Houston Astros have appointed some very capable personnel to train their players. These are the different coaches who regularly guide and help the players of the team.

Houston Astros Rivalries

The major rivals for the Houston Astros have been the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners.

Rivalry of the Astros and the Rangers

The rivalry between these two teams is called the Lone Star Series (also known as the Silver Boot Series). Both these teams belong from different leagues, however once a part of the same league till 2012. In case of interleague games, the winner of these two teams is awarded with a silver cowboy boot with a handmade spur. Both these rivals, whenever faced with each other, have shown dominance against the other to prove their superiority over the other.

Rivalry of the Astros and the Dodgers

This began as a divisional matchup but following Houston's realignment to the American League. There has been a lot of enmity between these two teams as rivals since then. This is because the Astros became champions in the 2017 season with the accusations of stealing signs came to light. The fans of these two teams are also very hostile to each other because of this.

Rivalry of the Astros and the Yankees

This rivalry started after the Astros became a member of the American League (AL) in 2013. However, all of their encounters have resulted in the Astros winning the games. The controversy regarding stealing signs, resulted in enmity between the fans of both the teams. Despite being tied with 43 wins presently, the Astros are leading the postseason with a 13-5 win-loss record.

Rivalry of the Astros and the Mariners

These two teams have had a very competitive rivalry in recent years. The object of these rivals is the control of the division in which they belong. The rise of the Mariners to playoff contention resulted in a heated rivalry. The meeting between these teams have resulted in brawls among members of both. teams. Furthermore, both team members have hit pitches at each other. Despite this, the Astros have managed to fend off the Mariners till now.

Houston Astros Records and Stats

These are the records and stats that the Houston Astros have managed to accumulate as a team over the years.

• All-time high record in batting average - .368 (1994 season)

• All-time high record in runs scored - 1844 (1998-2007 season)

• All-time high record in scoring runs - 2046 (1998- 2007 season)

• All-time high record in scoring doubles - 665 (1998-2007 season )

• All-time high record in scoring triples - 80 (1975-1987 season)

• All-time high record in scoring home runs - 449 (1991-2005 season)

• All-time high record in stolen bases - 487 (1970-1981 season)

• All-time high record in ERA - 2.29 (2017-2022 season)

• All-time high record in games played - 563 (1980-1990 season)

• All-time high record in scoring strikeouts - 1866 (1980-1988 season)

• All-time high record in games won by pitching - 144 (1975-1985 season)

• All-time high record in shutouts - 25 (1964-1976 season)

Houston Astros World Series Championships

The Houston Astros as a team have managed to win two World Series Championships till now. Here are their opponents in those games.

Houston Astros Other MLB Titles

The Houston Astros have won many other titles in the MLB besides winning two World Series Championships. These are the other titles won by the team.

Houston Astros Hall of Famers

Several players have been inducted into the Hall of Famers by the Houston Astros. These are the players who have achieved fame.

Current Houston Astros Roster 2023 MLB

These are the active players on the Houston Astros roster right now

Houston Astros Schedule

The Houston Astros have had an eventful season so far. They are trying to get in the playoffs. These are their upcoming games in the season.