1969 Houston Astros season

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1969 Houston Astros
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record81–81 (.500)
Divisional place5th
Other information
Owner(s)Roy Hofheinz
General manager(s)Spec Richardson
Manager(s)Harry Walker
Local televisionKTRK-TV
Local radioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
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The 1969 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in fifth place in the newly established National League West with a record of 81–81, twelve games behind the Atlanta Braves. It was also the first time in their history that the Astros did not finish below .500.

Offseason[]

  • October 14, 1968: Nate Colbert was drafted from the Astros by the San Diego Padres as the 18th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.[1]
  • December 2, 1968: Bo Belinsky was drafted from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 rule 5 draft.[2]
  • December 4, 1968: Mike Cuellar, Enzo Hernández, and Elijah Johnson (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Curt Blefary and John Mason (minors).[3]
  • January 22, 1969: Rusty Staub was traded by the Astros to the Montreal Expos for Jesús Alou and Donn Clendenon. Clendenon refused to report to the Astros. The Expos sent Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, and $100,000 to the Astros on April 8, 1969, as compensation.[4]
  • February 12, 1969: Byron Browne was purchased from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals.[5]

Regular season[]

  • April 8: The Astros played against the San Diego Padres in the first ever game in Padres history.
  • May 4, 1969: First baseman Curt Blefary participated in seven double plays.

The Astros season from August 26 to October 2 was featured in Jim Bouton's book, Ball Four.[6] On September 19, Bouton struck out Tony Pérez of the Cincinnati Reds and made baseball history. With that strikeout, the pitching staff of the 1969 edition of the Houston Astros broke the then-National League record for most strikeouts in a season with 1,123 strikeouts.[6] The team finished the year with 1,221 strikeouts, which stood as the National League record until 1996, when it was broken by the Atlanta Braves. They were the second team to have three pitchers with 200 strikeouts, with only the 1967 Minnesota Twins having done the feat. Since then, only the 2013 Detroit Tigers have done the feat.[7]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
NL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 93 69 0.574 — 50–31 43–38
San Francisco Giants 90 72 0.556 3 52–29 38–43
Cincinnati Reds 89 73 0.549 4 50–31 39–42
Los Angeles Dodgers 85 77 0.525 8 50–31 35–46
Houston Astros 81 81 0.500 12 52–29 29–52
San Diego Padres 52 110 0.321 41 28–53 24–57

Record vs. opponents[]

1969 National League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 3–9 12–6 15–3 9–9 8–4 4–8 6–6 8–4 13–5 9–9 6–6
Chicago 9–3 — 6–6–1 8–4 6–6 10–8 8–10 12–6 7–11 11–1 6–6 9–9
Cincinnati 6–12 6–6–1 — 9–9 10–8 8–4 6–6 10–2 5–7 11–7 10–8 8–4
Houston 3–15 4–8 9–9 — 6–12 11–1 10–2 8–4 3–9 10–8 10–8 7–5
Los Angeles 9–9 6–6 8–10 12–6 — 10–2 4–8 8–4 8–4 12–6 5–13 3–9
Montreal 4–8 8–10 4–8 1–11 2–10 — 5–13 11–7 5–13 4–8 1–11 7–11
New York 8–4 10–8 6–6 2–10 8–4 13–5 — 12–6 10–8 11–1 8–4 12–6
Philadelphia 6-6 6–12 2–10 4–8 4–8 7–11 6–12 — 10–8 8–4 3–9 7–11
Pittsburgh 4–8 11–7 7–5 9–3 4–8 13–5 8–10 8–10 — 10–2 5–7 9–9
San Diego 5–13 1–11 7–11 8–10 6–12 8–4 1–11 4–8 2–10 — 6–12 4–8
San Francisco 9–9 6–6 8–10 8–10 13–5 11–1 4–8 9–3 7–5 12–6 — 3–9
St. Louis 6–6 9–9 4–8 5–7 9–3 11–7 6–12 11–7 9–9 8–4 9–3 —


Notable transactions[]

Roster[]

1969 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  • 25 Harry Walker

Coaches

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Johnny Edwards 151 496 115 .232 6 50
1B Curt Blefary 155 542 137 .253 12 67
2B Joe Morgan 147 535 126 .236 15 43
SS Denis Menke 154 553 149 .269 10 90
3B Doug Rader 155 569 140 .246 11 83
LF Jesús Alou 115 452 112 .248 5 34
CF Jim Wynn 149 495 133 .269 33 87
RF Norm Miller 119 409 108 .264 4 50

Other batters[]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Marty Martínez 78 198 61 .308 0 15
Gary Geiger 93 125 28 .224 0 16
Sandy Valdespino 41 119 29 .244 0 12
Julio Gotay 46 81 21 .259 0 9
Tommy Davis 24 79 19 .241 1 9
Leon McFadden 44 74 13 .176 0 3
Héctor Torres 34 69 11 .159 1 8
Don Bryant 31 59 11 .186 1 6
Bob Watson 20 40 11 .275 0 3
Keith Lampard 9 12 3 .250 1 2
César Gerónimo 28 8 2 .250 0 0
John Mayberry 5 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Larry Dierker 39 305.1 20 13 2.33 232
Denny Lemaster 38 244.2 13 17 3.16 173
Don Wilson 34 225 16 12 4.00 235
Tom Griffin 31 188.1 11 10 3.54 200

Other pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Ray 40 115 8 2 3.91 115
Wade Blasingame 26 52 0 5 5.37 33

Relief pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Fred Gladding 57 4 8 29 4.21 40
Jack Billingham 52 6 7 2 4.25 71
Dooley Womack 30 2 1 0 3.51 32
Skip Guinn 28 1 2 0 6.67 33
Jim Bouton 16 0 2 1 4.11 32
Danny Coombs 8 0 1 0 6.75 3
Dan Schneider 6 0 1 0 13.50 3
Bob Watkins 5 0 0 0 5.17 11
Bill Henry 3 0 0 0 0.00 2
Ron Willis 3 0 0 0 0.00 2
Scipio Spinks 1 0 0 0 0.00 4
Marty Martínez 1 0 0 0 13.50 0

Awards and honors[]

1969 MLB All-Star Game

  • Larry Dierker
  • Denis Menke

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Cot Deal
AA Savannah Senators Southern League Hub Kittle
A Peninsula Astros Carolina League Tony Pacheco
A Cocoa Astros Florida State League Leo Posada
A-Short Season Williamsport Astros New York–Penn League Billy Smith
Rookie Covington Astros Appalachian League Dick Bogard

Savannah affiliation shared with Washington Senators

References[]

  1. ^ Nate Colbert at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Bo Belinsky at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Curt Blefary Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ^ Jesús Alou Statistics at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Byron Browne at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ a b Ball Four, 20th Anniversary Edition, pp. 324–396, Jim Bouton, Edited by Leonard Schecter, Wiley Publishing Inc., 1990, ISBN 0-02-030665-2
  7. ^ "Teams with Three 200+ Strikeout Pitchers - A Diverse Bunch of Hurlers". February 21, 2014.
  8. ^ Oscar Zamora at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ J. R. Richard at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Jim Bouton at Baseball Reference

External links[]

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