Major League Baseball began in Houston in 1962 and for three short years, the team wasn’t called the Astros. The team was called the Colt 45’s and the inaugural team sported baseball talent like Roman Mejias and twenty game loser Turk Farrell. After an eight place finish and two ninth place finishes, the Colt 45’s became the Houston Astros. Unfortunately, it didn’t improve the teams fortune and the team didn’t put together a winning record until 1972.
This blog is about the Astros, but it’s also about the Colt 45’s. I know, it was only three years but I’ll be covering the Astros for the Baseball Historians network of sites. I’ll not only be looking at the present day Astros but I’ll also be looking at the team’s rich but short history. 2007 isn’t shaping up to be a banner year, but with players like Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, there’s little doubt that the team will at least be in the mix in a weak NL Central.
So hopefully you’ll stop by on occasion. The first order of business is tribute to the greatest Astros of all, Jeff Bagwell. I’ll be working on a year by year retrospective of him as well as following the remnants of the Hot Stove league.
