List of Houston Astros managers

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Bill Virdon is the all-time winningest manager in Astro history; he won 544 games while leading the Astros to their first postseason berth in 1980 and two division titles. Bill Virdon (manager) - Houston Astros - 1976.jpg
Bill Virdon is the all-time winningest manager in Astro history; he won 544 games while leading the Astros to their first postseason berth in 1980 and two division titles.

The Houston Astros are a professional baseball franchise based in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the American League West Division in Major League Baseball. The team joined MLB in 1962 as an expansion team named the Houston Colt .45s and changed their name to the Houston Astros in 1965. The team won their first NL Championship in 2005. Having first played in Colt Stadium (1962–1964), and later in The Astrodome, now known as the Reliant Astrodome (1965–1999), the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, which was first named The Ballpark at Union Station, since 2000. [1] [2] The current manager is Joe Espada.

Contents

There have been 25 managers for the Astros franchise. [3] The team's first manager was Harry Craft, who managed for three seasons. Bill Virdon is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games managed (1066) and the most regular-season game wins (544). Dusty Baker is the franchise's all-time leader in career playoff games managed (53) and playoff games won (34). Salty Parker is the Astros' all-time leader for the highest regular-season winning percentage, as he has only managed one game, which he won. Of the managers who have managed a minimum of 162 games (one season), Baker has the highest regular-season winning percentage with .594. [3] Leo Durocher is the only Astros manager to have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Durocher and Baker each achieved their 2,000th managerial win with the Astros. [4] Garner, Hinch, and Baker are the only managers to have won league pennants with the franchise, Garner winning one in the National League in 2005, Hinch winning two in the American League in 2017 and 2019, and Baker winning two in 2021 and 2022. Larry Dierker is the only Astros manager to have had his uniform number retired by the Astros, with his uniform number 49 retired by the Astros in 2002. [5] Dierker is also the sixth manager in MLB history to win a division championship in his first season for the Astros in 1997. [5] Lanier and Dierker are the only managers to have won a Manager of the Year Award with the Astros, winning it in 1986 and 1998 respectively. [6] Grady Hatton, Lanier, Dierker, and Cooper have spent their entire managing careers with the Astros.

Key

#Number of managers [a]
GMRegular-season games managed
WRegular-season wins
LRegular-season losses
Win%Regular-season winning percentage
PGMPlayoff games managed
PWPlayoff wins
PLPlayoff losses
PWin%Playoff winning percentage
*Spent entire MLB managing career with the Colt .45s / Astros [3]
**Interim manager only [3]
***Acting manager during manager's medical leave of absence
†Elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager [4]
§Number retired by the Colt .45s / Astros franchise [5]

Managers

Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2023 season.

#ManagerYearsGamesWinsLossesPct.PAPWPWLPct.Notes
1 Harry Craft 1962–1964 471191280.406————
2 Luman Harris 1964–1965 17570105.400————
3 Grady Hatton * 1966–1968 385164221.426————
4 Harry Walker 1968–1972 708355353.501————
5 Salty Parker ** 1972 1101.000————
6 Leo Durocher † 1972–1973 1939895.508————
7 Preston Gómez 1974–1975 289128161.443————
8 Bill Virdon 1975–1982 1,066544522.5101046.400
9 Bob Lillis 1982–1985 537276261.514————
10 Hal Lanier * 1986–1988 486254232.523624.3331986 NL Manager of the Year [6]
11 Art Howe 1989–1993 810392418.484————
12 Terry Collins 1994–1996 421224197.532————
13 Larry Dierker *§ 1997–2001 810448362.55314212.1431998 NL Manager of the Year [6]
14 Matt Galante *** 1999 271314.481————
15 Jimy Williams 2002–2004 412215197.522————
16 Phil Garner 2004–2007 529277252.524261313.500 2005 NL championship
17 Cecil Cooper * 2007–2009 341171170.501————
18 Dave Clark ** 2009 1349.308————
19 Brad Mills * 2010–2012 445171274.384————
20 Tony DeFrancesco ** 2012 411625.390————
21 Bo Porter * 2013–2014 300110190.367————
22 Tom Lawless ** 2014 241113.458—————
23 A. J. Hinch 2015–2019 810481329.594502822.560 2017 World Series Champion
2019 AL championship
24 Dusty Baker 2020–2023 546320226.586533419.642 2022 World Series Champion
2021 AL championship
25 Joe Espada 2024–present---—————

Notes

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References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ "Astros History". MLB.com . MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  2. ↑ "Front Office". MLB.com . MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Houston Astros Managerial Register". Baseball-Reference . Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  4. 1 2 "Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Their Year of Induction". BaseballHallofFame.com. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  5. 1 2 3 "Astros Retired Numbers". MLB.com . MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  6. 1 2 3 "Manager of the Year Award Winners". Baseball-Reference . Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-26.

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