1969 Houston Astros season

1969  Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	81–81 (.500)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Harry Walker
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
←  1968 Seasons 1970  →

The 1969 Houston Astros season was the eighth season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their fifth as the Astros, eighth in the National League (NL), first in the inaugural season of the NL West division, and fifth at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a record of 72–90, in tenth place and 25 games behind the NL pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals.

At San Diego Stadium on April 8, Don Wilson made his first Opening Day start for the Astros, hosted by the Padres, one of four MLB expansion teams. The Astros were defeated, 2–1. One day after the Astros were no-hit by Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, Wilson tossed the fourth no-hitter in franchise history on May 1, a 4–0 victory over the Reds. The second of two no-hitters he pitched for the Astros, Wilson became the first to pitch two no-hitters for the Astros.

In the MLB amateur draft, the Astros' first round selection was pitcher J. R. Richard, at second overall. At the time, Richard became the highest-selected player in the amateur draft for Houston. Shortstop Denis Menke and pitcher Larry Dierker represented the Astros and played for the National League at the MLB All-Star Game. It was the first career selection for both players. Dierker became the first 20-game winner in franchise history.

The Astros concluded the season with an 81–81 record and in fifth place, 12 games behind the NL West-champion Atlanta Braves. This represented the first time in franchise history that Houston finished with a record of .500 or higher.

With Wilson, Dierker, and Tom Griffin all reaching the 200 strikeout threshold, this Astros pitching staff became the second with three to reach the 200-strikeout threshold, following the 1967 Minnesota Twins. Astros pitchers threw 1,221 strikeouts, a major league record that lasted until 1996. Griffin was also named The Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year. ^[a] Right-hander Fred Gladding notched 29 saves to become the second Astros reliever to lead the NL.

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 were traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Curt Blefary and John Mason. ^[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

Summary

April—May

Opening Day starting lineup ^{[6] [7]}

22	Jesús Alou	RF
18	Joe Morgan	2B
21	Norm Miller	CF
12	Doug Rader	3B
13	Curt Blefary	1B
27	Bob Watson	LF
11	Denis Menke	SS
7	Johnny Edwards	C
40	Don Wilson	P
Venue:	San Diego Stadium • SDP 2,	HOU 1

On April 8, the expansion team Padres hosted the Houston Astros at San Diego Stadium, who preceded the Padres in the then-most recent expansion class of 1962 to take part in the first-ever game in Padres history. The Astros rapidly kicked off the scoring in the top of the first inning when Doug Rader singled in Joe Morgan off Padres starter Dick Selma, to assume a 1–0 lead. Don Wilson, the Astros' Opening Day starting pitcher, kept the brand new franchise from realizing their first hit and run until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Ed Spezio cranked a home run to tie the score, 1–1. However, the Astros neither scored for the rest of game, losing 2–1, nor for the rest of the series, the victims of shutout by the Padres on consecutive 2–0 decisions for the final two games. Hence, the Padres swept the Astros in their very first series, ^[8] in a mirror image of how the expansion Houston Colt .45s dispatched their very first opponent, the Chicago Cubs, during their inaugural series. ^[9]

Having dropped their first five contests to start the season, on April 13, the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5–2, to secure their first win of the 1969 campaign. ^[10] Don Wilson authored a masterpiece, going the distance with 10 strikeouts, a game score of 80, while surrendering two unearned runs to earn his first victory of the season. Denis Menke took Don Drysdale deep in the bottom of the second, and in the next inning, Doug Rader belted a three-run home run off Drysdale before he exited two batters later. Jimmy Wynn added a home run in the fifth inning. ^[11] This began a three-game winning streak. ^[10]

Juan Marichal led a four-hitter against Houston on April 27 as the San Francisco Giants won, 2–1. He struck out eight Astros. Willie Mays starred offensively, belting his 590th career home run, while also collecting a single in the fifth inning and later scoring. ^[12]

On April 30, Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds tossed a no-hitter to lead an outright embarrassment of Houston by a 10–0 score at Crosley Field. Maloney whiffed 13 Astros and walked five, the final intentionally to Jimmy Wynn with the bases empty and two outs in the ninth inning. Maloney then fanned Doug Rader to polish off the contest, ^[13] securing the no-hitter to punctuate a losing streak for Houston that slid to eight games, their lengthiest losing streak of the year. Moreover, the Astros had won just once in their previous 15 contests.

During their first month of divisional play, the Astros floundered, exiting April with a 4–20 (.167) record. ^[10]

May

The day after being no-hit, on May 1, Don Wilson returned the favor to the Reds at Crosley Field, achieving just the second instance in major league history that successive no-hitters transpired. Wilson's second career ho-hitter, he had yet to turn 25 years old, and became the first pitcher in club history to fire two no-hitters. ^{[13] [14]} He punched out 13 as Houston triumphed, 4–0, to halt the Astros' already season-long losing streak at eight games. ^[15]

With the Astros down 1–0 on May 3 at the Astrodome, catcher Don Bryant hit a deep blast off Bobby Bolin with Jesús Alou on second to give Houston a 2–1 lead during the third inning. This was the first and only home run of Bryant's career. ^[16] The Astros did not relinquish the lead, and held on for a 4–3 win over the San Francisco Giants. ^[17] On May 4, first baseman Curt Blefary participated in seven double plays, an MLB record for first basemen during a 9-inning game. ^[18]

Down 6–1 after seven innings on May 8, the Astros rallied for three runs in the eighth and continued the uprising with another three-run frame in the ninth to claims a 7–6 road victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Catcher Johnny Edwards drove in the game-winning run with a two-run single. ^[19]

The Astros ventured to Jarry Park Stadium in Canada on May 13 for their first-ever international game to face the Montreal Expos, another expansion club playing out their inaugural season. Infielder Doug Rader knocked 3 runs batted in (RBI) to lead a 10–3 victory for Houston. ^[20]

On May 27, Don Wilson had tossed a 13-strikeout gem keeping the score tied 2–2 with the Phillies going in the bottom of the ninth inning. Doug Rader proceeded to hit the game-winning grand slam for a 6–2 Houston win. ^[21] With the game tied 6–6 in the May 28 contest, in the 10th inning, Rader drew the bases-loaded walk to decide a 7–6 victory over the Phillies. This also gave Houston a 10-game winning streak to set a then-franchise record. ^[22]

June

Starting June 4, and continuing until August 3, Jimmy Wynn scaled an on-base streak to 52 games to set the franchise record. He batted .322, with a .500 on-base percentage (OBP) and .586 slugging percentage (SLG), garnering 56 hits and 63 bases on balls (BB). Wynn's streak trailed the NL record by 6 games, held by Duke Snider, who reached base at least once each game from May 13–July 11, 1954. Meanwhile, from June 25–August 18, 1975, Greg Gross proceeded to reach base 52 consecutive games, which equaled Wynn for the franchise record. ^{[23] [24]}

On June 5, Joe Morgan's 4-fort-4 day with a home run and four runs scored led a Houston win over the St. Louis Cardinals, 11–6. ^[25] Astros starter Larry Dierker, on 24-hour leave from duty with the Army on June 8, outdueled Cardinals ace Steve Carlton over 11 innings. Dierker capped off the night by hitting the game-winning run batted in (RBI) for a 2–1 win. ^[26]

MLB All-Star break

Houston entered the All-Star break even with a 48–48 record on the heels of a 10–9, 11-inning defeat to the Reds. The Astros scored 5 in the top of the 4th to mount an 8–0 lead, capped by Denis Menke's two-run single. They added another in the top of the sixth courtesy of Menke's single to score Sandy Valdespino to go up 9–0. However, Cincinnati answered with nine of their own, including rocking relievers Jim Ray and Skip Guinn for six, capped by a two-run double by Pete Rose and three-run home run by Bobby Tolan. In the bottom of the tenth, Ted Savage singled off Jack Billingham to score Tony Pérez for the walk-off. ^[27]

The following day, the Apollo 11 mission, launched by NASA, landed on the Moon. ^[28] By extension of the presence of the at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Astros baseball club was named in honor of space exploration (the astronaut).

Rest of July

Houston swept a July 30 doubleheader from the New York Mets. In the opener, Denis Menke and Wynn both connected for grand slams in the same inning to cap a double-routing of the Mets, 16–3 and 11–5, at Shea Stadium. The double slam was the first to occur in the National League in 79 years. In the nightcap, Dierker took Nolan Ryan deep, and reliever Fred Gladding, mired in a decade-long slump at the plate, laced a bloop single for the only hit in his major league career. ^[13]

August—October

The Astros season from August 26 to October 2 was featured in Jim Bouton's book, Ball Four . ^[29] 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. ^[29] 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. ^{[30] [31]} The Astros were the second team to have three pitchers with 200 strikeouts, with only the 1967 Minnesota Twins having accomplished the feat. Since then, only the 2013 Detroit Tigers have accomplished the feat. ^[32] The three hurlers who realized the 200-strikeout threshold for the Astros in 1969 included Wilson (235), Dierker (232), and rookie Tom Griffin (200). ^[33]

Performance summary

Additionally, Dierker became Houston's first-ever 20-game winner to lead the club's first regular-season record as high as .500, hence, at the time a club-record 81 wins. ^[34] Dierker's 20 wins ranked fifth in the National League. ^[35] Dierker set other club records, including 20 complete games ^[36] and 305+1⁄3 innings pitched. ^[37]

Wynn drew 148 bases on balls to tie Eddie Stanky of the Broolyn Dodgers in 1945 for the National League record. At the time, the major league record of 170 was held by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees in 1923 in the American League (AL), and other hitters who were ahead of the NL record included Ted Williams (3 seasons), Eddie Yost, Eddie Joost and Ruth again (1923). ^{[b] [38]}

Griffin was named The Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year, the first Astros rookie pitcher to be recognized for the award ^[39] and was preceded by teammate Joe Morgan in 1965 (position player) as the second Astros rookie overall to be so named. ^{[a] [40]}

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	93	69	.574	—	50‍–‍31	43‍–‍38
San Francisco Giants	90	72	.556	3	52‍–‍29	38‍–‍43
Cincinnati Reds	89	73	.549	4	50‍–‍31	39‍–‍42
Los Angeles Dodgers	85	77	.525	8	50‍–‍31	35‍–‍46
Houston Astros	81	81	.500	12	52‍–‍29	29‍–‍52
San Diego Padres	52	110	.321	41	28‍–‍53	24‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1969 National League record v t e Sources:
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

• May 7, 1969: Oscar Zamora was signed as a free agent by the Astros. ^[41]
• June 5, 1969: Pitcher J. R. Richard was selected by the Astros in the first round (second pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. ^[42]
• August 24, 1969: Dooley Womack and Roric Harrison were traded by the Astros to the Seattle Pilots for pitcher Jim Bouton. ^[43]

Roster

1969 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 42 Jack Billingham 36 Wade Blasingame 44 Jim Bouton 31 Danny Coombs 49 Larry Dierker 48 Fred Gladding 38 Tom Griffin 35 Skip Guinn 41 Bill Henry 23 Denny Lemaster 45 Jim Ray 41 Dan Schneider 37 Scipio Spinks 47 Bob Watkins 43 Ron Willis 40 Don Wilson 37 Dooley Womack		Catchers  6 Don Bryant  7 Johnny Edwards Infielders 13 Curt Blefary 17 Julio Gotay 11 Denis Menke 18 Joe Morgan 12 Doug Rader 15 Héctor Torres		Outfielders 22 Jesús Alou 10 Tommy Davis 19 Gary Geiger 34 César Gerónimo 26 Keith Lampard 14 Marty Martínez 20 Leon McFadden 21 Norm Miller 28 Sandy Valdespino 27 Bob Watson 24 Jimmy Wynn Other batters 33 John Mayberry		Manager 25 Harry Walker Coaches  4 Buddy Hancken  3 Mel McGaha  5 Jim Owens  2 Salty Parker

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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

= Indicates league leader

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	225.0	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	115.0	8	2	3.91	115
Wade Blasingame	26	52.0	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 achievements

Pitching achievements

• No-hit game: Don Wilson—May 1, 1969 (Astros 4, Cincinnati Reds 0)
• Single-season franchise records
  • 20 wins —Larry Dierker—until 1979: Joe Niekro 21 wins ^[34]
  • 20 complete games—Larry Dierker—incumbent ^[36]
  • 305+1⁄3 innings pitched—Larry Dierker—incumbent ^[37]

Offensive achievements

• Franchise record:
  • On-base in consecutive games, 52: Jimmy Wynn, June 4–August 3—tied, Greg Gross, 1975 ^[23]
  • Single season, 148 bases on balls: Jimmy Wynn——until 1999, Jeff Bagwell, 149

Awards

• Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP): ^[44] Larry Dierker
• MLB All-Star Game:
  • Reserve pitcher—Larry Dierker
  • Reserve infielder—Denis Menke
• The Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year. ^{[a] [39]} Tom Griffin

NL batting leaders ^[33]

• Bases on balls: Jimmy Wynn (148—led MLB)

NL pitching leaders ^[33]

• Saves: Fred Gladding (29)
• Strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9): Tom Griffin (9.558—led MLB)
• Wild pitches: Don Wilson (16—led MLB)

Minor league system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Cot Deal
AA	Savannah Senators [c]	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

See also

• Texas portal
• Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

References

Footnotes

1. From 1961–2003, The Sporting News declared one rookie pitcher and position player from each league, the NL and the American League (AL), for this award. Starting in 2004, this system was modified to selecting one rookie from each league for the award, regardless of position.
2. The NL record was passed by Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998 and Jeff Bagwell broke the club record in 1999.
3. Savannah affiliation shared with Washington Senators.

Sources

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External links

• 1969 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference