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.
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.
# | Number of managers [a] |
GM | Regular-season games managed |
W | Regular-season wins |
L | Regular-season losses |
Win% | Regular-season winning percentage |
PGM | Playoff games managed |
PW | Playoff wins |
PL | Playoff 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] |
Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 season.
# | Image | Manager | Years | Games | Wins | Losses | Pct. | PA | PW | PWL | Pct. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Harry Craft | 1962–1964 | 471 | 191 | 280 | .406 | — | — | — | — | |
2 | ![]() | Luman Harris | 1964–1965 | 175 | 70 | 105 | .400 | — | — | — | — | |
3 | ![]() | Grady Hatton * | 1966–1968 | 385 | 164 | 221 | .426 | — | — | — | — | |
4 | ![]() | Harry Walker | 1968–1972 | 708 | 355 | 353 | .501 | — | — | — | — | |
5 | Salty Parker ** | 1972 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | — | — | — | — | ||
6 | ![]() | Leo Durocher † | 1972–1973 | 193 | 98 | 95 | .508 | — | — | — | — | |
7 | ![]() | Preston Gómez | 1974–1975 | 289 | 128 | 161 | .443 | — | — | — | — | |
8 | ![]() | Bill Virdon | 1975–1982 | 1,066 | 544 | 522 | .510 | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | |
9 | ![]() | Bob Lillis | 1982–1985 | 537 | 276 | 261 | .514 | — | — | — | — | |
10 | ![]() | Hal Lanier * | 1986–1988 | 486 | 254 | 232 | .523 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | 1986 NL Manager of the Year [6] |
11 | ![]() | Art Howe | 1989–1993 | 810 | 392 | 418 | .484 | — | — | — | — | |
12 | ![]() | Terry Collins | 1994–1996 | 421 | 224 | 197 | .532 | — | — | — | — | |
13 | ![]() | Larry Dierker *§ | 1997–2001 | 810 | 448 | 362 | .553 | 14 | 2 | 12 | .143 | 1998 NL Manager of the Year [6] |
14 | ![]() | Matt Galante *** | 1999 | 27 | 13 | 14 | .481 | — | — | — | — | |
15 | ![]() | Jimy Williams | 2002–2004 | 412 | 215 | 197 | .522 | — | — | — | — | |
16 | ![]() | Phil Garner | 2004–2007 | 529 | 277 | 252 | .524 | 26 | 13 | 13 | .500 | 2005 NL championship |
17 | ![]() | Cecil Cooper * | 2007–2009 | 341 | 171 | 170 | .501 | — | — | — | — | |
18 | ![]() | Dave Clark ** | 2009 | 13 | 4 | 9 | .308 | — | — | — | — | |
19 | | Brad Mills * | 2010–2012 | 445 | 171 | 274 | .384 | — | — | — | — | |
20 | ![]() | Tony DeFrancesco ** | 2012 | 41 | 16 | 25 | .390 | — | — | — | — | |
21 | ![]() | Bo Porter * | 2013–2014 | 300 | 110 | 190 | .367 | — | — | — | — | |
22 | ![]() | Tom Lawless ** | 2014 | 24 | 11 | 13 | .458 | — | — | — | — | |
23 | ![]() | A. J. Hinch | 2015–2019 | 810 | 481 | 329 | .594 | 50 | 28 | 22 | .560 | 2017 World Series Champion 2019 AL championship |
24 | ![]() | Dusty Baker | 2020–2023 | 546 | 320 | 226 | .586 | 53 | 34 | 19 | .642 | 2022 World Series Champion 2021 AL championship |
25 | ![]() | Joe Espada | 2024–present | 161 | 88 | 73 | .547 | — | — | — | — |
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division, having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL). They are one of two major league clubs based in Texas; the Texas Rangers belong to the same division.
Andrew Jay Hinch is an American professional baseball coach and former player who is the manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hinch played catcher for the Oakland Athletics (1998–2000), Kansas City Royals (2001–2002), Detroit Tigers (2003), and Philadelphia Phillies (2004).
James Sherman Wynn, nicknamed "the Toy Cannon", was an American professional baseball player. He played 15 seasons as a center fielder; he spent ten of his fifteen seasons with the Houston Colt .45s / Astros before playing 2 All-Star seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers and then two more seasons with three other teams. Wynn was nicknamed "The Toy Cannon" because his bat was described as having a lot of "pop" for his small size at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) and 160 lb (73 kg).
Chalmer Luman Harris was an American right-handed pitcher, coach, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball.
The Lone Star Series is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry featuring Texas' two major league franchises, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. It is an outgrowth of the "natural rivalry" established by MLB as part of interleague play as the Rangers are a member of the American League (AL) and the Astros were a member of the National League (NL) until 2012. During interleague play, the winner of the six-game series was awarded the Silver Boot, a 30-inch (760 mm) tall display of a size 15 cowboy boot cast in silver, complete with a custom, handmade spur. If each team had won three games each for a tie, the declared winner was the team that scored the most runs over the course of the series. In 2013, the Astros joined the American League West with the Rangers and changed their rivalry from an interleague to an intradivision contest. The rivalry, which was once dormant, has become far more heated in recent seasons. From 2013 to 2022, 19 games were played each season. Beginning in 2023, the teams play each other 13 times a year.
Lawrence Edward Dierker is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher, manager, and broadcaster. During a 14-year baseball career as a pitcher, he pitched from 1964 to 1977 for the Houston Colt .45s/Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Robert Thomas Aspromonte is an American former professional baseball player and business entrepreneur. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball in 1956 and then from 1960 to 1971, most prominently as a member of the newly formed Houston Colt .45s expansion team where, he became the regular third baseman for the first seven seasons of the young franchise. As well as being the first-ever batter for Houston, he was also the last Brooklyn Dodger to appear in a major league game. He also played for the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets in addition to the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Harold Beland "Spec" Richardson was an American professional baseball executive. He served as the general manager of two Major League Baseball teams, the Houston Astros (1967–75) and San Francisco Giants (1976–81).
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