Houston Astros

HOUSTON ASTROS

While Houston, Texas may be home to the NASA space program, it is also home to one of baseball’s more exciting clubs, the Houston Astros.  Formed in 1962 as the Houston Colt .45s, the club was part of an effort to expand the National League and Major League Baseball as a whole.  Houston had been home to a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs for years as the Buffaloes, but team moved successfully to the MLB, retaining many of their current players, their manager, and their GM. 

Despite an opening sweep of their former parent club to open the 1962 season, the Colt .45s struggled to maintain form and finished far down in the NL rankings that season. 

However, in several years, the club broke new ground by constructing the Astrodome, the first major stadium built under a dome!  The venue was a spectacle in itself, and drew heavy interest from around the world to the team, newly renamed the Houston Astros.  During this time, the team failed to build any real success, though several great players did play with them, including Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan, Richard Farell, and Don Wilson.

A questionable trade of many key Astros players to the Cincinnati Reds depleted the team of their talent in 1971.  The Reds team would go on to have great success with those players as part of the “Big Red Machine” that dominated baseball in the 70s.  But in 1972, the Houston Astros earned their first winning season, thanks in large part to Lee May, who had arrived in that trade with the Reds.

While the team continued to struggle as a small-market baseball club, they did experience success in 1980 when Joe Morgan returned.  They reached the postseason for the first time but failed to reach the World Series.  1986 was another productive season behind talented guys like Mike Scott, Dave Smith, Glenn Davis, and Kevin Bass.  That year ended in a dramatic Game 6 in the NLCS that went to the 16^th inning against the New York Mets before the Astros unfortunately lost. 

But more recently the team has been respectable.  Over a period through the late 90s and early 2000s, Houston reached the playoffs several times.  Key players included Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Derek Bell, Sean Berry, and Lance Berkman. 

In 2000, the Astros left the Astrodome for the newly constructed Minute Maid Park.  A fine venue, it is widely recognized for it’s strange incline at the back of centerfield, known as Tal’s Hill. 

In 2005, the Houston Astros reached their first ever World Series behind the arms of Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, and Andy Pettitte.  However, the team would be swept by the Chicago White Sox, and they have failed to reach the playoffs ever since.  Now part of the American League since 2013, the Astros are looking for new success and fortune.  Though times have been hard recently, a sustained period at the top of the MLB draft should bode extremely well for the future.  Let’s hope the Houston Astros will be competing for the World Series once again soon!

AAA Sports Memorabilia has a great selection of Houston Astros autographed memorabilia both online and offline. Collectors go to great lengths to find and acquire collectibles that have significance to them. Autograph collectors are always looking for that unique autograph, a game-used item, or an autographed collectible that depicts a great moment in sports history. Since 2006, AAA Sports Memorabilia has been helping sports collectors in finding these great collectibles. All of our autographed sports memorabilia, including our autographed Houston Astros collectibles, are guaranteed for life to be authentic or your money back. Our autographed memorabilia is obtained during private sessions with the athletes and a representative is there to watch each signature being applied to the collectible.

Visiting our Houston Astros autographed sports memorabilia section often is best if you are looking for that next valuable Houston Astros collectible to add to your collection. We have even more autographed Houston Astros memorabilia in stock then what is on our website, so if you can’t find that collectible that you really want on our site, please contact us at cs@aaasportsmemorabilia.com to see if we have it in stock.