The American League (AL) Houston Astros win the World Series, putting the finishing touches on the 2017 season.  The move to pick up Justin Verlander caught my attention at the end of August and made them a serious contender.  The only good thing for me is that once the Cubs were eliminated, all the talk focused on the Astros last trip to the World Series in 2005 where they were swept by my White Sox.  It was probably the only time in the last 12 years where the White Sox got some attention and respect.  I was living in Illinois during that World Series and was able to attend two of those games at Cellular One on press credentials.  Even I had forgotten that great moment in Chicago White Sox history, until the National League (NL) Astros clawed their way back into the Fall Classic, enabling them to become the first franchise in MLB history to have won a pennant in both the NL and the AL.

They were the second franchise in recent history to have weathered a storm.  In 2005, just before the White Sox won the World Series at the expense of the Astros, Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans and became the ultimate driving force for the Saints to win the 2009 Super Bowl over the Colts.  The 2017 Houston Astros, wearing uniform patches that read “Houston Strong,” also rallied from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey to bring their city a title, after several frustrating one-hundred-loss seasons.

I lived in Austin, Texas for 5 years and was exposed to the Astros organization through their minor league affiliate, The Round Rock Express.  I would drive to Houston for games when the White Sox or Cubs were in town.  The team was established in 1962 as the Houston Colt .45s and entered the National League as an expansion team.  The name was changed to the Astros in 1965, reflecting Houston’s role as the control center of the U.S. Space Program, when they moved into the Astrodome.  

Before the Colt .45s, Houston’s professional baseball club was the minor league Houston Buffaloes, a Chicago Cubs affiliate, established in 1888.  They played at Colt Stadium that eventually became the temporary home of the Colt .45s, as the Astrodome, the world’s first domed sports stadium, was being built.  Fittingly, the inaugural season started with a three-game sweep of the Cubs.  Once the Astrodome was completed, they discovered that grass would not grow in the new park and as a result an artificial turf called “Astro-Turf” was created.  The new team won Division Titles in 1980, 1986, 1997, 1998, 1991, and 2001, and Wild Card berths in 2004, 2005, and 2015, but had never won a World Series in its 45 year history, until they beat the Dodgers in Game 7 yesterday.

The 2005 team had the “Killer B’s” – Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, and Burke – to win the Wild Card on the last day of the season, despite being 15 games under .500.  They then went on to defeat the Braves and Cardinals to eventually face the White Sox.  By that time, they had abandoned the Astrodome and had been playing in their new retractable-roof park, Minute Maid, since 2000.  They would stay in the American League until 2013.

The Round Rock Express was an Astros Triple-A affiliate from 2005-2010, and then switched to the Texas Rangers in 2011.  Former Astro pitcher, Nolen Ryan “The Ryan Express,” bought the franchise in 2000 and built the Dell Diamond to initially house his Double-A Texas League’s Jackson Generals.  He eventually got the Astros affiliation after a switch with New Orleans.  Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, and Roger Clemens are notable Express alumni that played a role on that 2005 World Series runners-up team.  The Ryan family was very involved in the Austin community and founded “R Bank,” an account of mine when I worked for the Austin Business Journal.  I have an Nolen Ryan autographed baseball with his picture and #34 from a game I attended.  His legacy included a record seven no-hitters, 12 one-hitters, and 18 two-hitters, but never pitched a perfect game.  Nolen Ryan is currently an executive advisor to Astros’ owner, Jim Crane, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.  The Round Rock Express is listed by Forbes as the sixth most valuable Minor League Baseball team with a value in 2016 of $40 million.