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. They are one of two major league clubs based in Texas; the Texas Rangers belong to the same division. Based in Daikin Park, the team’s name reflects Houston’s role as the host of the Johnson Space Center.
Established as the Houston Colt .45s, the Astros entered the National League as an expansion team in 1962 along with the New York Mets. The current name was adopted three years later, when they moved into the Astrodome, the world’s first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, and named “Eighth Wonder of the World”. The Astros moved to Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in 2000.[6] The team played in the NL West division from 1969 to 1993, then the NL Central division from 1994 to 2012, before being moved to the AL West as part of an MLB realignment in 2013.
The Astros posted their first winning record in 1972 and made the playoffs for the first time in 1980, before winning a total of three division titles throughout the 1980s. Spearheaded by the Killer B’s, a collection of prominent hitters that included the Astros’ Hall of Fame members Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, along with closer Billy Wagner, the Astros began reaching major prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with four further division titles and two Wild Card appearances, culminating in their first World Series appearance in 2005 where they were swept by the Chicago White Sox.
After a major slump throughout the next decade, the team was purchased by business owner Jim Crane in 2011 for $680 million. Under Crane’s ownership, the Astros embraced sabermetrics and pioneered new analytical technologies in their transition to the American League, and by the mid-2010s transformed from a historically middling franchise into one of MLB’s most dominant and successful clubs, as headlined by stars such as Jose Altuve. Since then, the Astros have won over 100 games in four seasons, and have appeared in a record seven consecutive American League Championship Series, winning four of the last seven American League pennants. During this era, the Astros won the 2017 World Series, their first championship, against the Los Angeles Dodgers; however, this win drew controversy and backlash from fans after the Astros were implicated in a sign stealing scandal. They made later World Series appearances in 2019 against the Washington Nationals, 2021 against the Atlanta Braves, and 2022 against the Philadelphia Phillies, winning their second title in the latter series. Often cited as one of the best teams in the American League, the team’s sustained success since 2015 has led some to declare the Astros a dynasty. They are the only team to win a postseason series in seven straight seasons. Their fifth pennant in 2022 made them the second team created in the expansion era to win five league pennants (after the Mets) and the fifth expansion team to have won two World Series championships. In 2024, the Astros clinched their AL West division title for the seventh time in eight years and became the first team to win the AL West division in four straight years since the 1971–1975 Oakland Athletics.
While in the National League, the Astros held rivalries with the Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals, but since their transition to the American League, have come to hold divisional rivalries with the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers (known as the Lone Star Series), as well as a recurring postseason rivalry with the New York Yankees.
From 1962 through the end of the 2024 season, the Astros’ all-time record is 5,009–4,965–5 (.502). In addition to having the most postseason appearances by an expansion team, they are the only expansion era team with an all-time winning record. In 2024, the Astros became the second expansion team to reach 5,000 wins.
From 1888 until 1961, Houston’s professional baseball club was the minor league Houston Buffaloes. Although expansion from the National League eventually brought an MLB team to Texas in 1962, Houston officials had been making efforts to do so for years prior, with a group effort led in 1952 to buy the St. Louis Cardinals for $4.25 million, but local owners were instead chosen.[13][14] There were four men chiefly responsible for bringing Major League Baseball to Houston: journalist/promoter George Kirksey, Craig Cullinan Jr., R.E. “Bob” Smith, a prominent oilman and real estate magnate in Houston who like Cullinan was brought in for his financial resources, and Judge Roy Hofheinz, a former Mayor of Houston and Harris County Judge who was recruited for his salesmanship and political style. They founded the Houston Sports Association (HSA) as their vehicle for attaining a big league franchise for the city of Houston.[15]
Given MLB’s refusal to consider expansion, Kirksey, Cullinan, Smith, and Hofheinz joined forces with would-be owners from other cities and announced the formation of a new league to compete with the established National and American Leagues. They called the new league the Continental League. Wanting to protect potential new markets, both existing leagues chose to expand from eight teams to ten. However, plans eventually fell through for the Houston franchise after the Houston Buffaloes owner, Marty Marion, could not come to an agreement with the HSA to sell the team.[16] To make matters worse, the Continental League as a whole folded in August 1960.
However, on October 17, 1960, the National League granted an expansion franchise to the Houston Sports Association for them to begin play in the 1962 season. According to the Major League Baseball Constitution, the Houston Sports Association was required to obtain territorial rights from the Houston Buffaloes in order to play in the Houston area, resulting in the HSA revisiting negotiations.[17][18] Eventually, the Houston Sports Association succeeded in purchasing the Houston Buffaloes, which were at this point majority-owned by William Hopkins, on January 17, 1961.[19] The Buffs played one last minor league season as the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs in 1961 before being succeeded by the city’s NL club.
The new Houston team was named the Colt .45s after a “Name the Team” contest was won by William Irving Neder. The Colt .45 was well known as “the gun that won the west”.[20] The colors selected were navy and orange. The first team was formed mostly through an expansion draft after the 1961 season. The Colt .45s and their expansion cousins, the New York Mets, took turns choosing players left unprotected by the other National League franchises.
Many players and staff associated with the Houston Buffaloes organization continued in the major leagues. Manager Harry Craft, who had joined Houston in 1961, remained in the same position for the team until the end of the 1964 season. General manager Spec Richardson also continued with the organization as business manager but was later promoted back to GM for the Astros from 1967 until 1975. Although most players for the major league franchise were obtained through the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft, Buffs players J.C. Hartman, Pidge Browne, Jim Campbell, Ron Davis, Dave Giusti, and Dave Roberts were chosen to continue as major league ball players.
Similarly, the radio broadcasting team remained with the new Houston major league franchise. Loel Passe worked alongside Gene Elston as a color commentator until he retired from broadcasting in 1976. Elston continued with the Astros until 1986.
The Colt .45s began their existence playing at Colt Stadium, a temporary venue built just north of the construction site of their permanent home, a domed stadium. Hofheinz and his partners believed a domed stadium was a must for MLB to be viable in Houston, given the area’s oppressive humidity.
