October 13, 2017 (Friday)
The NFL has been grabbing the headlines lately, and I lost sight of Major League Baseball. The television broadcasts include the Rangers but rarely the Astros, so I guess I just forgot about them. Imagine my surprise yesterday as I read about the American League Championship Series being played at Minute Maid Park in Houston tonight. The Astros are playing against the New York Yankees. As far as I can recall, the Astros have had only one appearance at the World Series, back in 2005, but now they have another chance. Hope they win; Houston can use some good news after experiencing Harvey’s 51 inches of rain and horrible flooding.
I remember when the Astros were named after conducting a contest. Since Houston is famous for the space program, the name, “Astro” seemed like a natural choice, even though some of the players did not agree at the time. I would quote you some of their remarks, but my regular readers prefer this blog to remain clean. As time has gone by, however, the name has been totally accepted by the fans.
Neither would I dare to tell you what some of the players had to say about the team’s original uniforms.
Players may have preferred different uniforms, but they wore this one with pride when the great Nolan Ryan, 34, was on the mound. Incidentally, did you know that he was born in Refugio?
I don’t claim to be a baseball fan, but here’s hoping the Astros shine brightly in their remaining games this year.