Happy Memorial Day Harmon Bove, Jr.

Harmon Bove Jr. was born on March 13, 1950 in Burlington, Vermont. He went to Burlington High School where he was an All-State football player and played baseball at a high enough level that in June of 1968 he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 27th round of the MLB Amateur Draft.

Later that summer he started his profession baseball career as a backup catcher for the Covington Astros of the Rookie Appalachian League. One of his teammates was a future MLB all star named Cesar Cedeno. Bove appeared in 24 games, collecting 6 hits and 4 walks in 38 plate appearances.

After graduation, he also enlisted the Marine Corps. He told a friend he picked the Marines because someone told him that kids enlisting in the National Guard were "cowards". He went to Recruit Training at Parris Island, South Carolina where he was honored as top recruit/platoon guide. Within a few months he was headed to Vietnam, where his tour started on July 4, 1969.

On March 3, 1970, while out on patrol in Quang Nam Province, Corporal Bove stepped on a booby trap and suffered multiple fragmentation wounds. He was flown to a hospital in Da Nang, where he died the following day. He was nine days away from his 20th birthday.

Harmon Bove is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington. The cemetery is located alongside his high school’s baseball and football field. His headstone, made by the stonemasons in Burlington, resembles a bench in the dugout, with a baseball and glove etched into the stone.

Happy Memorial Day Corporal Bove. Semper Fi.

ESPN Throwback uniforms

Have you seen the ESPN photo gallery featuring MLB throwback uniforms?

The Hunter Pence/Astros image is one of my shots!

It is a cruel, cruel game

Last night in Houston, Yu Darvish stood on the doorstep of baseball history. The Texas Rangers $56 million dollar man was one out away from tossing the 24th perfect game in baseball history.

In his first start of the 2013 season, Yu had breezed through 8 2/3 innings striking out 14 batters. His pitch count was barely over 100 pitches and there was no chance the Rangers were going to take him out. He simply had to collect that 27th out, against the worst hitter in the worst lineup in the majors.

If he was a player on any other franchise, Marwin Gonzalez would be toiling in the minors rather than serving as the backup shortstop for the Houston Astros. The man has a career .662 OPS in the minors. Prior to last night, in 80 MLB games, Marwin had reached base only 28% of the time in his 219 career plate appearances. He has a -0.1 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) -- which technically qualifies him a shade below a "replacement player". I have nothing against Marwin Gonzalez, but he really has no business sitting in a major league clubhouse wearing a big league uniform.

Unless you play for the Mets, I will always root for the pitcher once a no-hitter reaches the ninth inning. The accomplishment is just that special. However, something changed last night for me. From the moment I received the breaking news update on my phone, I was openly cheering against Yu Darvish and this sham of a perfect game. Maybe it is because we had all gorged ourselves on too many no-no's last season... maybe it was the ridiculous number of Rangers fans that had made the trip down IH45 to Minute Maid Park for the second game of the season. Perhaps it is my belief that tossing a perfect game against the Houston Astros is the major league baseball equivalent of beating up a special needs kid (I'm looking at you Matt Cain).

No matter the reason, I was yearning to see any of these "Walking Dead" Astros to break this thing up. As the bottom of 9th inning was starting, I tweeted a prediction that Jason Castro would be the man to do it, but he grounded out to the shortstop. I couldn't bring myself to publicly predict that Carlos Corporan could do anything as he quickly grounded out to second. With two out, as Marwin Gonzalez walked up to the plate I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to happen.

Then Gonzalez quickly reminded me why there is no other game like baseball. Instead of working the count, he aggressively swung at the first pitch -- smacking his 49th career major league hit through Darvish's legs and safely into center field. In one moment Marwin restored my sense of fairness and joined David Freese on the "it really is a cruel, cruel game" list as compiled by Texas Rangers fans.

Birthday cards

2013 Topps cards in honor of Willie Stargell's birthday yesterday and JR Richard's today.

1974 All Star Project: NL Bench

My 1974 All Star Project continues with the National League non-starting position players.

	Lou Brock. Selected to six All Star squads during his 19 year Hall of Fame career, Lou Brock was still a few weeks away from breaking Maury Wills' single-season stolen base record of 104. He ended the season with a new major league single-season record of 118 stolen bases. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 5th inning and delivered a single. Appropriately, he stole second base, went to third on a throwing error, and scored on Joe Morgan's RBI sacrafice fly.
	Dave Cash. Originally a Pirate, Cash made the All Star team in all three seasons he played with the Phillies ('74, '75, and '76). In this game, he entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 7th, flying out to center. He replaced Joe Morgan an finished the game at second base.
	Cesar Cedeno. Never living up to the "Next Willie Mays" billing he was given by Leo Durocher... Cedeno made 4 career All Star appearances for the Astros.  He started in centerfield for the 1973 game. In this game, Cesar replaced Hank Aaron in the 4th inning and went hitless in 2 plate appearances.
	Ralph Garr. This was the only All Star game for the 1974 NL Batting Champion. Ralph had 149 hits heading into the All-Star break that year, a record that stands to this day. Garr was the first NL reserve to get into the game when he pinch hit for the starting pitcher Andy Messersmith in the 3rd inning. He stayed in left field through the 7th inning and went 0 for 3.
	Jerry Grote. Making his second and final career All Star appearance, Grote was a favorite of NL manager Yogi Berra. In the game, he replaced starter Johnny Bench to catch the 9th inning. He never came to bat.
	Johnny Grubb. Someone from the San Diego Padres had to make the All Star team in 1974, and Grubb was that man. It would be his only career selection. He popped out to the shortstop in his only at bat.
	Don Kessinger. Playing in his sixth and final career All Star Game, Kessinger was the starting shortstop for the NL four times. He made the most of his one at bat, tripling to the gap in right-center field in the bottom of the 8th inning, driving in Mike Schmidt. He later scored on Fingers wild pitch.
	Tony Perez. Overshadowed by his more popular teammates, Perez made seven All Star games in his career. He won the 1967 All Star MVP when he hit a game winning walk off HR in the 15th inning. He appeared as a pinch hitter in the 6th inning and struck out.
	Mike Schmidt. 1974 was the first of 12 All Star Games for the greatest third baseman in baseball history. He would go on to win his first of 8 NL HR crowns this season. Schmidt replaced Ron Cey in the sixth inning and walked in both of his plate appearances. He scored on Kessinger's triple in the 8th.
	Ted Simmons. Although he was overshadowed by Johnny Bench, made 8 different All Star teams in his 21 year career. He did not play in this game.
	Reggie Smith. In his 17 year big league career, Reggie Smith made 7 All Star Games with three different teams. He started the 1980 game as a member of the Dodgers. This game featured 17 future Hall of Famers, but Reggie Smith was the only player to hit a home run in this game.
	Chris Speier. 1974 was the third straight (and final career) All Star appearance for Chris Speier. He was the lone representative for the Giants. He did not play.

DAHOF Redesigns the Astros

For those of you that have been around here for a while, it should come as no surprise when I admit I am a loyal reader and fan of Paul Lukas and an absolute addict to his fantastic UNI-WATCH blog. Paul has the best job in the world, holding the title as Sports' only full-time uniform reporter. Recently, they have been hosting "Redesign" contests. I have enjoyed with giddy amazement the reader submissions on the Cleveland Indians, New Orleans Hornets and the Washington Redskins.

Last week, I decided to take get off the bench and take my shot at the "Redesign the Astros" contest. After I got started, the process took a lot longer than I expected. At one point, I had a stewardess on a United flight say to me "You have been working on that all day long... is this your business?" -- I just smiled and said "yes" -- not willing to admit that I have been working obsessively for hours on what essentially is an ungraded third grade art project.

The finalist selections were posted on ESPN.com this morning. There were nearly 100 submissions. Uni-Watch selected 5 favorites. While I am disappointed I didn't make the cut... I am pleased to get a nice honorable mention and I had a lot of fun with it.

Here is what I went with:

If you are interested in the entire package and notes I submitted, you can grab the PDF file here.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #16 Morgan Ensberg

As is the case with several of my "favorite 100 players" I first met Morgan Ensberg when he played for my local minor league team, the Round Rock Express. Morgan was the first Express position player to land a regular major league job. He was not a highly regarded prospect after two minor league seasons (182 games) and a .236 batting average. At that time, Morgan was best known as one of the Astros minor league players assaulted and robbed in their hotel by two gunmen at spring training in March.

That 2000 season, after facing death, Morgan Ensberg came alive. He batted .300 with 28 homers and 90 RBIs leading his team to the Texas League title. In an area long starved of professional baseball, he and his teammates were adored and returned that affection to the fans all summer long. As the team celebrated their championship at the Dell Diamond, someone grabbed and pulled him toward home plate. The PA announcer hushed the crowd then and revealed that both Ensberg and teammate Keith Ginter were 'called up' by the Astros. That night I walked to my car in the season ticket parking lot with Astros owner Drayton McLean. He smiled and told me that was one of the most enjoyable baseball experiences he had ever had.

Ensberg went from walk–on to All American at USC. In 1998 he was the MVP of the last Trojan team to win College World Series. In the championship game, he stole home in the top of the 7th, in one of the most memorable plays in CWS history. He is the only player in USC history to have 20 HRs and 20 SBs in a season. He left USC at the #3 spot in career home runs behind Geoff Jenkins and Mark McGwire. He can be found among the top-10 in 15 offensive categories in USC’s record book

After big league cameo appearances in 2000 & 2002, Morgan became the Astros’ full-time third baseman in 2003, hitting .291 with 25 homers and 60 RBIs.

His best season in the majors was 2005 when he helped drive the Astros to their only World Series appearance and finished fourth in the NL MVP voting. He posted career-highs with 149 hits, 86 runs, 30 doubles, 36 home runs and 101 RBI over 150 games.. In July, he was added to the NL All-Star team at the last minute, replacing the injured Scott Rolen. He also took home the Silver Slugger award as the best offensive 3B in the league.

Things started going downhill in 2006 after diving for a bunt and hurting his rotator cuff. He could barely lift his right arm after that, and he developed biceps tendinitis, but he played through it. His production plummeted and he was traded to San Diego in 2007, where he homered twice in his Padres debut. But the end of his playing career was near, playing his last 28 games in the majors with the 2008 Yankees.

After he left the game, Morgan has started a baseball focused blog and has worked in broadcasting and is a coach at Division II power UC=San Diego.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #20 Royce Huffman

Of the 100 ballplayers that made my Top 100 list, only one has never played a game in the major leagues. I've included him here because of all the ballplayers I have met and talked to over the years... no one has been as genuine or sincere about their love of the game than Royce Huffman.

Royce Huffman is a winner. He is not a marginal athlete, just looking to hold on. He teamed with Dodgers 1B James Loney to win the Texas 5A Baseball state championship at national high school power Fort Bend Elkins in 1995. He was a two sport star at Texas Christian University (TCU). He had an outstanding football career with the Frogs, selected as an All-WAC punter, punt returner, and kick returner. He also competed on the TCU baseball team where he was a three-time All-American before being drafted by the Houston Astros in 1999. Royce left TCU as the career leader in at-bats (793), hits (317), RBIs (225), doubles (59), homeruns (44), total bases (528), and walks (158).

I first met Royce Huffman in the late summer of 2000. He earned a late season promotion up to "AA" Round Rock and spent the last few weeks watching older and more experienced Astros prospects capture the Texas League Championship. The next two summers in Round Rock, where played third (2001) and first base (2002) while delivering what would become his typical superior offensive production. By 2003 (age 26) he had earned a promotion to the Astros "AAA" team in New Orleans, starting his long palteau only one step away from his dream.

He logged almost 900 games at the AAA level, stopping at New Orleans, Portland, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, and again in Round Rock. Through out it all, Royce kept hitting (career OPS of .800) and kept hoping he'd finally get rewarded with a callup to the major leagues. He came close to being called up by the Astros during the 2004 and 2006 seasons. In'04, he was a Pacific Coast League All-Star, leading the league in games and ranking second in hits. But the Astros needed a middle infielder, and he was a corner infielder. In '06 the Astros reportedly considered calling him up, but Royce broke his left hand six days after the All-Star break, missing another chance.

From a 2009 MiLB.com story:

Obviously I love playing the game. Obviously I'd like to make it to the major leagues, but I just love the game. I love coming out here with the guys and having a good time. Playing to have fun and playing for my teammates, I just think the bigger things will fall into place.

Having no big league time,it's just one of those things where I don't want to say I'm frustrated because all I can do is control what I'm doing on the field. A lot has to do with being in the right place at the right time and having luck on your side.

Unfortunately, it hasn't gone that way for me in my career. But would I do anything different? No, not a chance. The people I've met and the people I've played with, those are the reasons why I keep playing.

I have no idea what's going to happen, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. As long as I've got a uniform on, there's still a chance.

It never happened. At the end of the 2009 season, after 11 seasons of pro baseball and a seven straight years in Triple-A, Royce Huffman packed up his bat and glove and stepped into the next stage of his life. He may not have ever logged a plate appearance in the big leagues, but I have never met a better professional baseball man in my life.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #26 Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan holds a very special place in my heart, surprisingly enough it has nothing to do with something he did on the mound during his Hall of Fame pitching career. In 1999 he led a group of investors that purchased the "AA" Jackson Generals and moved the minor league franchise to Central Texas, just minutes from my home. I have been a fan and supporter of the Round Rock Express for over a decade thanks to Nolan and his family.

When Nolan Ryan threw his final pitch on September 22, 1993 at the Seattle Kingdome, he concluded an amazing 27-year major league career in which he recorded a record 5,714 strikeouts while playing longer than anyone in major league history. Randy Johnson ranks #2 in career strikeouts... only 839 behind Nolan. He recorded 10-or-more strikeouts in a game 215 times and he fanned 19 batters four times, three of those in extra innings. In 1973 he struck out 383 American Leaguers, the most Ks in a single season since 1886.

He has 324 wins, including over 100 in each league. He surpassed the 20 win season mark twice during his career. He recorded a win in 31 of the 35 major league ballparks in which he pitched throughout his career.

As a major league pitcher Nolan is best known as the guy who threw a record 7 no-hitters, three more than the next closest pitcher, Sandy Koufax. He was the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter first on June 11th, 1990 at Oakland and then again on May 1, 1991 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Additionally, Nolan lost five no-hitters in the 9th inning and finished his career with an amazing 12 one-hitters, only matched by the great Bob Feller.

Most importantly he brought pride and dignity to the awesome Astros tequila sunrise uniforms.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #52 Keith Ginter

Anyone that loves this game can point to very specific experiences and moments in time that have helped cement that affection. I am coming to realize, this list is essentially a collection of those moments. The summer of 2000 was one of those experiences and Keith Ginter played a huge role.

Sunday April 16th, 2000 was opening day form the inaugural season for the "AA" Round Rock Express. I had longed dreamed of living close enough to a professional baseball franchise to own season tickets and commit to a season long adventure of live baseball. The pregame ceremonies & the top of the first inning flew by in a blur. The bottom of the first saw Express second baseman Keith Ginter blast the first home run in Dell Diamond history. It was the first of many exhilarating moments that first season.

Ginter batted over .400 for 2 months of the season and led the first year franchise to the Texas League championship. He was named the league's MVP and immediately after the final game, in the middle of the championship celebration he received the news that he and teammate Morgan Ensberg had gotten a September call-up to the Houston Astros.

On September 30th Keith Ginter got his first start as a member of the Houston Astros. He had seen action in three other games in the 10 days he was on the Astros bench, including collecting his first major league RBI in his first major league at bat with a sacrifice fly to left off Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel.

With his team ahead 4-2 of the Brewers in the bottom of the sixth inning Keith Ginter took a Jimmy Haynes 3-2 fastball deep over the left center field wall at (called at the time) Enron Field for his first major league hit.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #58 John Buck

Last year the Houston Astros lost 106 games, the largest number in the 50 year history of the franchise. Since 2006, the year after the Astros won their one and only National League pennant the club has a .460 winning percentage (447-524). It has been a truly awful period for Astros fans. In my opinion, the trigger signaling the rough tumble from the lofty heights of the 2005 World Series was actually squeezed a year earlier. June 24th, 2004 to be exact.

The Astros clubs of the mid-2000's were very competitive under the veteran leadership and production of Craig Biggio & Jeff Bagwell. By the middle of the 2004 season, boosted by the juiced pitching of Roger Clemens, the club thought it had a chance for a World Series and made a deadline deal bringing Royals outfielder Carlos Beltran to Houston for a catching prospect named John Buck. Beltran played well for the remaining 90 games, the Astros made the playoffs via the wild-card but lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Beltran bolted when he signed a big free agent contract with Mets. John Buck, the club's top prospect, after seven seasons of Astros minor league development was gone in exchange for 90 games of Carlos Beltran. He went on to be a solid major league catcher for the Royals, Blue Jays (where he made the 2010 All Star team), and is currently with the Marlins.

The trading of John Buck set the tone for the final years of the Drayton McLean era. From that point until he sold the team, the Astros no longer cared about the long term development of the franchise. They went from having the strongest minor league system in baseball to the worst of the worst. They stopped signing draft picks and any sense of player development was basically lost. Instead the fans were treated to the likes of Jason Jennings, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Kaz Matsui, and Geoff Blum. While home-grown players like Brad Lidge, Willy Taveras, Morgan Ensberg, Chris Burke, Chad Qualls, Jason Lane, and Luke Scott were sent packing for short term or failed attempts to fill seats.

Quality minor league prospects like D.J. Houlton, Tim Redding, Ben Zobrist, Brooks Conrad, and Jason Hirsh were shed for basically nothing. Replaced in the system by roster filling vets like JR House, Joe McEwing, Cody Ransom, Matt Kata, Reggie Abercrombie, and Travis Driskill.

It all started with John Buck.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #63 Roy Oswalt

It is going to be hard to watch Roy Oswalt pitch for someone else other than the Phillies in 2012. He is a great competitor and would be the "ace" on most staffs in the majors. The baseball world first became aware of Roy Oswalt when he pitched for the Houston Astros. Like most of the Houston Astros prospects developed over the last decade, I had an early preview to him courtesy of my local minor eager team, the Round Rock Express.

Oswalt began 2000 with the Class A Kissimmee Cobras of the Florida State League, going 4–3 with a 2.98 ERA before a player injury in AA got him called up. Oswalt was only expected to pitch one game and had been issued a round-trip ticket. He was supposed to be back in Florida in a couple of days.

His "one game" in AA was May 25th, 2000 against the hated San Antonio Missions. Instead of being intimidated, he became the intimidator as he struck out 15 batters and tossed a 5 hit complete game shutout. Legend has it that Express manager Jackie Moore tore up his ticket back to Florida, but it is more likely Nolan Ryan, owner of the Express (and Oswalt's idol) successfully lobbied to keep Oswalt on the roster. He stayed.

He would finish that magical season with an 11–4 record and an astounding 1.94 ERA. He notched 141 strikeouts over 19 games (18 starts). As a result of his success at Round Rock, Oswalt was selected to play on the United States baseball team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He wasn't on the roster when the Express won the Texas League Championship, but he was a big part of that team.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #64 Cesar Cedeño

When it really gets down to it... Cesar Cedeño is at least half reason for my unhealthy dedication for those delicious 1970's Houston Astros tequila sunrise uniforms. He was a great player when I first started following baseball and his appearance (along with several of his teammates) in the 2nd Bad News Bears movie secured his spot in my Top 100.

When Leo Durocher took over as manager for the last 31 games of the 1972 season - he dubbed his 22 year old center fielder, as "the next Willie Mays." This was high praise considering that Leo managed and served as a father-figure for the "real Willie Mays" for many years. The truth is Cedeño never came close to reaching Leo's expectations, but considering no one other major league player has ever been able to match the incomparable Willie Mays, he was pretty darn good ballplayer.

He came up to the majors at age 19 and established himself as a big star early in his career, hitting over .310 in three of his first four years for the Astros.

Possessing the magic combo of power, speed, and good defense, Cesar became the second man in Major League history (after Lou Brock in 1967) to hit 20 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season. Cedeño accomplished the feat three years in a row (1972-1974), while playing home games in the notoriously pitcher-friendly Astrodome. He also stole 50-plus bases the next three years (1975-1977), twice led the league in doubles (1971-1972) and collected 102 RBI in 1974. He also won five consecutive Gold Glove Awards (1972-1976), appeared in four All-Star Games (1972-1974, 1976).

DAHOF Top 100 -- #66 Willy Taveras

Selected in the minor league Rule 5 draft by the Astros from the Indians, I first met Willy Taveras in 2004 when he was a member of the AA Round Rock Express. Wearing braces and smiling, he was a wild eyed 22 year old minor leaguer trying to hustle his way to the majors. In an era of juiced up power hitters, Willy was one of those players that built his game entirely on speed. Once he got on base, everyone in the ballpark knew was going to steal second and third -- but very few pitchers/catchers could stop him. Willy tore up the Texas League in 2004, putting together a great season hitting .335 and stealing 55 bases in 105 games. This performance was good enough to earn him a coveted September major league call-up. While his teammates were trying in vain to win the Texas League Championship, he struck out swinging in his first big league at bat against Reds righthander John Riedling.

The next season (2005) Willy won the Astros starting centerfielder job and was selected to the Topps all-rookie team when he led the National League in singles. He had 31 bunt hits and incredible number of infield hits (71). He was a key contributor as the Astros captured their first National League Pennant and made their first World Series appearance in franchise history.

Surprisingly, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies after the 2006 season in the ill-conceived deal that brought Jason Jennings to Houston. Good luck seemed to follow him, because he was also part of the 2007 National League Champion Rockies. He led the National League in steals in 2008 when he swiped 68.

My most vivid memory of Willy is from the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Surprisingly, he was one of the best offensive players for the ultra-talented Dominican Republic squad. He went 2 for 7 with six walks, leading the team in OBP. Sadly, Willy is most remembered for getting thrown out trying to steal third base in the 9th inning of the opening game of pool play, a shocking 3-2 loss to the Dutch national team. Many consider it the biggest upset in World Baseball Classic history. That loss set the stage for their elimination after a second loss to the Dutch.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #67 Lance Berkman

I first saw Lance Berkman play in 1998 as a member of the "AA" Jackson Generals. The ownership group headed by Nolan Ryan had recently purchase the Jackson, Mississippi minor league franchise with the announced intention of moving it to Central Texas.

I was part of a group of fans that signed up for a bus trip to San Antonio to watch the Generals play the Missions. It was my first Texas League game and about the only thing I remember was the deep left center field blast off the bat of the former Rice Owl.

The next decade was spent as a mainstay for the Houston Astros, initially as an outfielder and then he replaced Jeff Bagwell at first. During that time, Lance made six all star teams, he led the National League in RBIs (128) in 2002, set the all-time team record in RBIs (136) in 2006 and helped lead the club into three playoffs and the 2005 National League Pennant. During the 2010 season, Lance was dealt to the Yankees in a trade deadline salary dump by the Astros. He signed as a free-agent with the Cardinals and won his first World Series ring last fall.

Reading over Lance's stats while composing the post, it struck me that Berkman & Dick Allen are very close in Similarity Scores. If you are not familiar with this stat, Bill James introduced it in his book The Politics of Glory*. The concept is to create a method to compare one player to another, starting at 1000 points and subtracting points based on the statistical differences.

Lance Berkman & Dick Allen have a career similarity score of 919.

* Yes, this is the same book Bill James said Dick Allen "did more to keep his teams from winning than anyone else who ever played major league baseball". In my opinion, that statement was proven to be false here.

Parade of Ridiculousness: Babe Ruth in tequila sunrise stripes

The Phils have lost six in a row and appear to be limping into the playoffs. Time to move my mind in another direction.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a tweet from the Mitchell & Ness blog linking to some interesting photos of a long forgotten Astros warm-up sweater. Seeing an old school gun-slinger like Nolan Ryan wearing the wacky combination of the old-school knit style sweater and the ultra modern Astros rainbow stripes was a shock to my system.

I shared these rainbow striped sweater images with a friend of mine, who happens to actually work for the Astros, and the banter was off and running. At some point I started joking about the concept of Babe Ruth sporting these uniforms. The conversation went something like this:

Him: "...The Babe would've looked good in the Astro rainbows....although his homerun output would have been hurt by the Astrodome outfield dimensions!
Me: "Playing in the 'dome, he might have gone back to being a full time pitcher."
Him: "Very true! A rotation of Ruth, Ryan and Richard would have been awesome..."

Of course, I had to sit down and photo-chop a Houston Astros fantasy Babe Ruth card for him.

This looks so ridiculous and I had so much fun making it, I think I have stumbled upon a new recurring feature. For my next act... Ty Cobb in the mustard yellows of the 1972-73 San Diego Padres. Anyone else have ideas?

Astros shorts

Last month I posted a detailed account of the 1976 Chicago White Sox shorts saga.

I was at the Phillies/Astros game last night when I snapped this image during the pregame ceremonies. Now, I've seen this guy for years in the Astros dugout, but it never dawned on me he is actually wearing shorts to match the player uniforms. Very impressive. I did a pretty exhaustive search of the UNIWATCH archives before I concluded I couldn'tt find anything about this interesting uniform oddity.

A little research (greatly aided by the name on the back of his uniform jersey) and I quickly learned the guy in the shorts is Astros Strength and Conditioning Coach Gene Coleman. He is a professor at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the author of the book:  52 Week Baseball Training (featuring former Astro Craig Biggio on the cover). Based on his resume, Dr. Gene started working with Astros in 1976. I have not yet been able to locate an image with him in a shorts version of the Tequila Sunrise Rainbow design made famous by the Astros. Rest assured, my quest has just begun and the search will continue.

Minor stars: Hunter Pence x2

It has been a while since I have made a Minor Stars post. With the excitement surrounding Hunter Pence wearing a Phillies uniform -- I thought it might be fun to show off a couple of images I made of him as he was working his way through the Astros minor league system.

Hunter spent all of 2006 with the AA Corpus Christi Hooks. He finished the season with a .890 OPS, hit 28 home runs and drove in 95 runs. That season he was selected to play in the mid-season All Star Futures Game. He was also selected by Baseball America as a Minor League All-Star and named to the Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team.

In 2007, after he made a serious run at making the ML roster in spring training, Pence started the season as a member of the AAA Round Rock Express. His time in the Pacific Coast League was short lived, after 25 games he was called up to Houston.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Yogi Berra / Astros

Today is Yogi Berra's 86th birthday. In my opinion, there is no better way to celebrate than with a 1974 Topps card and Houston Astros rainbow uniform.

Yogi spent the vast majority of his baseball career in New York. He played in 2,116 games with the Yankees and 4 with the Mets. He was the American League MVP three times and has 13 world championship rings as a Yankee. He also went on to manage both the Yankees (twice) and the Mets, becoming one of six managers to lead both an AL and an NL team to the World Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.

Yogi spent a couple of years as the Astros bench coach in the 1980's, including the 1986 season where the Astros won the NL West and lost a heartbreaking NLCS to the Mets.

Jason Castro double play

I took this one at the 2008 College World Series.

I took this one in Round Rock in 2010 before he was called up to the Astros.

I had hoped that I would be able to complete the Jason Castro "triple play" this season when I go to Houston to shoot the Astros, but thanks to a serious knee injury this spring, I will have to wait for 2012.