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1969 Houston Astros
1969 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	81–81 (.500)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Harry Walker
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM); (Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)

The 1969 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in fifth place in the newly established National League West with a record of 81–81, twelve games behind the Atlanta Braves. It was also the first time in their history that the Astros did not finish below .500.

Offseason

October 14, 1968: Nate Colbert was drafted from the Astros by the San Diego Padres as the 18th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.^[1]
December 2, 1968: Bo Belinsky was drafted from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 rule 5 draft.^[2]
December 4, 1968: Mike Cuellar, Enzo Hernández, and Elijah Johnson (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Curt Blefary and John Mason (minors).^[3]
January 22, 1969: Rusty Staub was traded by the Astros to the Montreal Expos for Jesús Alou and Donn Clendenon. Clendenon refused to report to the Astros. The Expos sent Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, and $100,000 to the Astros on April 8, 1969, as compensation.^[4]
February 12, 1969: Byron Browne was purchased from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals.^[5]

Regular season

April 8: The Astros played against the San Diego Padres in the first ever game in Padres history.
May 4, 1969: First baseman Curt Blefary participated in seven double plays.

The Astros season from August 26 to October 2 was featured in Jim Bouton's book, Ball Four.^[6] On September 19, Bouton struck out Tony Pérez of the Cincinnati Reds and made baseball history. With that strikeout, the pitching staff of the 1969 edition of the Houston Astros broke the then-National League record for most strikeouts in a season with 1,123 strikeouts.^[6] The team finished the year with 1,221 strikeouts, which stood as the National League record until 1996, when it was broken by the Atlanta Braves. They were the second team to have three pitchers with 200 strikeouts, with only the 1967 Minnesota Twins having accomplished the feat. Since then, only the 2013 Detroit Tigers have accomplished the feat.^[7]

Season standings

v
t
e
NL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	93	69	.574	—	50‍–‍31	43‍–‍38
San Francisco Giants	90	72	.556	3	52‍–‍29	38‍–‍43
Cincinnati Reds	89	73	.549	4	50‍–‍31	39‍–‍42
Los Angeles Dodgers	85	77	.525	8	50‍–‍31	35‍–‍46
Houston Astros	81	81	.500	12	52‍–‍29	29‍–‍52
San Diego Padres	52	110	.321	41	28‍–‍53	24‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1969 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	3–9	12–6	15–3	9–9	8–4	4–8	6–6	8–4	13–5	9–9	6–6
Chicago	9–3	—	6–6–1	8–4	6–6	10–8	8–10	12–6	7–11	11–1	6–6	9–9
Cincinnati	6–12	6–6–1	—	9–9	10–8	8–4	6–6	10–2	5–7	11–7	10–8	8–4
Houston	3–15	4–8	9–9	—	6–12	11–1	10–2	8–4	3–9	10–8	10–8	7–5
Los Angeles	9–9	6–6	8–10	12–6	—	10–2	4–8	8–4	8–4	12–6	5–13	3–9
Montreal	4–8	8–10	4–8	1–11	2–10	—	5–13	11–7	5–13	4–8	1–11	7–11
New York	8–4	10–8	6–6	2–10	8–4	13–5	—	12–6	10–8	11–1	8–4	12–6
Philadelphia	6-6	6–12	2–10	4–8	4–8	7–11	6–12	—	10–8	8–4	3–9	7–11
Pittsburgh	4–8	11–7	7–5	9–3	4–8	13–5	8–10	8–10	—	10–2	5–7	9–9
San Diego	5–13	1–11	7–11	8–10	6–12	8–4	1–11	4–8	2–10	—	6–12	4–8
San Francisco	9–9	6–6	8–10	8–10	13–5	11–1	4–8	9–3	7–5	12–6	—	3–9
St. Louis	6–6	9–9	4–8	5–7	9–3	11–7	6–12	11–7	9–9	8–4	9–3	—

Notable transactions

May 7, 1969: Oscar Zamora was signed as a free agent by the Astros.^[8]
June 5, 1969: Pitcher J. R. Richard was selected by the Astros in the first round (second pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft.^[9]
August 24, 1969: Dooley Womack and Roric Harrison were traded by the Astros to the Seattle Pilots for pitcher Jim Bouton.^[10]

Roster

1969 Houston Astros

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

6 Don Bryant
7 Johnny Edwards

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

33 John Mayberry

Manager

25 Harry Walker

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Johnny Edwards	151	496	115	.232	6	50
1B	Curt Blefary	155	542	137	.253	12	67
2B	Joe Morgan	147	535	126	.236	15	43
SS	Denis Menke	154	553	149	.269	10	90
3B	Doug Rader	155	569	140	.246	11	83
LF	Jesús Alou	115	452	112	.248	5	34
CF	Jim Wynn	149	495	133	.269	33	87
RF	Norm Miller	119	409	108	.264	4	50

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Marty Martínez	78	198	61	.308	0	15
Gary Geiger	93	125	28	.224	0	16
Sandy Valdespino	41	119	29	.244	0	12
Julio Gotay	46	81	21	.259	0	9
Tommy Davis	24	79	19	.241	1	9
Leon McFadden	44	74	13	.176	0	3
Héctor Torres	34	69	11	.159	1	8
Don Bryant	31	59	11	.186	1	6
Bob Watson	20	40	11	.275	0	3
Keith Lampard	9	12	3	.250	1	2
César Gerónimo	28	8	2	.250	0	0
John Mayberry	5	4	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Larry Dierker	39	305.1	20	13	2.33	232
Denny Lemaster	38	244.2	13	17	3.16	173
Don Wilson	34	225.0	16	12	4.00	235
Tom Griffin	31	188.1	11	10	3.54	200

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jim Ray	40	115.0	8	2	3.91	115
Wade Blasingame	26	52.0	0	5	5.37	33

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Fred Gladding	57	4	8	29	4.21	40
Jack Billingham	52	6	7	2	4.25	71
Dooley Womack	30	2	1	0	3.51	32
Skip Guinn	28	1	2	0	6.67	33
Jim Bouton	16	0	2	1	4.11	32
Danny Coombs	8	0	1	0	6.75	3
Dan Schneider	6	0	1	0	13.50	3
Bob Watkins	5	0	0	0	5.17	11
Bill Henry	3	0	0	0	0.00	2
Ron Willis	3	0	0	0	0.00	2
Scipio Spinks	1	0	0	0	0.00	4
Marty Martínez	1	0	0	0	13.50	0

Awards and honors

1969 MLB All-Star Game

Larry Dierker
Denis Menke

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Cot Deal
AA	Savannah Senators	Southern League	Hub Kittle
A	Peninsula Astros	Carolina League	Tony Pacheco
A	Cocoa Astros	Florida State League	Leo Posada
A-Short Season	Williamsport Astros	New York–Penn League	Billy Smith
Rookie	Covington Astros	Appalachian League	Dick Bogard