1973 Houston Astros season

1973 Houston Astros
1973 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	82–80 (.506)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Leo Durocher
Television	KPRC-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM); (Gene Elston, Loel Passe)
	Seasons

The 1973 Houston Astros season was the 12th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their ninth as the Astros, 12th in the National League (NL), fifth in the NL West division, and ninth at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season having posted a record of 84–69—the first-ever winning season in franchise history—in second place in the NL West, 10+1⁄2 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds.

Center fielder César Cedeño and left fielder Bob Watson represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game and played for the National League. It was the second career selection for Cedeño and first for Watson. Cedeño produced a second consecutive 20–50 club season, with 25 home runs and 56 stolen bases, the first major leaguer to accomplish this feat.

The Astros concluded the regular season fourth in the NL West with a record of 82–80, 17 games behind the division champions, Cincinnati. Hence, this performance established the Astros' first-ever instance of consecutive winning seasons.

Following the season, Cedeño (second career selection), shortstop Roger Metzger (first) and third baseman Doug Rader (fourth) each earned Gold Glove Awards. For the first time in the award's history, this Gold Glove edition rostered three Astros players.

Offseason

November 27, 1972: Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris were traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for Tommie Agee.^[1]
January 10, 1973: Mike Stanton was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).^[2]

Regular season

Summary

April

Opening Day starting lineup^[3]^[4]

24	Jimmy Wynn	RF
19	Tommy Helms	2B
28	César Cedeño	CF
27	Bob Watson	LF
23	Lee May	1B
12	Doug Rader	3B
7	Johnny Edwards	C
14	Roger Metzger	SS
15	Dave Roberts	P
Venue:	Atlanta Stadium • HOU 2,	ATL 1

Starting April 9, Bob Watson authored a career-high 19-game hitting streak, batting .388. The streak lasted until April 27.^[5]

The first-ever Player of the Week Award was presented for the National League by president Chub Feeney to Astros left fielder Jimmy Wynn for the week ended April 16, 1973. Considering the 11 games played since Opening Day on April 6, Wynn connected for 6 home runs, 10 RBI, one double, one triple, and had carried a batting average of .313 (15-for-48).^[6]

May

Displeased with the result of a contest on May 15, Houston GM Spec Richardson resorted to sending his message through the scoreboard of the Astrodome, blaming umpires Augie Donatelli and Bruce Froemming for blown calls in a 4–1 loss to the Atlanta Braves. He charged the missed calls changed the outcome of the game; however, this instead resulted in a $500 fine.^[7]

Down 7–0 on May 20, the San Francisco Giants came all the way back to tie, 7–7. However, a solo home run from Jimmy Wynn gave Houston an 8–7 win, while also allowing them to take sole possession of first place.^[8]

Beginning May 30, and until June 21, Lee May put together a 21-game hitting streak to set a franchise record, punctuated by his performance during the final four days from June 17–21. On June 17, May went 3-for-5, including his 1,000th career hit.^[5]

June

May also proceeded to tie the club record with three home runs in one game on June 21,^[a]^[9] on the way to career day. It was the only three-home run game and four-run contest of May's career, and his only four-hit game of the campaign.^[10] Meanwhile, Ken Forsch hurled a complete game to lead a 12–2 win over the San Diego Padres. May delivered 5 RBI and Tommy Helms also connected for a grand slam.^[11]

During the final four games of Lee's hitting streak he collected 13 RBI. Over the entirety of the steak, Lee batted .407, going 35-for-86. One curiosity emerged as Lee did not draw any bases on balls from the streak's start to finish. His record displaced Rusty Staub's 20-game streak from June 30 to July 21, 1967, and remained until surpassed by teammate César Cedeño from August 25 to September 21, 1977, when Cedeño hit in 22 contests consecutively. On June 22, 1973, the day that Lee's streak ended, he went 0-for-2 while drawing two walks.^[5]

MLB All-Star Game

Center fielder César Cedeño and left fielder Bob Watson were both recognized as MLB All-Stars, representing the Astros, while the game was hosted at Royals Stadium. Cedeño was named starter at center field, his first time as starter, first Astro to start at the position, and first All-Star Game starter from the Astros since teammate Lee May at first base during the 1972 Classic. This was the second career selection for Cedeño and first for Watson.^[12] Cedeño collected a single and an RBI in three at bats while Watson was inserted as a defensive replacement in left field as the National League defeated the American League, 7–1.^[13]

August

J. R. Richard chucked his first major league shutout on August 1, a 5–0 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[14] Jimmy Wynn collected a double, single, drew a base on balls and hit a run batted in (RBI) to spearhead Houston's tallies.^[15]

On August 20, Richard stymied the Pittsburgh Pirates on a complete game two-hitter as Houston bombed to a 10-2 triumph. He took a no-hit bid into the seventh until Al Oliver singled with two outs By that point, Lee May had blasted a three-run shot in the bottom of the fourth and Bob Watson followed up in the fifth by launching a grand slam. Richard ended up with nine strikeouts and a game score of 81.^[16]

Performance overview

Cedeño proceeded to repeat the 20–50 club for the second consecutive season, with 25 home runs and 56 stolen bases,^[17] also accomplished that year by former Houston Astros teammate Joe Morgan, then a member of the Cincinnati Reds.^[18] Cedeño became the first player in major league history to repeat over consecutive seasons.^[19]

Season standings

NL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	99	63	.611	—	50‍–‍31	49‍–‍32
Los Angeles Dodgers	95	66	.590	3½	50‍–‍31	45‍–‍35
San Francisco Giants	88	74	.543	11	47‍–‍34	41‍–‍40
Houston Astros	82	80	.506	17	41‍–‍40	41‍–‍40
Atlanta Braves	76	85	.472	22½	40‍–‍40	36‍–‍45
San Diego Padres	60	102	.370	39	31‍–‍50	29‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1973 National League record 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	—	7–5	5–13	11–7	2–15–1	6–6	6–6	6–6	7–5	12–6	8–10	6–6
Chicago	5–7	—	8–4	6–6	5–7	9–9	10–7	10–8	6–12	7–5	2–10	9–9
Cincinnati	13–5	4–8	—	11–7	11–7	8–4	8–4	8–4	7–5	13–5	10–8	6–6
Houston	7–11	6–6	7–11	—	11–7	6–6	6–6	7–5	6–6	10–8	11–7	5–7
Los Angeles	15–2–1	7–5	7–11	7–11	—	7–5	7–5	9–3	10–2	9–9	9–9	8–4
Montreal	6–6	9–9	4–8	6–6	5–7	—	9–9	13–5	6–12	7–5	6–6	8–10
New York	6–6	7–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	9–9	—	9–9	13–5	8–4	5–7	10–8
Philadelphia	6-6	8–10	4–8	5–7	3–9	5–13	9–9	—	8–10	9–3	5–7	9–9
Pittsburgh	5–7	12–6	5–7	6–6	2–10	12–6	5–13	10–8	—	8–4	5–7	10–8
San Diego	6–12	5–7	5–13	8–10	9–9	5–7	4–8	3–9	4–8	—	7–11	4–8
San Francisco	10–8	10–2	8–10	7–11	9–9	6–6	7–5	7–5	7–5	11–7	—	6–6
St. Louis	6–6	9–9	6–6	7–5	4–8	10–8	8–10	9–9	8–10	8–4	6–6	—

Notable transactions

July 31, 1973: Jesús Alou was purchased from the Astros by the Oakland Athletics.^[20]
August 18, 1973: Tommie Agee was traded by the Astros to the St. Louis Cardinals for Dave Campbell and cash.^[1]

Draft picks

June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball draft
- Ken Landreaux was drafted by the Astros in the 8th round, but did not sign.^[21]
- Mike Davey was drafted by the Astros in the 18th round, but did not sign.^[22]

Roster

1973 Houston Astros

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

2 Leo Durocher

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	Skip Jutze	90	278	62	.223	0	18
1B	Lee May	148	545	147	.270	28	105
2B	Tommy Helms	146	543	156	.287	4	61
SS	Roger Metzger	154	580	145	.250	1	35
3B	Doug Rader	154	574	146	.254	21	89
LF	Bob Watson	158	573	179	.312	16	94
CF	César Cedeño	139	525	168	.320	25	70
RF	Jim Wynn	139	481	106	.220	20	55

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
Johnny Edwards	79	250	61	.244	5	27
Tommie Agee	83	204	48	.235	8	15
Bob Gallagher	71	148	39	.264	2	10
Jimmy Stewart	61	68	13	.191	0	3
Héctor Torres	38	66	6	.091	0	2
Jesús Alou	28	55	13	.236	1	8
Gary Sutherland	16	54	14	.259	0	3
Larry Howard	20	48	8	.167	0	4
Greg Gross	14	39	9	.231	0	1
Cliff Johnson	7	20	6	.300	2	6
Ray Busse	15	17	1	.059	0	0
Rafael Batista	12	15	4	.267	0	2
Dave Campbell	9	15	4	.267	0	2
Mike Easler	6	7	0	.000	0	0
Otis Thornton	2	3	0	.000	0	1
Norm Miller	3	3	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
Jerry Reuss	41	279.1	16	13	3.74	177
Dave Roberts	39	249.1	17	11	2.85	119
Don Wilson	37	239.1	11	16	3.20	149
Doug Konieczny	2	13.0	0	1	5.54	6

Other pitchers