1991 Houston Astros season
| 1991 Houston Astros | |
|---|---|
| League | National League |
| Division | West |
| Ballpark | The Astrodome |
| City | Houston, Texas |
| Record | 65–97 (.401) |
| Divisional place | 6th |
| Owners | John McMullen |
| General managers | Bill Wood |
| Managers | Art Howe |
| Television | KTXH HSE |
| Radio | KPRC (AM) (Bill Brown, Milo Hamilton, Larry Dierker, Vince Controneo, Bill Worrell, Enos Cabell) KXYZ (Orlando Sánchez-Diago, Rolando Becerra) |
The 1991 Houston Astros season was the 30th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 27th as the Astros, 30th in the National League (NL), 23rd in the NL West division, and 27th at the Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a 75–87 record, in fourth place in the NL West and 16 games behind the division- and World Series-champion Cincinnati Reds.
The season began for Houston on April 8 against Cincinnati at Riverfront Stadium, where they were defeated, 6–2. Pitcher Mike Scott made the fifth of five consecutive Opening Day starts for the Astros. In the amateur draft, the Astros received four first round picks—including pitcher John Burke at sixth overall—and three supplemental picks.
Catcher Craig Biggio and pitcher Pete Harnisch represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game. It was the second career selection for Biggio, and the only career selection for Harnisch.
The Astros concluded the regular season with a 65–97 record, in last place and 29 games behind the NL West division-champion and NL pennant-winning Atlanta Braves, and worst record in the National League. At the time, the 97 losses tied the 1965 and 1975 clubs for the most in franchise history, and was surpassed by the 2011 club.
In spite of the disappointing record, the 1991 season was a banner year overall for Houston rookies. First baseman Jeff Bagwell won the NL Rookie of the Year Award,[a] becoming the first Astro to win this award. Bagwell and Al Osuna (pitcher) were also recognized as The Sporting News NL Rookies of the Year.[b] Additionally, four Astros were selected for the 1991 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, including Bagwell, Osuna (left-handed pitcher), Andújar Cedeño (shortstop), and Luis Gonzalez (outfielder).
Offseason
- October 4, 1990: Bill Gullickson was released by the Astros.[1]
- January 10, 1991: Glenn Davis was traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Curt Schilling, Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch.[2]
Regular season
Summary
April—June
| 15 | Eric Yelding | SS |
| 12 | Steve Finley | CF |
| 7 | Craig Biggio | C |
| 26 | Luis Gonzalez | LF |
| 11 | Ken Caminiti | 3B |
| 5 | Jeff Bagwell[c] | 1B |
| 4 | Karl Rhodes | RF |
| 20 | Mark McLemore | 2B |
| 33 | Mike Scott | P |
| Venue: | Riverfront Stadium • CIN 6, | HOU 2 |
On April 15, Bagwell crushed his first major league home run,[5] which was as well-timed as could be, for both the player, batting .143, and the club. Starters Jim Deshaies and John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves remained in lockstep in a duel at 1–1 through seven innings at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. Smoltz' only blemish was a solo home run to Craig Biggio in the sixth inning. The score remained tied until the top of the ninth. With two out, Ken Caminiti singled off Kent Mercker, who then served a two-run blast to Bagwell for his first major league homer. The Astros bullpen ensured the lead stood, as fellow rookie Al Osuna (1–0) recorded two outs to earn his first win of the season and Curt Schilling induced the final two outs for the save (2).[6]
May
Inserted as a pinch hitter on May 5, Jeff Bagwell pummeled a home run that reached the upper deck at Three Rivers Stadium, just the ninth hitter to do so. The blast, which tied the game, 4–4, covered a distance of 456 feet (139 m).[7] Steve Finley followed up by slugging a two-run bomb to provide the margin for a 6–4 Astros win.[8]
June
After surrendering three runs and the lead in the top-half of the ninth inning on June 6, the Astros rallied against the Montreal Expos to win, 9–8. Luis Gonzalez and Ken Caminiti each hit run batted in (RBI)-doubles to spark the walk-off comeback.[9]
July
On July 29, Ken Caminiti connected for his first career grand slam off Bryn Smith, during the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4–1 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals.[10] The decisive event, the slam ensured the margin for victory with a 6–2 final score. Biggio collected four hits, while Finley legged out a triple and scored. Deshaies went the distance to pick up his fourth win.[11]
September
Center fielder Kenny Lofton made his major league debut on September 14,[12] batting leadoff at Riverfront Stadium. Lofton drew a base on balls from left-hander Randy Myers in his first plate appearance. Bagwell doubled in Lofton and Biggio for a 2–0 Astros lead and Lofton's first run in the major leagues. In the bottom of the fourth, the Reds led off with a trio of consecutive home runs via Mariano Duncan, Hal Morris, and Paul O'Neill, taking Astros starter Mark Portugal deep for a 3–2 lead. During the bottom of the fifth, Lofton singled off Myers on a line drive between shortstop and second base for his first major league hit. The Astros regained the lead in the eighth after Lofton hit a leadoff infield single, and singles from Biggio and Caminiti. Lofton doubled in the top of the ninth for a third hit, and again scored as the Astros added insurance for a 7–3 win. During his debut, Lofton went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a walk.[13]
Performance overview
For the first and only time during the era in which The Sporting News recognized one Rookie of the Year each for one position player and one pitcher in the each league,[b] both NL awards went to Astros: Bagwell[14] and to left-hander Al Osuna.[15] Bagwell became the fourth rookie to win for positions players, following Joe Morgan (1965), Greg Gross (1974), and Jeffrey Leonard (1979). Meanhile, Osuna became the second Astros pitcher to win the award, following Tom Griffin in 1969,[15] amounting to six total Astros who had won The Sporting News rookie award.
After four occasions prior to the 1991 seasons in which The Sporting News had recognized Astros players with their Rookie of the Year Award, Bagwell also became Houston's first-ever NL Rookie of the Year Award, as voted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).[16]
Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves | 94 | 68 | .580 | — | 48–33 | 46–35 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 93 | 69 | .574 | 1 | 54–27 | 39–42 |
| San Diego Padres | 84 | 78 | .519 | 10 | 42–39 | 42–39 |
| San Francisco Giants | 75 | 87 | .463 | 19 | 43–38 | 32–49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 88 | .457 | 20 | 39–42 | 35–46 |
| Houston Astros | 65 | 97 | .401 | 29 | 37–44 | 28–53 |
Record vs. opponents
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 | — | 6–6 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–3 | |||||
| Chicago | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 10–7 | 11–6 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 7–11 | 8–4 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 | |||||
| Houston | 5–13 | 3–9 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 2–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–7 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 6–6 | |||||
| Montreal | 7–5 | 7–10 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 7–5 | — | 4–14 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–11 | |||||
| New York | 3–9 | 6–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | — | 11–7 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–11 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 7-5 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 6–12 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 11–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 | |||||
| San Diego | 7–11 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 5–7 | — | 11–7 | 9–3 | |||||
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | — | 4–8 | |||||
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 8–4 | — | |||||
Roster
| 1991 Houston Astros | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Transactions
- May 20: Signed right-handed pitcher Óscar Henríquez as an international free agent.[17]
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 | Craig Biggio | 149 | 546 | 161 | .295 | 4 | 46 |
| 1B | Jeff Bagwell | 156 | 554 | 163 | .294 | 15 | 82 |
| 2B | Casey Candaele | 151 | 461 | 121 | .262 | 4 | 50 |
| 3B | Ken Caminiti | 152 | 574 | 145 | .253 | 13 | 80 |
| SS | Eric Yelding | 78 | 276 | 67 | .243 | 1 | 20 |
| LF | Luis Gonzalez | 137 | 473 | 120 | .254 | 13 | 69 |
| CF | Steve Finley | 159 | 596 | 170 | .285 | 8 | 54 |
| RF | Tuffy Rhodes | 44 | 136 | 29 | .213 | 1 | 12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andújar Cedeño | 67 | 251 | 61 | .243 | 9 | 36 |
| Rafael Ramírez | 101 | 233 | 55 | .236 | 1 | 20 |
| Gerald Young | 108 | 142 | 31 | .218 | 1 | 11 |
| Mark Davidson | 85 | 142 | 27 | .190 | 2 | 15 |
| Mike Simms | 49 | 123 | 25 | .203 | 3 | 16 |
| Eric Anthony | 39 | 118 | 18 | .153 | 1 | 7 |
| Andy Mota | 27 | 90 | 17 | .189 | 1 | 6 |
| Javier Ortiz | 47 | 83 | 23 | .277 | 1 | 5 |
| Kenny Lofton | 20 | 74 | 15 | .203 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Oberkfell | 53 | 70 | 16 | .229 | 0 | 14 |
| Mark McLemore | 21 | 61 | 9 | .148 | 0 | 2 |
| José Tolentino | 44 | 54 | 14 | .259 | 1 | 6 |
| Carl Nichols | 20 | 51 | 10 | .196 | 0 | 1 |
| Dave Rohde | 29 | 41 | 5 | .122 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Servais | 16 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 0 | 6 |
| Tony Eusebio | 10 | 19 | 2 | .105 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Cooper | 9 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete Harnisch | 33 | 216.2 | 12 | 9 | 2.70 | 172 |
| Mark Portugal | 32 | 168.1 | 10 | 12 | 4.49 | 120 |
| Jim Deshaies | 28 | 161.0 | 5 | 12 | 4.98 | 98 |
| Jimmy Jones | 26 | 135.1 | 6 | 8 | 4.39 | 88 |
| Ryan Bowen | 14 | 71.2 | 6 | 4 | 5.15 | 49 |
| Chris Gardner | 5 | 24.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.01 | 12 |
| Jeff Juden | 4 | 18.0 | 0 | 2 | 6.00 | 11 |
| Brian Williams | 2 | 12.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.75 | 4 |
| Mike Scott | 2 | 7.0 | 0 | 2 | 12.86 | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darryl Kile | 37 | 153.2 | 7 | 11 | 3.69 | 100 |
| Xavier Hernandez | 32 | 63.0 | 2 | 7 | 4.71 | 55 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Osuna | 71 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 3.42 | 68 |
| Curt Schilling | 56 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3.81 | 71 |
| Dwayne Henry | 52 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3.19 | 51 |
| Jim Corsi | 47 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.71 | 53 |
| Jim Clancy | 30 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2.78 | 33 |
| Mike Capel | 25 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3.03 | 23 |
| Rob Mallicoat | 24 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.86 | 18 |
| Dean Wilkins | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11.25 | 4 |
Awards and honors
Grand slams
| No. | Date | Astros batter | Venue | Inning | Pitcher | Opposing team | Box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 29 | Ken Caminiti | Astrodome | 4₰ | Bryn Smith | St. Louis Cardinals | [11] |
| ₰—Tied score or took lead |
Awards
- Baseball America Rookie of the Year:[18] Jeff Bagwell
- Fred Hartman Award for Long and Meritorious Service to Baseball:[19] Clark Nealon
- Houston-Area Major League Player of the Year:[19] Roger Clemens (BOS) & Greg Swindell (CLE)
- Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award:[19] Jeff Bagwell
- MLB All-Star Game
- Craig Biggio—Reserve catcher
- Pete Harnisch—Reserve pitcher
- National League (NL) Player of the Week[20]
- September 1: Ken Caminiti
- September 8: Andújar Cedeño
- National League (NL) Rookie of the Year:[a][16] Jeff Bagwell
- The Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year:[b]
- Jeff Bagwell—Position player[14]
- Al Osuna—Pitcher[15]
- Topps All-Star Rookie Team:
- Jeff Bagwell—First baseman
- Andújar Cedeño—Shortstop
- Luis Gonzalez—Outfielder
- Al Osuna—Left-handed pitcher
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tucson
References
- Footnotes
- ^ a b As determined by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).
- ^ a b c From 1961–2003, The Sporting News declared one rookie position player and one rookie pitcher from each league, the NL and the American League (AL), for this award. Starting in 2004, this system was modified to selecting one rookie from each league for the award, regardless of position.
- ^ Major league debut.
- Sources
- ^ "Bill Gullickson stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ "Curt Schilling stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ "Houston Astros (2) vs Cincinnati Reds (6) box score". Baseball Almanac. April 8, 1991. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
- ^ "1991 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
- ^ "Jeff Bagwell career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
- ^ "Houston Astros (3) vs Atlanta Braves (1) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. April 15, 1991. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 5, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 5". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ Hulsey, Bob. "This date in Astros history". Astros Daily. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 6, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 6". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
- ^ "Ken Caminiti career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ^ a b "St. Louis Cardinals (2) vs Houston Astros (6) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. July 29, 1991. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ^ "Kenny Lofton stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
- ^ "Houston Astros (7) vs Cincinnati Reds (3) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. September 14, 1991. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
- ^ a b "Rookie Player of the Year Award". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
- ^ a b "MLB Rookie of the Year Award | The Jackie Robinson Award". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ "Óscar Henríquez stats, position, height, weight, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
- ^ "Rookie of the Year by Baseball America". Baseball Almamac. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
- ^ "MLB Players of the Week Awards". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 9, 2025.