Since their inception in 1962, the Houston Astros have had a difficult time establishing an identity in the National League, mostly due to their lack of superstar names and a lack of post-season success — waiting forty-three seasons to make it to the World Series where they were swept by the Chicago White Sox. It took them eighteen years just to make it to October baseball, and it took them seven trips to the post-season before they finally won a series.
The Astros were born during the National League's first expansion since the modern ten-team, two-league structure was established in 1901 (the Mets were the other team). A conglomeration of Houston businessmen headed by Judge Roy Hofheinz won the franchise and originally named the team the Colt .45's.
The Colt .45's first loaded up against the Chicago Cubs on April 10, 1962, and shot them down 11-2 behind Bobby Schantz. Houston spent its first three seasons playing second-division baseball under manager Harry Craft at Colt Stadium, a new open-air park where fans had to endure the constantly oppressive Texas heat, and swarms of mosquitoes that eventually compelled Astro management to vicinity virtually every day.
Two games of note did take place at Colts Stadium — a no-hitter won by Houston hurler Don Nottlebart on May 17, 1963, and on April 23, 1964, Houston pitcher Ken Johnson became the first Major League pitcher to lose a complete game no-hitter; two errors, one by Johnson himself, cost him a 1-0 decision to Cincinnati.
HOUSTON ASTROS
In 1965, the team and its fans escaped the mid-summer Texas misery by moving into a new structure originally called the Harris County Domed Stadium, but soon dubbed the Astrodome. The team changed its name in a nod-of-the-head to its new stadium and the burgeoning NASA space center nearby. The Astros inaugurated indoor Major League Baseball with a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on April 12, 1965 (although trivia experts like to point out that the Yankees played the Astros in an exhibition game to open the Dome a few days earlier and Mickey Mantle hit the first home run there).
Houston Astros History
