George Springer had a nice rookie season in 2014 with 20 Home Runs and it didn’t take long for him to become one of the Astros’ top players. 

Carlos Correa was the first overall draft pick in 2012 and he would do exactly what you want from someone drafted in that spot when they debut in the Majors; he won the Rookie of the Year.  Correa had 22 Home Runs as a rookie, and in the two seasons that followed would again hit 20 dingers with a Batting Average over .275.  Correa had a monster season 2017 where he was an All-Star, batted .315, and finished 17^th in MVP voting.  He was also an integral part of the Astros first World Series Championship that year.

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports.  After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives.  

As such, it is very newsworthy to us that the Houston Astros have announced during their FanFest that their physical Hall of Fame will open in Home Run Alley at the start of the 2019 season.  The Astros, who have been around for 57 seasons and won their first World Series in 2017.  The first Hall of Fame Class will comprise of 16 members and they will be officially inducted on the weekend of Aug 2-4.  All of the members of the new class will be introduced in a pregame ceremony on August 3, prior to their home game against the Seattle Mariners.

The inaugural Houston Astros Hall of Fame Class consists of:

Bob Aspromonte (1962-67):  Known affectionately in Houston as “Aspro”, Aspromante was taken third overall in the Expansion Draft and was an original Colt 45. With the distinction of being the first ever batter in franchise history, he would also record the first Hit and Stolen Base for the team.  A member of the Colt .45’s/Astros for seven seasons, Aspromante was the team’s starting Third Baseman and recorded 925 Hits and would twice lead all National League Third Basemen in Fielding Percentage.  

Jeff Bagwell (1991-2005):  The Rookie of the Year in 1991, Jeff Bagwell played his entire career with Houston where he would be named to four All Star Games and was named the National League MVP in 1994.  A three time Silver Slugger, the First Baseman crushed 449 Home Runs with 1,401 RBIs and a Slash Line of .297/.408/.540. Bagwell entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017 and became the second person to enter as an Astro.

Craig Biggio (1988-2007):  Craig Biggio made history in many ways for the Houston Astros as he was the first (and only) player to collect 3,000 Hits for the team and in 2015 was the first man to wear a Astros cap in the Hall of Fame. An All Star seven times, Biggio had power (291 Home Runs), speed (414 Stolen Bases) and excellent defensive versatility as he played Catcher, Second Base and Outfield for the team.  He was also a four time Gold Glove recipient.  

Jose Cruz (1975-87):  Cruz played 13 seasons for Houston where in 1983 he would lead the National League in Hits.  He had 1,937 overall for Houston where he also had 138 Home Runs with 288 Stolen Bases and a .292 Batting Average.  Cruz was also an All Star twice, the first of which in 1980 would see him finish third in MVP voting.

Larry Dierker (1964-87):  Dierker pitched for the Astros for 13 years where he went 137 and 117 with 1,487 Strikeouts and two All Star Game appearances.  From 1997 to 2001 Dierker was the Astros’ Manager where he had a record of 435 and 348 and was named the Manager of the Year in 1998.  He also served as a Broadcaster for the team for 18 years.

Gene Elston (1962-86):  Elston was the voice of the team for the first 25 years of the franchise’s existence.  In 2006 he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to Baseball broadcasting.

Milo Hamilton (1985-2012):  Like Elston, Hamilton was also recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in Baseball Broadcasting.  

Joe Morgan (1963-71 & 1980):  Morgan was a two time All Star with Houston where he first played from 1963 to 1971.  He would afterward more famously join Cincinnati where he would help them win two World Series and was named the MVP twice before returning in 1980 for one season. Overall with Houston he would be a two time leader in Walks with 972 Hits, 219 Stolen Bases and 72 Home Runs.

Joe Niekro (1975-85):  Niekro is at present the winningest Pitcher in Astros history with 144 Wins.  An Astro for 11 seasons, Niekro would have back to back 20 Win seasons in 1979 and 1980 where his 21 Wins in ’79 would give him the league lead.  He finished 2^ndand 4^thin Cy Young respectively those two seasons and he would also strikeout 1,178 batters with Houston.

Shane Reynolds (1992-2001): Reynolds was named to the All Star Team in 2000 and in the season before he was the NL leader in BB/9 and SO/BB. Reynolds overall record in Houston was 103 and 86 with 1,309 Strikeouts.

J.R. Richard (1971-1980):  Known for his blazing fastball, J.R. Richard led the NL in Strikeouts in both 1978 and 1979 with 1,493 K’s overall in his 10 year career, which was all with Houston.  In those two aforementioned seasons he finished 4^thand 3^rdin Cy Young Award voting and he retired with a 107 and 71 record.

Nolan Ryan (1980-88):  The all-time Strikeout King of Major League Baseball accrued 1,866 of his career 5,714 as a member of the Houston Astros.  While playing there, he would win the ERA title twice and had a record of 106 and 94 with a pair of All Star Games.  Ryan was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 and he serves as an Executive Advisor for the team.

Mike Scott (1983-91):  Scott would win the Cy Young Award in 1986 and he made history by throwing a no-hitter in the team’s division clinching win. While he could not pitch his team into the World Series, he went 2 and 0 over 18 Innings with a 0.50 ERA earning him the NLCS MVP despite Houston failing to beat the New York Mets.  Scott went 110 and 81 with 1,318 Strikeouts over his nine seasons in Houston.

Jim Umbricht (1962-63):  Umbricht was an original Houston Colt .45 after being chosen from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Expansion Draft.  He would finish 21 Games in 1962 but received a cancer diagnosis in the offseason and underwent surgery in March of 1963.  Miraculously, he made the opening day roster and pitched the season but the cancer was never cured and by November of that year it had spread to his chest and was diagnosed as uncurable but showed amazing courage until the end.  He would die on April, 8. 1964.

Don Wilson (1966-74):  Wilson played all nine of his seasons with the Houston Astros where he was an All Star in 1971 and had a record of 104 and 92 with 1,283 Strikeouts.  Wilson passed away in 1975 due to carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage and it is believed that he died while intoxicated and it was not a suicide. 

Jimmy Wynn (1963-73):Arguably the most underrated player in Baseball, Jimmy Winn played the first 11 of his 15 seasons of his career with the Astros.  “The Toy Cannon” was an All Star in 1975 and had 1,291 Hits with 223 Home Runs as an Astro.

In the future, the Astros Hall of Fame Committee will meet annually to determine each new member.  Their plan is to induct one or two members each year.  At present the Committee consists of Reid Ryan (President of Business Operations), Mike Acosta (Team Historian), Craig Biggio (Former player and current Special Assistant to the GM), Bill Brown (Former Broadcaster and current Astros Community Outreach Executive), Gene Dias (VP of Communications), Larry Dierker (Former Player and Broadcaster), Bob Dorrill (President of the Houston Chapter of SABR), Marian Harper (VP of Foundation Development), Alyson Footer (MLB.com National Correspondent), Brian McTaggart (Astros Beat Writer) and Mike Vance (Baseball and Houston Historian).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate all of the members of the inaugural class of the Houston Astros Hall of Fame for earning this prestigious honor.

A two time All Star, Bob Knepper would have four seasons with Houston where he had 14 or more Wins.  Knepper would have a losing record as an Astro (93-100), but still with only 7 shy of the 100 mark in Wins and 54 shy of 1,000 Strikeouts, these are two solid milestones he almost made. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly getting there in our pursuit of naming the Top 50 players from every major sports franchise in North America.

We return to the world of Baseball with the Houston Astros and that we believe are Top 50 players ever from that organization.

We encourage you to see the complete list here, but for those who can’t wait, here are the top five Houston Astros of all-time:



1.Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio

3. Lance Berkman

4. Cesar Cedeno

5. Jose Cruz



This won’t be the last of this, as we have the Detroit Lions up next. 

As always, we thank you for your support and look for your input!

Bouncing back and forth as a starter and reliever during his six seasons (over two runs) as an Astro, Danny Darwin fittingly won the ERA and WHIP title in a season (1990) where he split duties doing both.  Darwin would have a record of 47 and 35 as a Houston Astro.

Mike Cuellar would become a World Series Champion and a Cy Young winner with the Baltimore Orioles, but he first turned heads when he was a Houston Astro.  Cuellar would go his first All-Star Game as an Astro in 1967, a season where he went 16 and 11.  Overall, in the four seasons he was in Houston (1965-68), he went 37-36 with 557 Strikeouts.

Known for being one of the more prolific Pinch Hitters of all-time, Denny Walling was a Houston Astro for 13 of his 18 seasons and was predominantly used against right handed pitchers.  Walling was especially effective with his bat in the cavernous Astrodome and the fact that he was capable of playing multiple defensive positions made him an asset for Houston.  He would have 726 Hits for the club.

Improving offensively with each passing year, Rusty Staub debuted with the then named Houston Colt .45’s and before he left for the Montreal Expos, he would make two All Star with the Astros.  Staub’s final three seasons in Houston saw him go over 150 Hits and in 1967 would lead the NL in Doubles while batting .333.  Had Staub just been an average defensive player his ranking would have been much higher.

With Houston, Staub would accrue 792 Hits and a .273 Batting Average.

Mike Hampton might be best known for his overpriced contract with the Colorado Rockies but the Houston Astros, he is known for his Cy Young runner up season in 199 when he went 22 and 4 with a 2.90 ERA.  Hampton never had a losing record for the Astros (in his first run anyway) and had a respectable 76 and 50 with Houston.

Twice an All-Star as an Astro, Dave Smith was Houston’s closer for years, saving 20 games in six consecutive seasons.   He would record six seasons with a WHIP under 1.100 and would finish on the top five in Saves three times.

A very quick player, Steve Finley would lead the National League in Triples in 1992.  It was with the Astros that Finley would post his best Stolen Base numbers and had two consecutive seasons where he accumulated 170 Hits.  Over his four years in Houston, he would have a Defensive bWAR of 5.0, a number that was actually better than he accrued for other teams this despite winning his six Gold Gloves elsewhere.  Finley would have 595 Hits with 110 Stolen Bases in Houston.

Known for his very keen batting eye (he is one of the few players in MLB history to record more Walks than Hits in a full season), Morgan Ensberg had a breakout season in 2005, where he was an All-Star, A Silver Slugger and finished 4th in MVP voting.  He never replicated that campaign, however, but did make his mark in Houston with 551 Hits with 105 Home Runs.

In 2015, Dallas Keuchel won the Cy Young Award, cementing himself as a certified ace in Major League Baseball who shot up this list astronomically from that 2015 campaign.  Keuchel did not repeat that season’s accomplishments with the Astros, but he was an All-Star for the second time in 2017, where he had a 14-5 record and a 2.90 ERA.  His run with the Astros ended when he signed with the Atlants Braves as a Free Agent.  With Houston, Keuchel would have a 76-63 record with 945 Strikeouts.

Bob Watson achieved greater heights as an executive with the New York Yankees, but he was still quite the player who played at his peak with the Houston Astros. 

A two-time All-Star, Watson would exceed 150 hits six years in a row and had four campaigns where he batted over .300.  Watson's defensive skills were not the best, which hurts him on this list, but in the 14 years he played in Houston, he would collect 1,448 Hits, with 139 Home Runs with a .297 Batting Average. The Astros inducted Watson into their Hall of Fame in 2020.

An All-Star and Silver Slugger in 1983, Dickie Thon appeared to poised for something special in Major League Baseball.  Coming off a season where he finished 7th in MVP voting and led the NL in bWAR for Position Players, he was beaned early in 1984 by Mike Torrez causing him to miss the rest of the season.  He would return, but his vision was never the same, and he became one of the “what might have beens” in baseball.  As an Astro, he would have 492 Hits with a .270 Batting Average, and a 6.7 Defensive bWAR.

A two-time All-Star with the Houston Astros, Hunter Pence displayed some serious offensive acumen with three seasons if 160 Hits and 25 Home Runs.  Pence would become atwo-timee World Series Champion with the San Francisco Giants, but the truth is that his best campaigns took place in Houston.

Ken Caminiti would become a National League MVP with the San Diego Padres but it was a member of the Houston Astros where he would make the first of his three All Star Games.  Caminiti was not putting up his best career power numbers in Houston (though still had 103), but he was actually at his best defensively playing for the Astros.

The Venezuelan Outfielder, Richard Hidalgo, had his best years in Major League Baseball playing for the Houston Astros.  Hidalgo had a major season in 2000 when he smacked 46 Home Runs with a Slash Line of .314/.391/.636, but knee injuries prevented him from getting anywhere near that again.

Doug Rader was known for his defense and he was a five-time Gold Glove winner at third base.  Playing his first nine seasons in Houston, Rader did not always hit for the best batting average or on base percentage, but he did hit over 100 home runs as an Astro and 1,060 Hits.