# 1972 Houston Astros season

The 1972 Houston Astros season was the 11th season for the Houston Astros, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 8th as the Astros, 4th in the National League West, and 8th at The Astrodome. The team finished second in the National League West with a record of 84–69, 10+1⁄2 games behind the Cincinnati Reds and just a percentage point ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1972 season was the first winning season in Astros history.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1971: Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo, and Denis Menke were traded by the Astros to the Cincinnati Reds for Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart.
* December 2, 1971: John Mayberry and Dave Grangaard (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Kansas City Royals for Jim York and Lance Clemons.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 95 | 59 | .617 | — | 42‍–‍34 | 53‍–‍25 |
| Houston Astros | 84 | 69 | .549 | 10½ | 41‍–‍36 | 43‍–‍33 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 85 | 70 | .548 | 10½ | 41‍–‍34 | 44‍–‍36 |
| Atlanta Braves | 70 | 84 | .455 | 25 | 36‍–‍41 | 34‍–‍43 |
| San Francisco Giants | 69 | 86 | .445 | 26½ | 34‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍43 |
| San Diego Padres | 58 | 95 | .379 | 36½ | 26‍–‍54 | 32‍–‍41 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7–1 | 9–9 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5–1 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 10–5 | 10–8 | 10–7 | 3–12 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 11–6 | 9–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–5 | 10–2 |
| Houston | 7–7 | 9–3 | 6–11 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 12–2 | 13–5 | 4–8 |
| Los Angeles | 8–7 | 4–8 | 5–9 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 8–4 | 5–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–12 | 10–6 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 9–8 |
| New York | 5–7 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 7–10 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 12–3 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 6–8 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 9–3 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 11–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 2–12 | 5–13 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | — | 4–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–4 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 9–7 | 7–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 6, 1972: Jim Crawford was selected by the Astros in the 14th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.

### Roster
## 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 | 108 | 332 | 89 | .268 | 5 | 40 |
| 1B | Lee May | 148 | 592 | 168 | .284 | 29 | 98 |
| 2B | Tommy Helms | 139 | 518 | 134 | .259 | 5 | 60 |
| SS | Roger Metzger | 153 | 641 | 142 | .222 | 2 | 38 |
| 3B | Doug Rader | 152 | 553 | 131 | .237 | 22 | 90 |
| LF | Bob Watson | 147 | 548 | 171 | .312 | 16 | 86 |
| CF | César Cedeño | 139 | 559 | 179 | .320 | 22 | 82 |
| RF | Jimmy Wynn | 145 | 542 | 148 | .273 | 24 | 90 |

#### 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 |
| Larry Howard | 54 | 157 | 35 | .223 | 2 | 13 |
| Norm Miller | 67 | 107 | 26 | .243 | 4 | 13 |
| Jimmy Stewart | 68 | 96 | 21 | .219 | 0 | 9 |
| Jesús Alou | 52 | 93 | 29 | .312 | 0 | 11 |
| Bobby Fenwick | 36 | 50 | 9 | .180 | 0 | 4 |
| Bob Stinson | 27 | 35 | 6 | .171 | 0 | 2 |
| Jack Hiatt | 10 | 25 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Chiles | 9 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 2 |
| Gary Sutherland | 5 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
| Cliff Johnson | 5 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 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 |
| Don Wilson | 33 | 228.1 | 15 | 10 | 2.68 | 172 |
| Larry Dierker | 31 | 214.2 | 15 | 8 | 3.40 | 115 |
| Dave Roberts | 35 | 192.0 | 12 | 7 | 4.50 | 111 |
| Jerry Reuss | 33 | 192.0 | 9 | 13 | 4.17 | 174 |
| Ken Forsch | 30 | 156.1 | 6 | 8 | 3.91 | 113 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Griffin | 39 | 94.1 | 5 | 4 | 3.21 | 83 |
| Mike Cosgrove | 7 | 13.2 | 0 | 1 | 4.61 | 7 |
| J.R. Richard | 4 | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 13.50 | 8 |

#### 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 | 42 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 2.77 | 18 |
| Jim Ray | 54 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 4.28 | 50 |
| George Culver | 45 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3.05 | 82 |
| Jim York | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.25 | 25 |
| Wade Blasingame | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.64 | 9 |
| Joe Gibbon | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.82 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Tony Pacheco |
| AA | Columbus Astros | Southern League | Jackie Brandt |
| A | Cocoa Astros | Florida State League | Jimmy Williams |
| Rookie | Covington Astros | Appalachian League | Billy Smith |
| Rookie | Cocoa Astros | Florida East Coast League | Leo Posada |