# 1974 Houston Astros season

The 1974 Houston Astros season was the 13th season for the Houston Astros, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 10th as the Astros, 6th in the National League West, and 10th at The Astrodome. The team finished fourth in the National League West with a record of 81–81, 21 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

## Offseason

* March 30, 1974: Larry Yount and Don Stratton (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Milwaukee Brewers for Wilbur Howard.

## Regular season
### Standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 102 | 60 | .630 | — | 52‍–‍29 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 98 | 64 | .605 | 4 | 50‍–‍31 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Atlanta Braves | 88 | 74 | .543 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Houston Astros | 81 | 81 | .500 | 21 | 46‍–‍35 | 35‍–‍46 |
| San Francisco Giants | 72 | 90 | .444 | 30 | 37‍–‍44 | 35‍–‍46 |
| San Diego Padres | 60 | 102 | .370 | 42 | 36‍–‍45 | 24‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

1974 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–8 | 7–11–1 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 17–1 | 8–10 | 9–3 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 4–8 | 2–10 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–13 |
| Cincinnati | 11–7–1 | 7–5 | — | 14–4 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 6–6 |
| Houston | 12–6 | 8–4 | 4–14 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–4 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 13–5 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 16–2 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 8–9 |
| New York | 4–8 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| Philadelphia | 4-8 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 9–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | — | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–11 |
| San Diego | 1–17 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 2–16 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–9 | — | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — | 6–6 |
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 9–8 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1974: Alan Knicely was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round of the 1974 Major League Baseball draft.
* June 17, 1974: Oscar Zamora was purchased from the Astros by the Chicago Cubs.
* August 15, 1974: Claude Osteen was traded by the Astros to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ron Selak (minors) and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the trade by sending Dan Larson to the Astros on October 14.

### 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 | Milt May | 127 | 405 | 117 | .289 | 7 | 54 |
| 1B | Lee May | 152 | 556 | 149 | .268 | 24 | 85 |
| 2B | Tommy Helms | 137 | 452 | 126 | .279 | 5 | 50 |
| SS | Roger Metzger | 143 | 572 | 145 | .253 | 0 | 30 |
| 3B | Doug Rader | 152 | 533 | 137 | .257 | 17 | 78 |
| LF | Bob Watson | 150 | 524 | 156 | .298 | 11 | 67 |
| CF | César Cedeño | 160 | 610 | 164 | .269 | 26 | 102 |
| RF | Greg Gross | 156 | 589 | 185 | .314 | 0 | 36 |

#### 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 |
| Cliff Johnson | 83 | 171 | 39 | .228 | 10 | 29 |
| Larry Milbourne | 112 | 136 | 38 | .279 | 0 | 9 |
| Johnny Edwards | 50 | 117 | 26 | .222 | 1 | 10 |
| Wilbur Howard | 64 | 111 | 24 | .216 | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Gallagher | 102 | 87 | 15 | .172 | 0 | 3 |
| Ollie Brown | 27 | 69 | 15 | .217 | 3 | 6 |
| Mick Kelleher | 19 | 57 | 9 | .158 | 0 | 2 |
| Ray Busse | 19 | 34 | 7 | .206 | 0 | 0 |
| Denis Menke | 30 | 29 | 3 | .103 | 0 | 1 |
| Dave Campbell | 35 | 23 | 2 | .087 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Easler | 15 | 15 | 1 | .067 | 0 | 0 |
| Skip Jutze | 8 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Larry Dierker | 33 | 223.2 | 11 | 10 | 2.90 | 150 |
| Tom Griffin | 34 | 211.0 | 14 | 10 | 3.54 | 110 |
| Don Wilson | 33 | 204.2 | 11 | 13 | 3.08 | 112 |
| Dave Roberts | 34 | 204.0 | 10 | 12 | 3.40 | 72 |
| Claude Osteen | 23 | 138.1 | 9 | 9 | 3.71 | 45 |
| Paul Siebert | 5 | 25.1 | 1 | 1 | 3.55 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| J.R. Richard | 15 | 64.2 | 2 | 3 | 4.18 | 42 |
| Doug Konieczny | 6 | 16.0 | 0 | 3 | 7.88 | 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 |
| Ken Forsch | 70 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 2.79 | 48 |
| Fred Scherman | 53 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4.11 | 35 |
| Mike Cosgrove | 45 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3.50 | 47 |
| Jerry Johnson | 34 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.80 | 32 |
| Jim York | 28 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.29 | 15 |
| Ramón de los Santos | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.19 | 7 |
| Mike Nagy | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.53 | 5 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Denver Bears | American Association | Frank Verdi |
| AA | Columbus Astros | Southern League | Jimmy Williams |
| A | Cedar Rapids Astros | Midwest League | Leo Posada |
| Rookie | Covington Astros | Appalachian League | Billy Smith |