# 1969 Houston Astros season

The 1969 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in fifth place in the newly established National League West with a record of 81–81, twelve games behind the Atlanta Braves. It was also the first time in their history that the Astros did not finish below .500.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1968: Nate Colbert was drafted from the Astros by the San Diego Padres as the 18th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.
* December 2, 1968: Bo Belinsky was drafted from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 rule 5 draft.
* December 4, 1968: Mike Cuellar, Enzo Hernández, and Elijah Johnson (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Curt Blefary and John Mason (minors).
* January 22, 1969: Rusty Staub was traded by the Astros to the Montreal Expos for Jesús Alou and Donn Clendenon. Clendenon refused to report to the Astros. The Expos sent Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, and $100,000 to the Astros on April 8, 1969, as compensation.
* February 12, 1969: Byron Browne was purchased from the Astros by the St. Louis Cardinals.

## Regular season

* April 8: The Astros played against the San Diego Padres in the first ever game in Padres history.
* May 4, 1969: First baseman Curt Blefary participated in seven double plays.
The Astros season from August 26 to October 2 was featured in Jim Bouton's book, Ball Four. On September 19, Bouton struck out Tony Pérez of the Cincinnati Reds and made baseball history. With that strikeout, the pitching staff of the 1969 edition of the Houston Astros broke the then-National League record for most strikeouts in a season with 1,123 strikeouts. The team finished the year with 1,221 strikeouts, which stood as the National League record until 1996, when it was broken by the Atlanta Braves. They were the second team to have three pitchers with 200 strikeouts, with only the 1967 Minnesota Twins having accomplished the feat. Since then, only the 2013 Detroit Tigers have accomplished the feat.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Atlanta Braves | 93 | 69 | .574 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 43‍–‍38 |
| San Francisco Giants | 90 | 72 | .556 | 3 | 52‍–‍29 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 89 | 73 | .549 | 4 | 50‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 8 | 50‍–‍31 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Houston Astros | 81 | 81 | .500 | 12 | 52‍–‍29 | 29‍–‍52 |
| San Diego Padres | 52 | 110 | .321 | 41 | 28‍–‍53 | 24‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

1969 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 3–9 | 12–6 | 15–3 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 9–3 | — | 6–6–1 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 11–1 | 6–6 | 9–9 |
| Cincinnati | 6–12 | 6–6–1 | — | 9–9 | 10–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 8–4 |
| Houston | 3–15 | 4–8 | 9–9 | — | 6–12 | 11–1 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 7–5 |
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 10–2 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 5–13 | 3–9 |
| Montreal | 4–8 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 1–11 | 2–10 | — | 5–13 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 4–8 | 1–11 | 7–11 |
| New York | 8–4 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 13–5 | — | 12–6 | 10–8 | 11–1 | 8–4 | 12–6 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 6–12 | 2–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 7–11 |
| Pittsburgh | 4–8 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 8–10 | — | 10–2 | 5–7 | 9–9 |
| San Diego | 5–13 | 1–11 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–4 | 1–11 | 4–8 | 2–10 | — | 6–12 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 11–1 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 12–6 | — | 3–9 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 9–3 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 7, 1969: Oscar Zamora was signed as a free agent by the Astros.
* June 5, 1969: Pitcher J. R. Richard was selected by the Astros in the first round (second pick) of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft.
* August 24, 1969: Dooley Womack and Roric Harrison were traded by the Astros to the Seattle Pilots for pitcher Jim Bouton.

### 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 | 151 | 496 | 115 | .232 | 6 | 50 |
| 1B | Curt Blefary | 155 | 542 | 137 | .253 | 12 | 67 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 147 | 535 | 126 | .236 | 15 | 43 |
| SS | Denis Menke | 154 | 553 | 149 | .269 | 10 | 90 |
| 3B | Doug Rader | 155 | 569 | 140 | .246 | 11 | 83 |
| LF | Jesús Alou | 115 | 452 | 112 | .248 | 5 | 34 |
| CF | Jim Wynn | 149 | 495 | 133 | .269 | 33 | 87 |
| RF | Norm Miller | 119 | 409 | 108 | .264 | 4 | 50 |

#### 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 |
| Marty Martínez | 78 | 198 | 61 | .308 | 0 | 15 |
| Gary Geiger | 93 | 125 | 28 | .224 | 0 | 16 |
| Sandy Valdespino | 41 | 119 | 29 | .244 | 0 | 12 |
| Julio Gotay | 46 | 81 | 21 | .259 | 0 | 9 |
| Tommy Davis | 24 | 79 | 19 | .241 | 1 | 9 |
| Leon McFadden | 44 | 74 | 13 | .176 | 0 | 3 |
| Héctor Torres | 34 | 69 | 11 | .159 | 1 | 8 |
| Don Bryant | 31 | 59 | 11 | .186 | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Watson | 20 | 40 | 11 | .275 | 0 | 3 |
| Keith Lampard | 9 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 1 | 2 |
| César Gerónimo | 28 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| John Mayberry | 5 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Larry Dierker | 39 | 305.1 | 20 | 13 | 2.33 | 232 |
| Denny Lemaster | 38 | 244.2 | 13 | 17 | 3.16 | 173 |
| Don Wilson | 34 | 225.0 | 16 | 12 | 4.00 | 235 |
| Tom Griffin | 31 | 188.1 | 11 | 10 | 3.54 | 200 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Ray | 40 | 115.0 | 8 | 2 | 3.91 | 115 |
| Wade Blasingame | 26 | 52.0 | 0 | 5 | 5.37 | 33 |

#### 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 | 57 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 4.21 | 40 |
| Jack Billingham | 52 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4.25 | 71 |
| Dooley Womack | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.51 | 32 |
| Skip Guinn | 28 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6.67 | 33 |
| Jim Bouton | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.11 | 32 |
| Danny Coombs | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Dan Schneider | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13.50 | 3 |
| Bob Watkins | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.17 | 11 |
| Bill Henry | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Ron Willis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Scipio Spinks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 |
| Marty Martínez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

1969 MLB All-Star Game
* Larry Dierker
* Denis Menke

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Cot Deal |
| AA | Savannah Senators | Southern League | Hub Kittle |
| A | Peninsula Astros | Carolina League | Tony Pacheco |
| A | Cocoa Astros | Florida State League | Leo Posada |
| A-Short Season | Williamsport Astros | New York–Penn League | Billy Smith |
| Rookie | Covington Astros | Appalachian League | Dick Bogard |
Savannah affiliation shared with Washington Senators