Houston Astros Win 2017 World Series!

After many years, it's impressive to see the view from the top of the mountain.  My team since I was a boy growing up in Houston, the Houston Astros won the World Series in impressive fashion, Game 7, on the road, in Los Angeles over the Dodgers.

My early memories from 1975 or so were going to the Astrodome for a game with the Cub Scouts.  I also remember joining the Astros Buddies junior fan club and getting a sticker as well as a coupon for an upper deck ticket, which I had my dad go to the game with me.

Those were days that the Astros were in the N.L. West.  So they had to go against the glory days of the Reds, and the Dodgers.  The Dodgers beat the Astros for the NL West division in 1980 in a tough fashion.  Even Nolan Ryan in the 80s could not punch the Astros through, until they won the division in 1986 and then lost to the Mets in tough fashion again in the NLCS.

In the late 80s I moved back to Houston after college and remember feeling plentiful that I could watch the Astros on every game ( if you could find cable).  I watched a number of games at the Mr. Gatti's big screen on Voss, as well as the pool hall at Fountain View and San Felipe.  That was when two young players, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell came on the scene and played for 15 + years each.

With an ownership change, Drayton McLane reinvested and got the City and County to build a new ball park, baseball only.  Enron Field was a game changer in that it showed that downtown stadiums were the place to be.  In the early 2000s, I had part of 2 season tickets and saw 10 -12 games each season.  My daughter liked to go to the games and we had a lot of fun at that time.  We usually left after 7 innings since our games were usually on a school night.  I remember they were in section 327.

We moved to McAllen and I continued to be a fan from afar.  The games on not on TV so frequently.  One year I even bought the MLB Season Pass and the games were still blacked out.  

The 2005 World Series was over before it even got started.  But the run up to it was great, with having to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in their prime.  At the time, Astros were in the NL Central Division.  I saw a wild card game in 2001 but again, Astros were swept by Braves in 3 games.

I never thought there would be another World Series, but here it is.  I remember well the 2014 Sports Ilustrated cover and reading that article in a library in the Memorial Villages.  To think that it really happened.  And George Springer was MVP.  Pretty cool when predictions become reality.

I can understand how Cubs fans feel now.  It's good to be on top.  But we can't stay on the mountain top forever.  We'll make our way down.  

We'll always have L.A.

Wait Til Next Year! 

 Maybe we'll be like the Yankees or the Cardinals and multiple year winners!