All-Time Astros Team

Houston spent their first three years as the Colt 45s. They came in under expansion along with the New York Mets in 1962. Although they have made the postseason 9 times, they have yet to take a World Series crown. In their only trip to the Fall Classic, the Astros were swept by the White Sox. Here's our list of all-time Astros including some suprises.

C - Craig Biggio
1B - Jeff Bagwell
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Dickie Thon
3B - Doug Rader
OF - Lance Berkman
OF - Jose Cruz
OF - Cesar Cedeno
SP - J.R. Richard
SP - Roy Oswalt
CL - Billy Wagner

A couple of curve balls to this list starting with Biggio at catcher. He played over 400 games at the position which is good enough for us. Pitching has been fairly strong for this team and we left a HOF pitcher (Nolan Ryan) and a Cy Young winner (Mike Scott) off the list. Oswalt is a multiple 20 game winner and 2nd all time in team wins. His .636 winning percentage is also quite impressive. Although Ryan is a HOF pitcher, his best years were with the California Angels and Texas Rangers. He did win two ERA titles with Houston. Our selection of J.R. Richard is one of the few in which we factored in potential. Richard took a while to develop, but once he did, he was a force to be reckoned with. A tremendously feared pitcher during the early 80s, Richard put together 4 straight seasons of at least 18 wins. He also topped 300 strikeouts twice during that span, and seemed poised to continue dominating the league. A stroke derailed his career or he may have had a staggering career.

Hall of Fame Debate - Jeff Bagwell

This week results will be announced for the Hall Of Fame. Jeff Bagwell is on the ballot for the first time. Does he get in? There has been speculation of steroids but nothing documented. In fact, he's failed no tests (I know they didn't test when he played) and he's made no lists of steroids users. I didn't read Canseco's books, but I haven't heard him accuse Bagwell either. I say that because Jose's been pretty accurate.

With that in mind, I put Bagwell in....On the first ballot. He has the stats. 449 HR's, 1529 RBI,1517 runs,.540 slugging %, .948 OPS. In only 15 years of playing! He also had a .297 lifetime ave. His career was cut short by arthiritis, in fact he couldn't hardly play his last year, appearing in only 39 games. He DH in the series that year, his only WS, going 1 for 8.

So my guess is he goes in first ballot. I also want to add that Roberto Alomar should get in this year also. Writers made him wait a year for spitting on an umpire and rightfully so.