1999 Houston Astros
National League Central Champions
Final Astros regular season game (in the Astrodome) on October 3, 1999
Final Astros regular season game (in the Astrodome) on October 3, 1999
LeagueNational League
DivisionCentral
BallparkAstrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record97–65 (.599)
Divisional place1st
OwnersDrayton McLane, Jr.
General managersGerry Hunsicker
ManagersLarry Dierker
TelevisionKNWS-TV
Fox Sports Southwest
(Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies)
RadioKTRH
(Milo Hamilton, Alan Ashby)
KXYZ
(Francisco Ernesto Ruiz, Alex Treviño)
Seasons

The 1999 Houston Astros season was the 38th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in Houston, Texas. The Astros won their third consecutive National League Central title on the final day of playing regular season games in the Astrodome on October 3. This was the first time they had made the postseason in three straight seasons; they would not do so again until 2019. It was the 35th and final season playing in the Astrodome as their home ballpark.[1]

Offseason

  • November 17, 1998: Ken Caminiti was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[2]
  • January 19, 1999: Ryan Thompson was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[3]
  • January 21, 1999: Alex Diaz was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[4]

Regular season

New stadium

Exterior of Minute Maid Park

In 1999, the Astros played their final season in the Astrodome as their new stadium was being prepared for play to begin in the 2000 season. The ballpark was first named as Enron Field on April 9, 1999, with naming rights sold to the Houston energy and financial trading company in a 30-year, $100 million deal. Astros management faced a public relations nightmare when the energy corporation went bankrupt in the midst of one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history in 2001, and they bought back the remainder of Enron's thirty years of naming rights for $2.1 million, renaming the ballpark as Astros Field on February 7, 2002. The field was unofficially known as "The Field Formerly Known As Enron" by fans and critics alike, in wake of the Enron scandal. On June 5, 2002, Houston-based Minute Maid, the fruit-juice subsidiary of Coca-Cola, acquired the naming rights to the stadium for 28 years at a price exceeding $100 million.

Based on its downtown location next to the old Union Station buildings, one of the suggested names (and nicknames) is the Ballpark at Union Station, or the BUS. During its days as Enron Field, it was also dubbed "Ten-Run" or "Home Run" Field due to its cozy left-field dimensions. In keeping with this theme while paying homage to its current sponsor, the nickname "The Juice Box" is colloquially used today.

Overview

On April 21, Jeff Bagwell hit three home runs in a 10–3 win against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, his second career three-home run game. The second home run allowed him to surpass Jimmy Wynn as the Astros' all-time home run leader at 224 and he tied a career-high in one game with six runs batted in (RBI).[5] He produced another three-home run game on June 9 against the Chicago White Sox. He was also a grand slam short of hitting for the "home run cycle," with a solo home run, a three-run home run, and a two-run home run, respectively.[6] The two three-home run games made him the only player to accomplish this feat at two different stadiums in Chicago in the same season.[7]

On August 20, Bagwell walked a major-league record six times in a 16-inning game against the Florida Marlins.[8][9]

Season standings

NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 9765 0.599 — 50–32 47–33
Cincinnati Reds 9667 0.589 1½ 45–37 51–30
Pittsburgh Pirates 7883 0.484 18½ 45–36 33–47
St. Louis Cardinals 7586 0.466 21½ 38–42 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 7487 0.460 22½ 32–48 42–39
Chicago Cubs 6795 0.414 30 34–47 33–48

Record vs. opponents

1999 National League record

Source: NL Standings Head-to-Head
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona —4–57–21–86–78–15–47–65–46–37–28–15–211–29–34–47–8
Atlanta 5–4—2–58–15–49–46–15–45–29–49–38–56–35–44–58–19–9
Chicago 2–75–2—5–84–56–33–92–76–62–53–62–77–66–31–77–56–9
Cincinnati 8–11–88–5—7–26–19–44–36–64–35–56–37–66–34–58–47-8
Colorado 7–64–55–42–7—5–42–68–56–36–34–55–42–74–94–94–54–8
Florida 1–84–93–61–64–5—2–77–25–48–43–102–113–43–64–53–411–7
Houston 4–51–69–34–96–27-2—6–38–57–24–56–15–78–15–45–712–3
Los Angeles 6–74–57–23–45–82–73–6—7–25–44–46–33–63–98–53–68–7
Milwaukee 4–52–56–66–63–64–55–82–7—5–42–55–48–43–54–57–68–6
Montreal 3–64–95–23–43–64–82–74–54–5—5–86–63–65–34–55–48–10
New York 2–73–96–35–55–410–35–44–45–28–5—6–67–27–27–25–212–6
Philadelphia 1-85–87–23–64–511–21–63–64–56–66–6—3–46–32–64–511–7
Pittsburgh 2–53–66–76–77–24–37–56–34–86–32–74–3—3–64–57–57–8
San Diego 2–114–53–63–69–46–31–89–35–33–52–73–66–3—5–72–711–4
San Francisco 3–95–47–15–49–45–44–55–85–45–42–76–25–47–5—6–37–8
St. Louis 4–41–85–74–85–44–37–56–36–74–52–55–45–77–23–6—7–8

Notable transactions

Roster

1999 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 Tony Eusebio 103 323 88 .272 4 33
1B Jeff Bagwell 162 562 171 .304 42 126
2B Craig Biggio 160 639 188 .294 16 73
SS Tim Bogar 106 309 74 .239 4 31
3B Ken Caminiti 78 273 78 .286 13 56
LF Richard Hidalgo 108 383 87 .227 15 56
CF Carl Everett 123 464 151 .325 25 108
RF Derek Bell 128 509 120 .236 12 66

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
Bill Spiers 127 393 113 .288 4 39
Ricky Gutiérrez 85 268 70 .261 1 25
Paul Bako 73 215 55 .256 2 17
Russ Johnson 83 156 44 .282 5 23
Daryle Ward 64 150 41 .273 8 30
Matt Mieske 54 109 31 .284 5 22
Lance Berkman 34 93 22 .237 4 15
Glen Barker 81 73 21 .288 1 11
Stan Javier 20 64 21 .328 0 4
Alex Diaz 30 50 11 .220 1 7
Jack Howell 37 33 7 .212 1 1
Mitch Meluskey 10 33 7 .212 1 3
Randy Knorr 13 30 5 .167 0 0
Ryan Thompson 12 20 4 .200 1 5
Carlos Hernández 16 14 2 .143 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
Mike Hampton 35 246.1 22 4 3.58 177
José Lima 34 239.0 21 10 2.90 187
Shane Reynolds 34 231.2 16 14 3.85 197
Chris Holt 32 164.0 5 13 4.66 115
Sean Bergman 19 99.0 4 6 5.36 38

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
Scott Elarton 42 124.0 9 5 3.48 121
Wade Miller 5 10.1 0 1 9.58 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
Billy Wagner 66 4 1 39 1.57 124
Jay Powell 67 5 4 4 4.32 77
Brian Williams 50 2 1 0 4.41 53
Trever Miller 47 3 2 1 5.07 37
Doug Henry 35 2 3 2 4.65 36
José Cabrera 26 4 0 0 2.15 28
Jeff McCurry 5 0 1 0 15.75 3
Joe Slusarski 3 0 0 0 0.00 3

National League Divisional Playoffs

Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros

Atlanta wins series, 3-1

GameScoreDate
1Houston 6, Atlanta 1October 5
2Atlanta 5, Houston 1October 6
3Atlanta 5, Houston 3 (12 innings)October 8
4Atlanta 7, Houston 5October 9

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA New Orleans Zephyrs Pacific Coast League Tony Peña
AA Jackson Generals Texas League Jim Pankovits
A Kissimmee Cobras Florida State League Manny Acta
A Michigan Battle Cats Midwest League Al Pedrique
A-Short Season Auburn Doubledays New York–Penn League Lyle Yates
Rookie Martinsville Astros Appalachian League Brad Wellman

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Martinsville

References

  1. ↑ "October 3, 1999: Astros clinch third consecutive NL Central title in Astrodome's last regular-season game – Society for American Baseball Research".
  2. ↑ Ken Caminiti at Baseball-Reference
  3. ↑ Ryan Thompson at Baseball-Reference
  4. 1 2 Alex Diaz at Baseball-Reference
  5. ↑ "Bagwell is at his best with three homers". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 22, 1999. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Baseball time in Arlington: The penultimate killing of the year". Bbtia.com. September 28, 2011. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  7. ↑ Kamka, Chris (April 12, 2015). "Thomas, Bagwell share 2005 World Series connection". Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  8. ↑ de Jesús Ortíz, José (November 26, 2002). "Bagwell turns to weight room to regain shoulder strength". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Jeff Bagwell 1999 batting game log". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  10. ↑ George Williams at Baseball-Reference
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