Brian McTaggart - 100 Things Astros Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (World Series Edition)

To my late father, Patrick, the pride of Donegal

Thank you for always pushing me and believing in me.

To my late sister, Bridget

The world hasnt been as bright since you left.

To Lisa, Erin, Emily, and Amy

You are my driving force and my source of inspiration.

Contents

Foreword by Craig Biggio

When I went to big league spring training camp for the first time, I arrived in the clubhouse and asked the first guy I saw, Hey, wheres Yogi Berra? Yogi, who scouted me while I was at Seton Hall, was a coach for the Astros and the only person I knew. It turns out the man I was talking to was longtime equipment manager Dennis Liborio. He quickly put me in my place. He goes, Who the [bleep] are you? Welcome to the big leagues, right? Dennis became a close friend and confidant through the years after teaching me an early lesson about knowing my place.

When I reached the big leagues at 22 years old in 1988, I joined a team full of veterans like Nolan Ryan, Buddy Bell, Billy Doran, and Terry Puhl. They had a wealth of service time and knowledge, and I soaked up as much as I could. After games some of the players would sit around a cooler and drink a couple of beers while talking baseball, and Id sit nearby and listen without saying a word. They were good people and great baseball players. To have the opportunity to watch these guys play the game every day, respect their job, prepare like they did every dayday in and day outand then come to work every day with the intentions of winning baseball games and getting to the playoffs, that was huge for me. I didnt say much my first couple of years in the big leagues obviously, but by being quiet, my eyes and ears were open, and I learned a lot from those guys. The early years were the most beneficial for me because I had the opportunity to be around such classy people.

I didnt know anything about the Houston Astros until I got drafted by them in the first round in 1987. I didnt know a lot about the city or the town or the fans. I was born and raised on Long Island but soon found out what the Astros are all about. Its about playing the game the right way, playing the game every day. Its something I take a lot of pride in because its the only team I ever played for. Its the only team I ever wanted to play foronce I got here and got drafted by them. For me to be able to spend 22 years20 in the big leagues and two in the minor leaguesin one organization and one city, thats a pretty cool thing.

When the veteran players moved on, I was joined by guys like Jeff Bagwell, Ken Caminiti, and Luis Gonzalez, and we grew up together in the big leagues. The Astros Way was already here before meit was the Joe Morgans and Billy Doransand all we did was continue the way that youre supposed to play the game. To break in and have as many guys like that around me, it was great. To come up together in the 90s, to hang out together, and start winning and getting to the playoffs in 97, 98, and 99 with that group of guys, it was really special. We were the same team that lost a lot of games and the same team that won a lot of games together. In baseball youre together for eight months a year and you dont necessarily have to be friends. But we actually were friends on the field and off the field, and our families got together, which made it all the more gratifying. We did a lot of things together, and thats why it was so rewarding to do it with that bunch of guys. We were pretty much all a bunch of homegrown guys from the organization.

Before we knew it, Houston was becoming a baseball town. We were changing the culture. The Astros had a lot of success, but they didnt have a lot of sustained success and they had a lot of second-place finishes. When youre about to take a culture of fans from hoping to get to the playoffs to expecting to get to the playoffs every year, thats hard to do. That takes a lot of success and a lot of playing the game the right way. Youve got to have a good front office making the right moves and the right players on the field and the right coaching staff. To be able to change that culture, thats a pretty cool thing, and I take a lot of pride in that.

I never really wanted to play for any other organization. Sometimes the way the business goes, players have to move on, and sometimes its because of the player, and sometimes its because of the front office, but for us we were able to make it work here. To be able to get 3,000 hits with one teamwell, its a pretty small list of guys who have done it with one organization, and I was able to enjoy it with the fans along the way. The fans take ownership of it. From the beginning when I was a catcher and then transitioned to second base and then went to the outfield and came back to second base, we enjoyed the ride together. They were part of the journey along with me. When you talk about reaching the Hall of Fame, it was for my family, No. 1. And it was also for the fans to finally say, We have a guy in there. Nobody can take that away from us.

Thats why it was really special for me to be able to enjoy the Hall of Fame weekend with so many Astros fans. Standing at that podium and looking out at a bunch of Astros out there was amazing. There were 45,000 or 50,000 people out there, and 30,000 of them were Astros fans. I cant put into words the feeling I had looking out there. They said they were coming and they did. Thats kind of the relationship I had with the fans over 20 years. They respected and appreciated the way that I played the game, and I respected and appreciated them. I took great pride in playing the game the right way for the fans for 20 years.

Those same Astros fansalong with new and old fanswill enjoy 100 Things Astros Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die as Brian McTaggart is uniquely qualified to bring you the stories of many of the franchises greatest moments, events, and characters that are brought to life in this book.

Craig Biggio

National Baseball Hall of Fame, 2015

Introduction

The history of the Astros is about as rich as you can get for a team that has won one World Series. The list of characters and great players who have come through Houston is impressive, and the city changed the way sports would be watched forever when the Astrodome opened for the Astros in 1965. There have been playoff triumphs and much heartbreak. There have been Most Valuable Players, Rookies of the Year, and Cy Young winners. Many of the teams stories have been told throughout the years, but I thought it was time that the franchises greatest stories, characters, players, events, and games come together in one book. Thus, 100 Things Astros Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die was born.

The idea behind the book is taking 100 chapters and ranking them in order of importance. Chapter One was easy. Judge Roy Hofheinz built the Astrodome and spearheaded baseball coming to Houston. He got it all started, so he gets the book started as well. Players like Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Nolan Ryan were easy choices of high importance, but so were some key events as well. Biggio and Bagwell reaching the Hall of Fame, the Astros winning the 2017 World Series, and the 2005 team overcoming a terrible start to win the National League pennant ranked high as impactful moments in team history. Ranking the chapters became more difficult and less clear as the process went along, but you can easily flip to the ones that are most important to you and read them first.

I cant remember exactly when I went to my first Astros game, but it was sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s when my father took me to the Astrodome for the first time. I was in awe of the place. I still am. I feel like I grew up there. As the years went on, I attended more games and when I got my drivers license in 1986 I went all the time. Of course, the 1986 season was a memorable one, but Im sad to say I missed Mike Scotts no-hitter because it was a day game and I did have to go to school. Priorities.