Shout out to Marvin and Mrs Marvin for some very good bull. Can't wait to wear this beauty this season!

15-1.

Astros what you doing? 😂 pic.twitter.com/C3FSVk9fPA

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) March 26, 2023

Here's hoping we don't suffer from the 10 run curse again this year.

23-1 now. That's what you get for throwing at us.

In an unexpected twist, I just ripped a RBI single to make it 24-1.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 26, 2023

The Cardinals can't get anyone out, so Dirden came back up in this inning and hit a single up the middle.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 26, 2023

Ken Griffey Jr. is 53 years old and hasn't played in MLB in over a decade 😳 pic.twitter.com/3L3M79syrx

— ESPN (@espn) March 26, 2023

Since we are edging ever closer to opening day, just wanted to let everyone know I already have the Season thread post in the works and will post it probably Tues. or Wed.

Cannot WAIT to defend our title this season!!

Last year I did it two days before, on 4/5 and we started against the Angel 4/7

All I do is Nguyen said:

---

Since we are edging ever closer to opening day, just wanted to let everyone know I already have the Season thread post in the works and will post it probably Tues. or Wed.

Cannot WAIT to defend our title this season!!

---

Congruent, I have been working on the 2023 Joey Gallo thread for 5 months.

Farmer1906 said:

---

All I do is Nguyen said:

---

Last year I did it two days before, on 4/5 and we started against the Angel 4/7

---

Okay. I trust you.

---

FOUR DAYS until Opening Day and we're down to #4 on the jersey countdown. Home of quite possibly the most popular former Astro of all time. Only four guys wore the jersey before 1983, and none of them in the 1970s at all which seems really odd. After that it, well it really made the rounds with some rather forgettable names of yester-year.



There was John Mizerock (1983, 1985-1986) who was from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and whom the Astros took in the first round of the 1979 draft. Part of the Astros 15-year plan to take away Alan Ashby's job, he lasted just 92 games in Houston and hit .186, along with setting the franchise record with 3 passed balls in 1 game.

Dale Berra wore it briefly in 1987. Dale was famous for three things. Being Yogi's son, enjoying cocaine as both a participant and a dealer, and being part of the most bizarre double play in MLB history. Yankees were playing the White Sox. Berra was on first, Bobby Meacham was on second and Rickey Henderson hit a ball into deep left-center. Meacham fell down running second to third but both runners were waved home. Ozzie Guillen threw the relay home to Carlton Fisk who tagged both guys out at the plate. If you haven't seen it before, it's a must watch.



Biggio wore #4 briefly when he came up in 1988, followed by two great years of the Steve Lombardozzi show. Then came the era of Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes. Tuffy was a third round pick in the 1986 draft, and played 92 games in Houston over parts of three seasons, hitting .224 with 2 home runs. He wound up with the Cubs, and on Opening Day 1994, he became the crappiest player ever to hit three home runs in a game. No lie, on opening day he weas 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored, 3 homers, and 3 RBIs. And because they are the Cubs, they lost that game. Tuffy wound up in Japan and in 2001 he tied Sadaharu Oh's record for most home runs in a season at 55. The opposing teams in the league intentionally walked him every time he came up for the rest of the season, proving definitively, that Japanese baseball players were a bunch of petty a-holes 20 years ago.

I'm guessing this was not a hit.

After Tuffy left, the number cycled through Andy Stankiewicz, Dave Hajek, Pat Listach, Tony Pena, Mitch Melusky, and finally came to Julio Lugo. Julio shined as a rookie in 2000 with a .283 batting average and 22 steals. He struck out a whole lot without having much power behind it, but that wasn't his real problem. In late April of 2003 he was arrested outside MInute Maid for assaulting his wife. Uncle Drayton, a convicted man of faith, did not wait around, he had Lugo designated for assignment and released. His wife later testified that he didn't mean to hurt her, although she did divorce him. He went on to play 12 years in the league, but sadly passed away at age 45 in 2021 of a heart attack.

Eric Bruntlett was wearing #4 the time he and Adam Everett turned the best double player in NLCS history, but we're really just burying the lead here aren't we?



From 2014 to 2020, #4 was worn by George Springer, the centerfielder this franchise had been waiting for since the earliest days of Cesar Cedeno. The pride and joy of UConn, George was the Astros' #1 pick in 2011 at a time where he probably could have started the next day, cuz damn did that team suck. In 2013 he split time between AA Corpus and AAA Ok. City and put together a monster season - 37 HR, 108 RBI, 45 SB and a .303 batting average. He started 2014 in Ok City and was hitting .353 when the Astros decided to bring him up.

He debuted with the big club on April 16, 2014, going 1 or 5 with a walk and a run scored. He hit his first home run on May 20 and suddenly took off, hitting 20 homers in 78 games with 51 RBi and 45 runs scored. Then he got hurt, which unfortunately became too much of his calling card, and missed the rest of the year.

In 2015, he missed a lot of time with injuries, but also shoved one right up the asses of the Texas Rangers, robbing one of their guys I've never heard of of a grand slam in extra innings, a game the Astros wound up winning 6-4 in 14 innings. And yes, that is Tony SIpp pitching.



That '15 bunch was special, laying the foundation for everything that has come since. George had his first post-season home run in the loss the Royals in the ALDS.

In 2016, we saw what a full season of George could be, and jeez was it gorgeous. 162 games played, 116 runs scored, 63 extra-bse hits, 82 RBI, 88 walks. In 2017, he cut his strikeouts down by 67 (178 to 111, scored 112 runs, hit 34 homers, drove in 85, and was the fire at the start of so many Astro rallies. He led off the season with a home run. He moved from right field to center field and made his first All-Star team. He shredded the Red Sox pitching, hitting .474 with a 1.180 OPS, three extra-base hits and 4 runs scored in the ALDS.
He disappeared in the ALCS and the early part of the World Series, but found his swing after the shaky start.

By the time the dust had settled, George had tied the record held by Reggie Jackson and Chase Utley by hitting 5 World Series home runs, including 1 in each of the final 4 games. He set records for 8 extra-base hits and 29 total bases. his home run early in Game 7 that shut those stupid Dodger fans up is a moment you'll never forget.



He led off 2018 with another leadoff home run, the only MLB to do that two years in a row. At first the league wasn't going to count it because they said it was against a Triple A team, but then they realized it was actually the Rangers and they counted it. George became the first Astro to have 6 hits in a 9-inning game in 2018. He made the All-Star team again and he and Breggy hit back to back homers in the win. He missed 20 games hurt, but bounced back in 2019 despite more injuries to hit a career-high 39 homers and 96 RBI in just 122 games. He finished 7th for MVP that year. He also made it three straight years opening the season with a homer.

He was sensational in the post-season in 2018 - hitting .429 vs. Cleveland with 3 homers and .381 vs. Boston. In the 2019 WS, he hit 2.96 with 2 more homers, and in the 2020 ALDS vs. Oakland he hit .389 with 2 more. George has played in 65 career post-season games and has 19 home runs. That's a 47-homer pace.

But all good things ... right guys? On January 23, 2021, George signed a 6-year, $150 million contract with the Blue Jays. He missed half the season in 2021, but had a decent 2022 with 25 HR in 133 games, helping the Blue Jays to the playoffs.

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

If you recall you also got reamed for it and many didn't post until opening day…

I vote for opening day

---

Oh I recall starting A thread based off of how 2021 was started and getting reamed for it, absolutely. I asked staff to delete it, they did, then y'all started bickering like a bunch of women over who and how to start it so I said "**** it " and followed 2020s example and that was what we got and kept.

It was also a pretty damn awesome thread, and I plan on making this next one even better.

Oh and A LOT of people posted on the thread the first day, INCLUDING YOU, so it's a good thing I will do what I want and DGAF about haters

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

If you recall you also got reamed for it and many didn't post until opening day…

I vote for opening day

---

Or do it like last year and we have a free for all ripping Nguyen for a couple of days.

---

I mean if we really want to be like last year a wildcard will do it without asking days before it should have

---

Hell worked for us last year, we won a World Series! If it means another title IDC who starts it

All I do is Nguyen said:

---

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

If you recall you also got reamed for it and many didn't post until opening day…

I vote for opening day

---

Or do it like last year and we have a free for all ripping Nguyen for a couple of days.

---

I mean if we really want to be like last year a wildcard will do it without asking days before it should have

---

Hell worked for us last year, we won a World Series! If it means another title IDC who starts it

---

So to make everyone happy, just don't tell anyone when you're gonna start it and do it when no one is expecting it.

EastCoastAgNc said:

---

All I do is Nguyen said:

---

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

If you recall you also got reamed for it and many didn't post until opening day…

I vote for opening day

---

Or do it like last year and we have a free for all ripping Nguyen for a couple of days.

---

I mean if we really want to be like last year a wildcard will do it without asking days before it should have

---

Hell worked for us last year, we won a World Series! If it means another title IDC who starts it

---

So to make everyone happy, just don't tell anyone when you're gonna start it and do it when no one is expecting it.

---

I use the same strategy for sex.

EastCoastAgNc said:

---

Multi-sport athletes 💪

Hot Mic | @EstrellaJalisco pic.twitter.com/DyWmYxgFez

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 26, 2023

---

Brantley just seems like the coolest mother***er to ever don an Astros uni.