1987 – Nolan Ryan belts his second career home run as he coasts to a 12-3 win over Atlanta. It’s a three-run shot off Charlie Puleo and caps a 10-0 lead. Kevin Bass also homers in a three-hit effort.
1987 – Red-hot Billy Hatcher marks his ninth consecutive multi-hit game and 11th in the 14 games he’s played.. His 28th hit of the season (a .475 average) keys a four-run ninth-inning comeback that shocks Atlanta, 7-6. His hitting streak would end at 16 games.
1987 – Mike Scott delivers a one-hit, ten-strikeout shutout in Los Angeles, 4-0. A single by Mariano Duncan in the third is the lone blemish. Billy Hatcher and Glenn Davis pace the offense. Each had a home run and two RBIs.
On April 8, 1987, the Los Angeles Dodgers fire vice-president Al Campanis after he made racial remarks on national TV two days earlier. Campanis suggested that blacks lacked the “necessities” to become managers…
1987 – Jose Cruz homers off the Dodgers’ Orel Hershiser to lead the defending N.L. West champion Astros to a 4-3 season-opening triumph. Alan Ashby contributes a two-run single. Dave Smith pitches the last two innings to seal the win for Mike Scott.
1987 – After an 0-for-8 start and three errors in the field, shortstop Dickie Thon walks out of training camp. Although Thon is able to successfully return to baseball, it’s the beginning of the end of his time in Houston. Blurred vision is cited as the reason for his walkout.
1987 – Reliever Charley Kerfeld declares he will buy up 3,000 tickets per game to give away to charity causes. Without a discount, which the Astros didn’t discuss, the cost for the seats would total as much as $1.6 million dollars. Unable to afford that on a $110,000 salary, Kerfeld backs down from the offer.
1987 – The owner of a Houston sports bar begins a campaign to raise $70,000 for Astros slugger Glenn Davis. That’s what separates the Astros and Davis on a one-year contract, according to his agent Gerry Hunsicker. The two sides would eventually agree to meet roughly halfway. Davis is humbled by the public’s show of support but declines taking their money.
1986 – Astros announce the firing of Gene Elston, play-by-play voice of the ballclub since 1962. Outcry from fans and the Houston media are swift but Elston moves on to do work for CBS Radio and write books. 20 years later, he receives the Ford C. Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1986 – Mike Scott wins the N.L. Cy Young Award. Scott wins 18 games and leads the league in ERA (2.22) and strikeouts (306). Fernando Valenzuela of Los Angeles finishes second with the other nine of the 24 first-place votes.
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