Richard Hidalgo signs the third-richest contract in Astro history with a four-year $32 million deal with the club. The outfielder’s pact is less than teammate’s Jeff Bagwell’s $85 million (5 years) and Craig Biggio’s $33 million (4 years).
2001 – Craig Cullinan, the last surviving member of the four men who brought Major League Baseball to Houston, is honored at the annual Houston Baseball Dinner. Jeff Bagwell is also there to pick up his 2000 Astros Most Valuable Player Award.
The June 8-10 (Arlington) and June 15-17 (Houston) interleague games between the Astros and Rangers will be known as the Lone Star Series. It will be first time the two Texan teams have ever played one another during the regular season.
2000 – Astros sign first baseman Jeff Bagwell to a five-year, $83 million dollar deal, assuring he will stay with the Astros for most, if not all, of his major league career. In his first ten seasons in Houston, Bagwell has averaged 31.9 homers and 109.3 RBIs per year.
2000 – Six different Astros belt home runs and they’ll need all of them to outlast Pittsburgh, 11-10. Lance Berkman, Jeff Bagwell, Chris Truby, Moises Alou, Tim Bogar and Julio Lugo play long ball to build an 11-2 lead but no lead is safe at Enron Field. The Bucs storm back with eight runs in the last two frames before Octavio Dotel can coax the final out.
Enron Field officially opens with a 6-5 exhibition win over the A.L. Champion New York Yankees, paralleling the feat that occured when the Astrodome opened in 1965. Daryle Ward’s two-run homer caps a four-run eighth-inning rally to open up the Astros’ new home in style.
2000 – Two armed gunmen rob six Astros minor leaguers in a motel in Kissimmee, FL. One is apprehended at the scene while the other fled after jumping through a second-story window. One player suffers a bite to his neck.
1999 – Astros get the jump on Atlanta in Game One of the N.L.D.S. with a 6-1 victory. Tony Eusebio gives Houston an early lead with an RBI single off Greg Maddux. The Braves tie it but Daryle Ward takes Maddux deep for a 2-1 edge. Ken Caminiti’s three-run bomb in the ninth ices the game . Shane Reynolds gets the win.
1999 – Mike Hampton defeats the Phillies, 13-2, for his 20th win, joining Jose Lima as the team’s first 20-20 pair of aces. Houston coaxes eleven walks to go with just ten hits as they notch their tenth straight victory.
On August 30, 1999, At the Astrodome, Edgardo Alfonzo becomes the first player in the Mets’ 38-year history to go 6-for-6, scoring six times, and drives in five runs. The second baseman hits three homers, two singles, and a double for a team-record 16 total bases in New York’s 17-1 rout of Houston. becomes only the…
Enjoy our free trial and start listening to games, interviews and shows! Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, and Seaver!