In the 7th inning of the 9/26/12 last NL home game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bud Norris became the last pitcher to bat by the normal NL rules. He grounded out, 5-3, on the next pitch served beyond this photo.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, Minute Maid Park, Houston. Unless Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, or some other future czar of the sport wills it, the Houston Astros have now played their last game at home as a National League club. It happened in the evening of the aforementioned date listed at the start of this brief commemorative piece.
The honor of becoming the last batting pitcher at a Houston-based MLB game went rightfully to the hard struggling Bud Norris (6-13), who had not picked up a “W” since last May until Wednesday’s last chance at home arrived. Next season, of course, will see Houston moving from the NL Central to the AL West, and to the American League’s use of a designated hitter for the pitcher.
Numerous other “last man in a Houston-based NL game to” records licked in hard and sure.
In the 4th inning, Jose Altuve hit the last home-based NL home run, a solo shot to left center. At the same moment, Cardinals comeback kid, Chris Carpenter (0-1), became the last pitcher to give up a home run in Houston during an NL game. Altuve’s homer was immediately followed by Scott Moore banging out the Astros last home-based double and extra base hit in home game history and before the inning was done, Justin Maxwell had tallied the last home-based run in the club’s NL history when he scored on a single to right by Brett Wallace, who simultaneously picked up the last home-cooked NL RBI in franchise history.
Milo Hamilton
Milo Hamilton wrapped up a 69 season career in sports broadcasting on Wednesday night too. HOLY TOLEDO! – It was Milo’s last regular season game after 28 years behind the mike for the Houston Astros in a baseball career that saw his big league record starting out with the St. Louis Browns in 1953, then expanding to St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, the Atlanta Braves, and the Pittsburgh Pirates before making Houston his last long stop. – We shall miss you, Milo, and thanks too for being the best MC in the history of the Houston sports and charity banquet circuit. If everyone could project and articulate speech as you do so well, listening to public talks would certainly be easier and far more pleasant. Milo Hamilton was inducted into the broadcasting wing of the Hall of Fame as a 1992 Ford Frick winner.
It was many other quirky first records, but those were the big ones. As a club, it was also the last win at home for Houston as a National League club. Their 2-0 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals put a formal end to Houston’s 90-year association with the National League, vis-a-vis, as a farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals from about 1922 through 1958 and by contract with the Chicago Cubs from 1958 through 1961,
After their long minor league trail concluded, Houston then began a 51-season association with the National League as a full member and rival of the now departing forever foes, the Cardinals and the Cubs.
Executive Editor Doug Miller of KHOU-TV, Channel 11, came to see me about noon on Wednesday to get my take on the flap over Houston’s departure to the American League.. To me it’s as simple as the fact that many Houstonians have a bond to the National League that has been soaking in for all of those 90 years we were connected through our long history as an NL farm club and full member. All of our heroes went to the NL; our everyday friends and enemies resided there; we were family.
Then Commissioner Bud Selig told us through the conditions he placed upon new owner Jim Crane that we had no choice but to move to the American League as a condition for gaining MLB’s approval of the McLane to Crane Group sale of the club in 2011. And so, it went down, with a little price bargaining.
“Houstonians don’t like being told what to du,” I said to Mr. Miller. I could have added: “We especially don’t like being told to leave our “family” – the National League – and go live with those strangers down the street – the American League.
Bonds are not simply black and white words on legal size paper. They are emotional connections between one heart and another – and sometimes even to adversarial forces that work into the fabric of the same family script over time.
Over time, the National League became out family. Then that bond was torn away. And some of us still bleed from the rip.
Season ticket holder Mike McCroskey and Astros third base coach Dave Clark use the 7th inning to bid each other goodbye to the idea of National League home games in Houston.
The Astros won their last home NL game by 2-0 over the Cardinals, but the smoke from the post-game fireworks left a symbolic cloud of disappointment hanging over the second straight 100 plus loss season in the NLC cellar.
Steve Sparks (L) and Greg Lucas (R) interviewed Mighty Casey of Mudville prior to his club’s first game loss to Beeville by a score of 4-2 on Wednesday. (Casey refused to talk with reporters post-game.) Any opinions expressed by Casey do not reflect the views of his interviewers – or any other undeclared human soul.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville – mighty Casey has struck out.
Tags: Last NL Game in Houston
The Pecan Park Eagle 
September 28, 2012 at 1:52 pm |
I think the climb back to contention will be tougher than most realize with this move. The Rangers now have every marketing advantage and have already successfully taken over Central Texas. While rebuilding was certainly in order, nobody has ever razed their franchise to the ground in an attempt to get there. Prior rebuilds almost always kept a few good players for fan consistency.
The Astros are hoping they’ll find quality out of farm club quantity while bringing aboard a rookie manager and likely inexpereienced coaches. I don’t know if they have no money for real talent or if they just refuse to spend it.
But they risk becoming penny stocks in the baseball world with no talent, no market and an indifferent/angry fan base.
All of that makes the “Last NL Game” a bittersweet affair. It was great to see Bud Norris break his long drought and get a final win but it feels like a last kiss before going to the gallows.
September 28, 2012 at 2:16 pm |
I certainly have not seen a marketing plan or marketing pitch of any kind to try to win over the fan base. Something is rotten in the state of …
September 28, 2012 at 2:17 pm |
Well, I did like the 50 year historical retrospectives embraced for the season, but they also had a bittersweet quality.
September 28, 2012 at 3:23 pm |
Bill’s description of the last events of the last home game as a National League franchise and the fact we finished in last place in our division should put us on notice that we many find ourselves in last place in the American League West Division at the end of the 2013 campaign.
And, the idea of overtaking the Angels and Rangers will be no easy feat; we more than likely will be playing for a wild card berth in post season play for several seasons to come.
I wonder how many sponsors in the Houston area will be interested in advertising during the west coast swings on week nights?
Go Astros!!!!! But, how long will they be Astros?
One wonders.