The reawakening of the Houston Baseball Dinner by Allen Russell and the Houston Athletic Committee continued with another dinner in 1988. Some familiar baseball stars again made appearances as speakers and honorees, but gone were the old name assignments to these awards in honor of people like Dickie Kerr, Eddie Dyer, Johnny Keane, Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, Bill Klem, Jim Umbricht and Jimmy Delmar. The new awards were fewer and more descriptive.
Among the more limited news coverages available to us from out-of-Houston digital news services, we could find none to confirm that the Westin Galleria and $25.00 a plate prices had been carried forth from 1987 to 1988, but we are fairly sure that this information can be confirmed with a manual search of the Houston papers at the downtown Houston Library. There was also no mention of who served as Master of Ceremonies for 1988.
Here’s how the Galveston Daily News reported the 1988 Houston Baseball Dinner through an Associated Press report on the following day of Wednesday, February 10, 1988:
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ASTROS MANAGER HAL LANIER HOPING THAT 1987 WAS A RECOVERABLE SLIP FROM THE CLUB’S TRUE POTENTIAL.
Lanier: ’87 Flop a Fluke
Houston (AP) – Houston Manager Hal Lanier says the 1987 Houston Astros were imposters and he expects a different lineup in 1988.
“I don’t think you saw the true Astros last season,” Lanier said. “We are going to have to score more runs than we did last year to get back in the race.”
The Astros won the National League’s Western Division title in Lanier’s rookie season 1988, but slipped to third place last season.
“As you compare ur team last year with 1986, the two the two differences you see are inconsistency and fewer runs scored.”
Despite last year’s downturn, Lanier thinks the experience obtained by young ballplayers will help this year’s rebound.
“I think we added something when Gerald Young came in and showed he could play in the outfield,” Lanier said. “I think he will go great with (Billy) Hatcher and (Bill) Doran at the start of our lineup.”
JOAQUIN ANDUJAR: “YOU CAN SUM UP BASEBALL IN TWO WORDS – AND THOSE TWO WORDS ARE – ‘YOU NEVER KNOW!’ “
The Astros also obtained free agent starter Joaquin Andujar and shortstop Rafael Rameriz from the Atlanta Braves.
Ken Caminiti also jumped from the minors to the starting third base job.
Lanier was among the guests at the annual Houston Baseball Dinner Tuesday night (Feb. 09, 1988), which included Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan and Boston’s Roger Clemens.
The Astros still are trying to find backup catching help for Alan Ashby, who had one of his best seasons in 1987.
“Ashby needs an occasional day of and last year missed the final month of the season with a dislocated finger,” Lanier said. “Alan did a good job, but we want to give him some days off and last year that was tough to do,” Lanier said.
Lanier traced the Astros’ late season fizzle to Ashby’s injury.
“When Alan dislocated his finger, we didn’t have anyone to replace him,” Lanier said. “We still had a chance to win the division, but from that point, I think that’s when we started going downhill.”
The (1987) Astros had an 11-26 record over their final 37 games.
NOLAN RYAN
(Nolan) Ryan, who led the major leagues with 270 strikeouts last season and tied for the lead with a 2.76 earned run average, was honored for his outstanding 20-year career.
ROGER CLEMENS
(Roger) Clemens was honored for winning back-to-back American League Cy Young awards.
BILL DORAN
(Bill) Doran received the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America award as the Astros’ Most Valuable Player award of 1987.
GENE ELSTON
Gene Elston, fired as the Astros’ broadcaster prior to the 1987 season, received the BBWAA award for long and meritorious service to baseball.
San Jacinto Junior College Coach Wayne Graham was honored for leading his team to three consecutive national titles.
~ Associated Press, Galveston Daily News, Wednesday, February 10, 1988, Page 17.
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The Pecan Park Eagle 
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