The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston big league baseball began in 1962 as the Colt .45s.

Now that the door is closed on a team mascot name change in conjunction with Houston’s 2013 move to the American League, the “Astros” will be turning their attention to the less difficult task of designing a new color scheme and uniform style for the occasion. I’d say the odds on the “Astros” changing nothing about the uniforms for 2013 is about as remote as it was that they would change their name from that beloved space-rock-icon that so many season ticket holders apparently are so attached to keeping forever.

The only questions are: What are we going to ride as team’s New colors? And how about the design? Will the club go for something traditional or will they return to the marmalade fruit mix color scheme that we once experienced during the rainbow days? (All this discussion of style is not a bypass on the more important question: Will the team be going all out to make sure that the players who put on whatever uniforms provided are capable of getting better and winning it all?)

All the photos shown here today are available through the unceasing energy and passion of Astros Authentication Director Mike Acosta. Mike brought these to show the audience that attended our January 2012 SABR meeting. They are a literal parade of almost everything we have done in the past to garb our baseball warriors. The only iconic pattern missing prior to the current MMP uniform scheme is the rainbow-stripe sleeve uni that followed on the heels of the full rainbow garb. Mike showed that one too. I was just asleep at the wheel with my camera when he did.

As most know, that first one up top is the 1962-1964 Colt .45 style that Judge Hofheinz put into play without working out the legalities of using that name with the Colt .45 gun company. When that company began to press for revenue sharing on souvenir sales, the Judge had an easier solution in mind. He changed the name to “Astros,”

Aren’t we lucky?

At any rate, the questions are now settled as to who they are and moved over to how are they are going to dress out as a space-theme team playing on the apparent site of a 19th century railroad station that is located just two or three blocks away from Buffalo Bayou?

I like the simplicity of the Colt .45 uniform, plus the orange major color and the navy blue trim and cap color. An adaptation of the orange and navy colors with a new star logo that connected the club better to its historic setting at Minute Maid Park would work for me. Heck, I wouldn’t mind a return to the old shooting star uniform front. That’s enough antiquity patina for me.

From the 1960s: My all-time favorite shooting star.

The psychedelic 1970s saw the introduction of the famous/infamous rainbow jerseys that even today are the favorites of many fans. Amazingly, the marketplace of the 1970s had not yet caught up with the idea that actual replica jerseys could be a popular and pricey sales item. All the fans could get back then were tee shirt versions of the rainbow. Now they are available as one of the most expensive replica jerseys for sale anywhere.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Skies Are Blue.

You may be one of those people who would love to see the Astros return to the land of the rainbow to show their fighting colors. If you are, you also may want to speak up soon. Who knows? Maybe someone will listen.

The only other historical model I photographed from the Mike Acosta-Houston Astros Collection was that bland, almost colorless jersey that the club wore in the 1990s during their last few seasons at the Astrodome. (See the next and final photo.)

Plain Jane Could Not Explain - Why She Had Astros on the Brain.

That’s it. My only real point today is that I think the club will be researching and developing a “new look” for their 2013 American League debut and that this might be the best or only time for fans to organize and transmit to the club their own preferences.

For some fans, it doesn’t matter what they wear. It does matter to all of us how they play. If the Astros don’t commit to winning and actually take a World Series or two in the next decade or so, it isn’t going to matter much they wear, anyway.

One more thing: simplify the duds: whites for home; grey for the road. And no pinstripes. Pinstripes on any club besides the Yankees look like kid pajamas to me.

What do you think? And beyond a winning team, what do you want to see in the club’s public uniform look?