1972 Houston Astros season

The 1972 Houston Astros season was the 11th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their eighth as the Astros, 11th in the National League (NL), fourth in the NL West division, and eighth at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a 79–83 record, tied for fourth place, and 11 games behind the division-champion San Francisco Giants.

1972 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	84–69 (.549)
Divisional place	2nd—tied
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Harry Walker: 67–54 Salty Parker: 1–0 Leo Durocher: 16–15
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe)
← 1971 Seasons 1973 →

The first players' strike in league history occurred from April 1–13, which resulted in nine games being cancelled for Houston. On April 15, Don Wilson made his second Opening Day start for the Astros, who hosted San Francisco, but were shut out, 5–0.

Three managers led the club for the 1972 season: Harry Walker, Salty Parker for one game on an interim basis, and Leo Durocher, who was installed as Walker's permanent replacement. Each represented the fourth, fifth and sixth managers for Houston, with Walker having been the longest-serving (708 games) in franchise history at the time. The Astros' first round draft pick in the amateur draft was outfielder Steve Englishbey, at ninth overall. They also selected Jim Crawford in the 14th round.

Center fielder César Cedeño and first baseman Lee May represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game. It was the first career selection for Cedeño and third for May. On August 2, Cedeño became the first player in franchise history to hit for the cycle, leading a 10–1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at The Astrodome. This was the first of two cycles that Cedeño hit as a member of the Astros. He also became the second major leaguer to produce a 20–50 season, following Lou Brock in 1967.

The Astros concluded the season with a record of 84–69—their first-ever winning season to also set the franchise record for wins—in second place in the NL West, 10+1⁄2 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning Reds, and just a percentage point ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It also represented the highest positional finish and fewest games back of first place for the Astros at the time. The next time the Astros finished as high as second place was in 1979, which was also when they set their next club record for wins.

Following the season, Cedeño (first selection) and Doug Rader (third) each earned Gold Glove Awards. This was the first time the Astros had more than one Gold Glove Award winner in the same season.

Offseason

• November 29, 1971: Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo, and Denis Menke were traded by the Astros to the Cincinnati Reds for Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart.^[1]
• December 2, 1971: John Mayberry and Dave Grangaard (minors) were traded by the Astros to the Kansas City Royals for Jim York and Lance Clemons.^[2]

Regular season

Summary

The Philadelphia Phillies on June 6 hosted a "Turn It Around" Night where the theme was doing everything backward, included announcing the lineup cards from bottom to top and holding the seventh-inning stretch in the third inning. Astros pitcher Dave Roberts homered twice to promote his own effort as Houston won, 4–3.^[3]

With Steve Carlton on the mound for Philadelphia on June 16, the game remained scoreless through extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Jimmy Wynn connected for a walk-off home run to give the Astros a 1–0 victory.^[4]

On June 18, pitcher Jerry Reuss tossed a 10–0 shutout over the Phillies, with the only hit allowed a ninth-inning double. César Cedeño collected for hits for the Astros, with a home run and two doubles.^[5]

On June 19, Larry Dierker hurled a one-hitter to lead a 3–0 triumph over the New York Mets, whose only baserunner was the result of a third-inning single. Tommy Helms supplied much of the Astros' offense with four hits.^[6]

Each of the first five Astros' hits on June 26 were home runs, which brought them to a 7–7 tie with the San Diego Padres. San Diego never answered back, however, and Houston kept scoring for a 14–7 win.^[7]

Cedeño hit for the cycle on August 2 to become the player to accomplish the feat as a member of the Astros. He doubled in the first inning, connected for a home run in the third, and singled in the fifth. In the sixth inning, Cedeño grounded out. His final at bat and last opportunity for the game to make history arrived in the eighth inning, when Cedeño stroked a line drive to the right-center field gap for the triple. This effort led a 10–1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at The Astrodome. Cedeño later hit the next cycle for Houston almost exactly four years later on August 9, 1976.^[8]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	95	59	.617	—	42‍–‍34	53‍–‍25
Houston Astros	84	69	.549	10½	41‍–‍36	43‍–‍33
Los Angeles Dodgers	85	70	.548	10½	41‍–‍34	44‍–‍36
Atlanta Braves	70	84	.455	25	36‍–‍41	34‍–‍43
San Francisco Giants	69	86	.445	26½	34‍–‍43	35‍–‍43
San Diego Padres	58	95	.379	36½	26‍–‍54	32‍–‍41

Record vs. opponents

1972 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7–1	9–9	7–7	7–8	4–8	7–5	6–6	6–6	6–11	7–11	6–6
Chicago	7–5–1	—	8–4	3–9	8–4	10–5	10–8	10–7	3–12	9–3	7–5	10–8
Cincinnati	9–9	4–8	—	11–6	9–5	8–4	8–4	10–2	8–4	8–10	10–5	10–2
Houston	7–7	9–3	6–11	—	7–11	8–4	6–6	9–3	3–9	12–2	13–5	4–8
Los Angeles	8–7	4–8	5–9	11–7	—	6–6	7–5	7–5	7–5	13–5	9–9	8–4
Montreal	8–4	5–10	4–8	4–8	6–6	—	6–12	10–6	6–12	6–6	6–6	9–8
New York	5–7	8–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	12–6	—	13–5	8–6	7–5	8–4	7–9
Philadelphia	6-6	7–10	2–10	3–9	5–7	6–10	5–13	—	5–13	6–6	6–6	8–7
Pittsburgh	6–6	12–3	4–8	9–3	5–7	12–6	6–8	13–5	—	10–2	9–3	10–8
San Diego	11–6	3–9	10–8	2–12	5–13	6–6	5–7	6–6	2–10	—	4–10	4–8
San Francisco	11–7	5–7	5–10	5–13	9–9	6–6	4–8	6–6	3–9	10–4	—	5–7
St. Louis	6–6	8–10	2–10	8–4	4–8	8–9	9–7	7–8	8–10	8–4	7–5	—

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1972: Jim Crawford was selected by the Astros in the 14th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.^[9]

Roster

1972 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 36 Wade Blasingame 37 Mike Cosgrove 39 George Culver 49 Larry Dierker 43 Ken Forsch 37 Joe Gibbon 48 Fred Gladding 38 Tom Griffin 45 Jim Ray 47 Jerry Reuss 50 J. R. Richard 15 Dave Roberts 40 Don Wilson 42 Jim York		Catchers  7 Johnny Edwards  8 Jack Hiatt 10 Larry Howard  6 Cliff Johnson  9 Bob Stinson Infielders 18 Bobby Fenwick 19 Tommy Helms 23 Lee May 14 Roger Metzger 12 Doug Rader  8 Gary Sutherland		Outfielders 22 Jesús Alou 28 César Cedeño 29 Rich Chiles 21 Norm Miller 11 Jimmy Stewart 27 Bob Watson 24 Jimmy Wynn		Manager  2 Leo Durocher  2 Salty Parker 25 Harry Walker Coaches  4 Buddy Hancken  3 Hub Kittle  5 Jim Owens  2 Salty Parker

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Johnny Edwards	108	332	89	.268	5	40
1B	Lee May	148	592	168	.284	29	98
2B	Tommy Helms	139	518	134	.259	5	60
SS	Roger Metzger	153	641	142	.222	2	38
3B	Doug Rader	152	553	131	.237	22	90
LF	Bob Watson	147	548	171	.312	16	86
CF	César Cedeño	139	559	179	.320	22	82
RF	Jimmy Wynn	145	542	148	.273	24	90

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Larry Howard	54	157	35	.223	2	13
Norm Miller	67	107	26	.243	4	13
Jimmy Stewart	68	96	21	.219	0	9
Jesús Alou	52	93	29	.312	0	11
Bobby Fenwick	36	50	9	.180	0	4
Bob Stinson	27	35	6	.171	0	2
Jack Hiatt	10	25	5	.200	0	0
Rich Chiles	9	11	3	.273	0	2
Gary Sutherland	5	8	1	.125	0	1
Cliff Johnson	5	4	1	.250	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Don Wilson	33	228.1	15	10	2.68	172
Larry Dierker	31	214.2	15	8	3.40	115
Dave Roberts	35	192.0	12	7	4.50	111
Jerry Reuss	33	192.0	9	13	4.17	174
Ken Forsch	30	156.1	6	8	3.91	113

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Tom Griffin	39	94.1	5	4	3.21	83
Mike Cosgrove	7	13.2	0	1	4.61	7
J.R. Richard	4	6.0	1	0	13.50	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Fred Gladding	42	5	6	14	2.77	18
Jim Ray	54	10	9	8	4.28	50
George Culver	45	6	2	2	3.05	82
Jim York	26	0	1	0	5.25	25
Wade Blasingame	10	0	0	0	8.64	9
Joe Gibbon	9	0	0	0	9.82	4

Awards and achievements

Awards

• Associated Press (AP) NL All-Star—Outfield: César Cedeño^[10]
• Gold Glove Awards:
  • César Cedeño—outfield
  • Doug Rader—third base
• MLB All-Star Game:
  • César Cedeño—Reserve outfielder
  • Lee May—Reserve infielder
• National League (NL) Player of the Month:
  • May—Bob Watson
  • June—César Cedeño
• The Sporting News NL All-Star—Outfield: César Cedeño^[10]

Offensive achievements

• 20 home runs–50 stolen bases club: César Cedeño

Minor leawgue system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Tony Pacheco
AA	Columbus Astros	Southern League	Jackie Brandt
A	Cocoa Astros	Florida State League	Jimmy Williams
Rookie	Covington Astros	Appalachian League	Billy Smith
Rookie	Cocoa Astros	Florida East Coast League	Leo Posada

See also

• Texas portal
• Baseball portal

• 20–50 club
• List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
• List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle