1965 Houston Astros season

1965 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
BallparkHarris County Domed Stadium
CityHouston, Texas
Record65–97 (.401)
League place9th
OwnersRoy Hofheinz
General managersPaul Richards
ManagersLum Harris
TelevisionKTRK-TV
RadioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
Seasons

The 1965 Houston Astros season was the fourth season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, a member of the National League (NL). Now rebranded as the Astros and having relocated to The Astrodome, the club were known for their first three season as the Colt .45s and were based at Colt Stadium.[Note 1] The Astros entered the 1965 season with a 66–96 record, having finished the previous year in ninth place and 27 games behind the NL pennant and World Seres-winning St. Louis Cardinals.

The 1965 season was the first and only full season for Lum Harris as manager, the second in franchise history, having replaced Harry Craft late during the previous year.

In the first-ever MLB amateur draft, the Astros' first round selection was shortstop Alex Barrett at fourth overall.

Pitcher Turk Farrell represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game, his fifth career selection.

The Astros concluded the season with a record of 65–97, a third consecutive in ninth place and 32 games behind the NL pennant and eventual World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The 97 losses represented a franchise-worst record for Houston at the time, which was one more than the 96 losses the club had for each of their first three seasons of existence. It later matched by the 1975 and 1991 teams, and exceeded in 2011 with 106 losses.

Second baseman Joe Morgan was chosen as The Sporting News NL Rookie Player of the Year[a] and for the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. Morgan became the first Astro to win a Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award.

Offseason

On December 1, The Houston club changed its nickname from Colt .45s to Astros. The move resulted from objections by the Colt Firearms Company to the club's sales of novelties bearing the old nickname. Despite the trademark issues, the "Astros" nickname matched the futuristic ambiance of the revolutionary domed stadium. The nickname was also appropriate since Houston was, by then, the home of NASA's astronaut program. The scoreboard retained subliminal references to the old nickname, as it featured electronically animated cowboys firing pistols, with the "bullets" ricocheting around the scoreboard, when an Astros player would hit a home run. Early on, the groundskeepers also wore astronaut spacesuits to promote that futuristic image.

Astrodome

On April 9, the former Houston Colt .45s took the field and officially became the Houston Astros. They inaugurated indoor baseball in the Astrodome with a 2–1 exhibition win over the New York Yankees.

The stadium was designed as a defense against the oppressive heat and humidity of the Houston summer. Loosely based on the old Roman Colosseum, the Astrodome was dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World. As with many stadiums of that era, such as RFK Stadium and Shea Stadium, the Astrodome was a multi-purpose stadium, designed for both football as well as baseball.

Besides its roof, the Astrodome was revolutionary for a number of other reasons. It was one of the first stadiums to have individual, theatre-type seats for every seat in the venue. Additionally, it was one of the first stadiums to have luxury seats and club seating, at the time a relatively new concept in sports venues. It also had an "exploding scoreboard", which would show various animations after a home run or a win, as well as messages and advertising.

Notable transactions

  • January 31, 1965: Bob Watson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Astros.[1]

Regular season

Summary

Opening Day starters

With the scored tied 2–2 on June 4 going into the ninth inning, Houston Astros catcher Ron Brand connected for a three-run homer into the left field bleachers off Bob Gibson for the decisive runs in an Astros' 5–2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.[2] After 140 relief appearances, on June 6, Claude Raymond made the first of seven starts over his major league career. He tossed a complete game against the Cardinals. holding them to just seven hits and one run as the Houston won, 10–1.[3]

Rookie Joe Morgan set club marks for at-bats, runs, hits and triples.

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 97 65 .599 — 50‍–‍31 47‍–‍34
San Francisco Giants 95 67 .586 2 51‍–‍30 44‍–‍37
Pittsburgh Pirates 90 72 .556 7 49‍–‍32 41‍–‍40
Cincinnati Reds 89 73 .549 8 49‍–‍32 40‍–‍41
Milwaukee Braves 86 76 .531 11 44‍–‍37 42‍–‍39
Philadelphia Phillies 85 76 .528 11½ 45‍–‍35 40‍–‍41
St. Louis Cardinals 80 81 .497 16½ 42‍–‍39 38‍–‍42
Chicago Cubs 72 90 .444 25 40‍–‍41 32‍–‍49
65 97 .401 32 36‍–‍45 29‍–‍52
New York Mets 50 112 .309 47 29‍–‍52 21‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents

1965 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team CHC CIN HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago — 7–11 8–10 8–10 9–9 11–7–1 8–10 5–13 6–12 10–8–1
Cincinnati 11–7 — 12–6 6–12 12–6 11–7 13–5 8–10 6–12 10–8
10–8 6–12 — 5–13 4–14 14–4 6–12 8–10 3–15 9–9
Los Angeles 10–8 12–6 13–5 — 10–8 12–6 9–9 9–9 10–8 12–6
Milwaukee 9–9 6–12 14–4 8–10 — 13–5 6–12 9–9 10–8 11–7
New York 7–11–1 7–11 4–14 6–12 5–13 — 7–11–1 4–14 5–13 5–13
Philadelphia 10–8 5–13 12–6 9–9 12–6 11–7–1 — 8–10 8–10 10–7
Pittsburgh 13–5 10–8 10–8 9–9 9–9 14–4 10–8 — 11–7–1 4–14
San Francisco 12–6 12–6 15–3 8–10 8–10 13–5 10–8 7–11–1 — 10–8
St. Louis 8–10–1 8–10 9–9 6–12 7–11 13–5 7–10 14–4 8–10 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1965 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
Positional abbreviations: C = Catcher; 1B = First base; 2B = Second base; 3B = Third base; SS = Shortstop; LF = Left field; CF = Center field; RF = Right field

Pos Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB
C Ron Brand 117 391 27 92 6 3 .235 2 37 10
1B Walt Bond 117 407 46 107 17 2 .263 7 47 2
2B Joe Morgan 157 601 100 163 22 12 .271 14 40 20
3B Bob Aspromonte 152 578 53 152 15 2 .263 5 52 2
SS Bob Lillis 124 408 34 90 12 1 .221 1 38 2
LF Lee Maye 108 415 38 104 17 7 .251 3 36 1
CF Jim Wynn 157 564 90 155 30 7 .275 22 73 43
RF Rusty Staub 131 410 43 105 20 1 .256 14 63 3

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB
Joe Gaines 100 229 21 52 8 1 .227 6 31 4
Jim Gentile 81 227 22 55 11 1 .242 7 31 0
Eddie Kasko 68 215 18 53 7 1 .247 1 10 1
John Bateman 45 142 15 28 3 1 .197 7 14 4
Al Spangler 38 112 18 24 1 1 .214 1 7 1
Gus Triandos 24 72 5 13 2 0 .181 2 7 0
Frank Thomas 23 58 7 10 2 0 .172 3 9 0
Jim Beauchamp 24 53 5 10 1 0 .189 0 4 0
Chuck Harrison 15 45 2 9 4 0 .200 1 9 0
Nellie Fox 21 41 3 11 2 0 .268 0 1 0
Dave Adlesh 15 34 2 5 1 0 .147 0 3 0
Sonny Jackson 10 23 1 3 0 0 .130 0 0 1
Norm Miller 11 15 2 3 0 1 .200 0 1 0
Mike White 8 9 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0
John Hoffman 2 6 1 2 0 0 .333 0 1 0
Jim Mahoney 5 5 0 1 0 0 .200 0 0 0
Gene Ratliff 4 4 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L ERA R ER BB K
Bob Bruce 35 34 229.2 9 18 3.72 107 95 38 145
Turk Farrell 33 29 208.1 11 11 3.50 94 81 35 122
Don Nottebart 29 25 158.0 4 15 4.67 99 82 55 77
Larry Dierker 26 19 146.2 7 8 3.50 69 57 37 109
Robin Roberts 10 10 76.0 5 2 1.89 22 16 10 34
Ken Johnson 8 8 51.2 3 2 4.18 25 24 11 28
Don Arlich 1 1 6.0 0 0 3.00 2 2 1 0
Don Larsen 1 1 5.1 0 0 5.06 3 3 3 1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K
Dave Giusti 38 13 131.1 8 7 3 4.32 67 63 46 92
Claude Raymond 33 7 96.1 7 4 5 2.90 35 31 16 79
Jack Lamabe 3 2 12.2 0 2 0 4.26 9 6 3 6
Chris Zachary 4 2 10.2 0 2 0 4.22 6 5 6 4
Jim Ray 3 2 7.2 0 2 0 10.57 9 9 6 7
Carroll Sembera 2 1 7.1 0 1 0 3.68 3 3 3 4

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K
Jim Owens 50 71.1 6 5 8 3.28 28 26 29 53
Ron Taylor 32 57.2 1 5 4 6.40 42 41 16 37
Mike Cuellar 25 56.0 1 4 2 3.54 24 22 21 46
Danny Coombs 26 47.0 0 2 0 4.79 26 25 23 35
Ken MacKenzie 21 37.0 0 3 0 3.89 22 16 6 26
Hal Woodeshick 27 32.1 3 4 3 3.06 13 11 18 22
Don Lee 7 8.0 0 0 0 3.38 3 3 3 3
Bruce Von Hoff 3 3.0 0 0 0 9.00 3 3 2 1
Gordon Jones 1 1.0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0

Awards and honors

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers Pacific Coast League Grady Hatton
AA Amarillo Sonics Texas League Lou Fitzgerald
A Durham Bulls Carolina League Dave Philley
A Cocoa Astros Florida State League Billy Goodman
A Salisbury Astros Western Carolinas League Chuck Churn
Rookie FRL Astros Florida Rookie League Joe Frazier

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oklahoma City, FRL Astros

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ a b From 1961–2003, The Sporting News declared one rookie position player and pitcher from each league, the NL and the American League (AL), for this award.
  1. ^ The team remained at The Astrodome through the 1999 season.
Sources
  1. ^ Bob Watson at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 4, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 4". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  3. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 6, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 6". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  4. ^ Bob Saverine at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Lee Maye at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ a b Gus Triandos at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ a b Frank Thomas at Baseball Reference
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