1977 Houston Astros season

1977 Houston Astros
1977 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	81–81 (.500)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	General Electric, Ford Motor Company
General managers	Tal Smith
Managers	Bill Virdon
Television	KPRC-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM); (Gene Elston, Dewayne Staats)

The 1977 Houston Astros season was the 16th season for the Houston Astros, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 13th as the Astros, 9th in the National League West, and 13th at The Astrodome. The team finished third in the National League West with a record of 81–81, 17 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Offseason

December 8, 1976: Greg Gross was traded by the Astros to the Chicago Cubs for Julio González.^[1]
January 11, 1977: John Butcher was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (5th pick) of the secondary phase of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[2]
January 25, 1977: Paul Siebert was traded by the Astros to the San Diego Padres for Mike Allen (minors).^[3]
March 26, 1977: Rob Andrews and cash were traded by the Astros to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Crawford and Rob Sperring.^[4]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
NL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	98	64	.605	—	51‍–‍30	47‍–‍34
Cincinnati Reds	88	74	.543	10	48‍–‍33	40‍–‍41
Houston Astros	81	81	.500	17	46‍–‍35	35‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants	75	87	.463	23	38‍–‍43	37‍–‍44
San Diego Padres	69	93	.426	29	35‍–‍46	34‍–‍47
Atlanta Braves	61	101	.377	37	40‍–‍41	21‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents

1977 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	4–14	9–9	5–13	6–6	7–5	2–10	3–9	11–7	8–10	1–11
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	6–6	10–8	9–9	6–12	7–11	7–5	9–3	7–11
Cincinnati	14–4	5–7	—	5–13	10–8	7–5	10–2	8–4	3–9	11–7	10–8	5–7
Houston	9–9	6–6	13–5	—	9–9	8–4	6–6	4–8	4–8	8–10	9–9	5–7
Los Angeles	13–5	6–6	8–10	9–9	—	7–5	8–4	6–6	9–3	12–6	14–4	6–6
Montreal	6–6	8–10	5–7	4–8	5–7	—	10–8	7–11	7–11	5–7	6–6	12–6
New York	5–7	9–9	2–10	6–6	4–8	8–10	—	5–13	4–14	6–6	7–5	8–10
Philadelphia	10-2	12–6	4–8	8–4	6–6	11–7	13–5	—	8–10	9–3	9–3	11–7
Pittsburgh	9–3	11–7	9–3	8–4	3–9	11–7	14–4	10–8	—	10–2	2–10	9–9
San Diego	7–11	5–7	7–11	10–8	6–12	7–5	6–6	3–9	2–10	—	8–10	8–4
San Francisco	10–8	3–9	8–10	9–9	4–14	6–6	5–7	3–9	10–2	10–8	—	7–5
St. Louis	11–1	11–7	7–5	7–5	6–6	6–12	10–8	7–11	9–9	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

June 7, 1977: Scott Loucks was drafted by the Astros in the 5th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.^[5]
June 15, 1977: Willie Crawford was traded by the Astros to the Oakland Athletics for Denny Walling.^[6]

Roster

1977 Houston Astros

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

7 Bill Virdon

Coaches

Game log

Regular season

Legend
	Astros win
	Astros loss
	Postponement
	Eliminated from playoff race
Bold	Astros team member

1977 regular season game log: 81–81 (Home: 46–35; Away: 35–46)^[7]

April: 9–11 (Home: 6–6; Away: 3–5)

#	Date	Opponent
4	April 11	Reds
5	April 12	Reds
6	April 13	Reds
19	April 29	@ Pirates
20	April 30	@ Pirates

May: 11–16 (Home: 7–7; Away: 4–9)

#	Date	Opponent
21	May 1	@ Pirates
31	May 13	Pirates
31	May 14	Pirates
31	May 15	Pirates
40	May 24	@ Dodgers
41	May 25	@ Dodgers
42	May 26	@ Dodgers
46	May 30	Dodgers
47	May 31	Dodgers

June: 13–16 (Home: 7–8; Away: 6–8)

#	Date	Opponent
46	June 1	Dodgers
49	June 2	@ Reds
50	June 3	@ Reds
51	June 4	@ Reds
52	June 5	@ Reds

July: 15–14 (Home: 8–5; Away: 7–9)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent
82	July 6		@ Dodgers
83	July 7		@ Dodgers
84	July 8		Reds
85	July 9		Reds
86	July 10		Reds
87	July 11		Reds
88	July 12		Dodgers
89	July 13		Dodgers
90	July 14		Dodgers
91	July 15		@ Reds
92	July 16		@ Reds
93	July 17		@ Reds
—	July 19	7:15 p.m. CDT	48th All-Star Game in Bronx, NY
100	July 26		@ Pirates
101	July 27		@ Pirates
102	July 28		@ Pirates

August: 16–12 (Home: 11–3; Away: 5–9)

#	Date	Opponent
106	August 1	Pirates
107	August 2	Pirates
108	August 3	Pirates

September: 16–11 (Home: 6–6; Away: 10–5)

#	Date	Opponent
137	September 5	Reds
138	September 6	Reds
144	September 12	@ Reds
145	September 13	@ Reds
153	September 23	Dodgers
154	September 24	Dodgers
155	September 25	Dodgers
159	September 29	@ Dodgers
160	September 30	@ Dodgers

October: 1–1 (Home: 0–0; Away: 1–1)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Time of Game	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak
161	October 1		@ Dodgers
162	October 2		@ Dodgers

Detailed records

National League
Opponent	W	L	WP	RS	RA
NL East
Pittsburgh Pirates	4	8	0.333	38	50
Div Total	4	8	0.333	38	50
NL West
Cincinnati Reds	13	5	0.722	94	50
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Dodgers	9	9	0.500	63	70
Div Total	22	14	0.611	157	120
Season Total	26	22	0.542	195	170

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
Total

Home
	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
Away
Total

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	Joe Ferguson	132	421	108	.257	16	61
1B	Bob Watson	151	554	160	.289	22	110
2B	Art Howe	125	413	109	.264	8	58
SS	Roger Metzger	97	269	50	.186	0	16
3B	Enos Cabell	150	625	176	.282	16	68
LF	Terry Puhl	60	229	69	.301	0	10
CF	César Cedeño	141	530	148	.279	14	71
RF	José Cruz	157	579	173	.299	17	87

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
Julio González	110	383	94	.245	1	27
Wilbur Howard	87	187	48	.257	2	13
Ed Herrmann	56	158	46	.291	1	17
Cliff Johnson	51	144	43	.299	10	23
Rob Sperring	58	129	24	.186	1	9
Willie Crawford	42	114	29	.254	2	18
Jim Fuller	34	100	16	.160	2	9
Ken Boswell	72	97	21	.216	0	12
Art Gardner	66	65	10	.154	0	3
Leon Roberts	19	27	2	.074	0	2
Denny Walling	6	21	6	.286	0	6
Danny Walton	13	21	4	.190	0	1
Craig Cacek	7	20	1	.050	0	1
Joe Cannon	9	17	2	.118	0	1
Mike Fischlin	13	15	3	.200	0	0
Luis Pujols	6	15	1	.067	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
J. R. Richard	36	267.0	18	12	2.97	214
Mark Lemongello	34	214.2	9	14	3.48	83
Joaquín Andújar	26	158.2	11	8	3.69	69
Floyd Bannister	24	142.2	8	9	4.04	112
Doug Konieczny	4	21.0	1	1	6.00	7

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
Joe Niekro	44	180.2	13	8	3.04	101
Dan Larson	32	97.2	1	7	5.81	44
Tom Dixon	9	30.1	1	0	3.26	15

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
Ken Forsch	42	5	8	8	2.72	45
Joe Sambito	54	5	5	7	2.33	67
Bo McLaughlin	46	4	7	5	4.25	59
Gene Pentz	41	5	2	2	3.83	51
Roy Thomas	4	0	0	0	2.84	4

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Charleston Charlies	International League	Jim Beauchamp
AA	Columbus Astros	Southern League	Leo Posada
A	Cocoa Astros	Florida State League	Jimmy Johnson
Rookie	GCL Astros	Gulf Coast League	Julio Linares

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charleston

References

^ Julio González at Baseball Reference
^ John Butcher at Baseball Reference
^ Paul Siebert at Baseball Reference
^ Rob Andrews at Baseball Reference
^ Scott Loucks at Baseball Reference
^ Denny Walling at Baseball Reference
^ "1977 Houston Astros Schedule & Results". Baseball Reference. Retrieved May 7, 2025.

External links

1977 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference

[1] Julio González at Baseball Reference

[2] John Butcher at Baseball Reference

[3] Paul Siebert at Baseball Reference

[4] Rob Andrews at Baseball Reference

[5] Scott Loucks at Baseball Reference

[6] Denny Walling at Baseball Reference

[7] "1977 Houston Astros Schedule & Results". Baseball Reference. Retrieved May 7, 2025.

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