Al Thomy remembers the Astros as losers, but fun to be around in the early 1960s when the club was called the Colt .45s.
So what else is new? asks Al Thomy. The Houston Astros are losing the World Series. One more loss to the Chicago White Sox and it's over.
In Thomy's mind, Houston is always losing. The Greensboro native and semi-retired sportswriter goes so far back in baseball that it amounts to ancient history.
He can't shake off the notion as Houston as a loser after covering the team, then known as the Houston Colt .45s, in 1963 and 1964 for the old Houston Press newspaper. In each of those seasons, the team won 66 and lost 96 games.
"They were castoffs and rejects," Thomy says of the roster. "They were too old or too young."
Thomy knew what the next day's headline would say on his story: "Colt 45s lose again."
The idea of the club ever making it to a World Series seemed as far fetched then as one of those astronauts, who trained in Houston and drank at the press bar at the ballpark, going to the moon.
During Thomy's time, Houston was an expansion team. That meant its initial roster was filled with inexperienced young players and others Major League teams no longer wanted.
Thomy was so eager to cover a Big League team, he left a secure job with the Atlanta Constitution to cover a lousy team for a shaky newspaper, one that would fold two years later.
The Colt .45s played in a temporary park while a domed stadium was being built next door.
For sure, the team had some bright spots, including two youngsters - power hitters Rusty Staub and Joe Morgan, who would become big stars later.
And occasionally one of the old timers, such as Greensboro's Skinny Brown, in his early 40s and a cast off from the Baltimore Orioles, would perform like they did in younger days.
Those two years with a chronic loser "were the most fun I had covering sports," Thomy said, who still does occasional sports writing.
He said the Colt .45s were filled with hell raisers, with the exception of Brown, a family man who kept pretty much to himself.
Thomy said the Houston women loved Bob Aspromonte, known as the Valentino of the National League because of his good looks. He dated actress Angie Dickinson.
Thomy once wrote a story for The Sporting News in which Aspromonte rated each National League city according to the beauty of its women. A reporter could get away with a story like that in those days.
The highlight of Thomy's two years with the Colt .45s was watching another veteran, pitcher Turk Farrell, regain his old form in the wee hours of the morning.
It was twilight doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates in old Forbes Field. When Farrell arrived on the mound in relief late in the second game, it was 2 a.m.
He proceeded to win the game for Houston by striking out with nine pitches the Pirates three big stars, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski.
When Thomy offered congratulations afterward, Farrell responded, "No one beats the Turk after midnight."
Thomy remembers the horrible stretch when the team went on the road and didn't score a run for 40 consecutive innings. Upon the club's return to Houston, a Dixieland band was at the airport to cheer up the players.
Playing outdoors in Houston was hot. The mosquitos were as big as baseballs and the team was not only getting harrassed by other teams but the makers of Colt 45 firearms.
It would seem an honor to have a Major League team's nickname named after a company's product. But the Colt firearms company must have thought a bad team like Houston reflected poorly on its revolvers.
The company sued. The team soon changed its name to the Astros, after moving to a big new indoor arena named the Astrodome in honor of the the new NASA training center that had opened in Houston.
By then, Thomy had returned to Atlanta, where he eventually rejoined the Constitution covering the football Falcons and the basketball Hawks.
He believes he's the only North Carolina born sportwriter or at least the first to have covered a Major League team, an NBA team and an NFL team.
He's watching the series from a room with a TV in his Latham Park home and thinking about those teams in '63 and '64.
"They were," he says, "really bad."