The '''Houston Astros''' are a Major League Baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The team is in the Central Division of the National League. The Astros are the current defending National League champions, having played in the World Series for the first time in franchise history in October 2005, marking the first time a team from Texas has participated in the series.
Franchise history
Beginnings: The 1960s
left|thumb|200px|Houston Colt .45s Logo, circa 1962-1964
Subsequent to the Giants and Dodgers leaving for California, an abortive attempt was made to start a third major league. It was to be called the Continental League. Though the league never got off the ground, it nonetheless established the demand for major league baseball in other markets.
On October 17, 1960, Judge Roy Hofheinz and the existing Continental League ownership group from Houston was awarded a franchise in the ten-team National League The team was to be named the '''Houston Colt .45s'''. In addition to the Houston Colt .45s, the New York Mets would also join the NL in 1962, a year after the 1961 expansion of the American League, which resulted in new AL teams in Los Angeles (Los Angeles Angels) and Washington, D.C. (a new Washington Senators franchise to replace the team that had left D.C. to become the Minnesota Twins the same year).
The "Colts" began play on April 10, 1962, and for the next three years, the team would play in Colt Stadium.
On Sunday, September 29, 1963, the final day of the regular season, Colt 45's outfielder John Paciorek would have a career day, going 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs, 2 walks and 4 runs scored as the team beat the Mets 13-4. Because of chronic injuries, the game would mark Paciorek's only major league appearance. Through 2005, Paciorek still holds the record of having a perfect 1.000 average with the most at-bats. Sadly, September 29, 1963 would also mark the last major league game for the winning pitcher of that game, Astros pitcher Jim Umbricht. Stricken with cancer, Umbricht would pass away on April 8, 1964. His number 32 was the first jersey number retired by the Astros.
The franchise's first decade displayed some great hitters (for example, Joe Morgan, Jimmy Wynn) and many great pitchers (for example, Bob Bruce, Ken Johnson, Mike Cuellar, Don Wilson, Larry Dierker, Dave Giusti, and Denny LeMaster.)
New venue, new name
On April 9, 1965, the Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros and inaugurated indoor baseball in the Astrodome.
thumb|right|200px|Houston Astros Logo, circa 1965-1974
''The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide'' for 1965 had this to say about why the
