The Astros are Back

After a season and a half of ugly Astros Houston cards, the Astros cap logo re-appears in the later 1969 series cards.

For continuity, Topps still used the team name "Houston", but no longer felt the need to use capless photos or butcher the photos with ridiculous airbrushing techniques (such as the "let's not even try" method of completely blacking out the cap).

Most of these players are featured in their road uniforms, which complied neatly with the edict, while only Larry Dierker is shown in his (somewhat obscured) home uniform.

#389 Dan Coombs

Danny Coombs was a pitcher for the Colt .45s and Astros from 1963 to 1969 and for the Padres from 1970 to 1971. He had a career ERA of 4.08 and a record of 19-27 with 249 strikeouts. He was also a basketball star at Seton Hall measuring at 6 feet 5 inches.


Perhaps one of the most interesting moments in Danny's career was his MLB debut for the Colt. 45s during their sophomore year, two days before the end of the season and desperate for ticket sales. The Colts tried something that had never been done in the major leagues and has not been done since. They fielded the first all-rookie team with an average age of 19. Danny came in at the bottom of the 3rd and gave up 3 singles before closing the inning with a ground-out. For more on this day, follow this link for some great baseball history.