A sweet 16 of Houston baseball’s best

Bob Aspromonte and Joe Morgan looked at each other with an affectionate glance, their friendship tracing back to the infancy of Major League Baseball in Houston. Cheo Cruz flashed an ageless smile that outshined the decades of paltry offenses that wilted a generation of fans. Nolan Ryan leaned back to bask. J.R. Richard leaned in to preach. Mike Scott was whacky, but far less so than Larry Dierker. Craig Biggio helped towel off Jeff Bagwell.

“I’m sweating, like always,” said Bagwell, his collared white shirt turning translucent. Biggio chuckled.

Several of the most legendary baseball players for the Houston franchise, from its inception as the Colt .45s to the late-90s Astros, came together Saturday to celebrate the new Hall of Fame created at Minute Maid Park. They now have a place that can make them feel ever-present.

Prior to playing the Mariners, the Astros honored the 16 inductees on the field, including some posthumously. Joe Niekro, Shane Reynolds, Jim Umbricht, Don Wilson, Jimmy Wynn, Gene Elston and Milo Hamilton were the others among the inaugural class.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, to make a statement about the Astros and the Colt .45s,” said Morgan, who played second base for 10 seasons with Houston and entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Morgan mentioned that he is most associated with the “Big Red Machine,” the Cincinnati Reds’ championship teams of the 1970s.

“But I try to tell people all the time, I learned to play baseball in the Astros’ organization,” he said. “I did everything in Houston that I did in Cincinnati.”

He insisted he only received more recognition with Cincinnati because of the All-Stars that surrounded him there. Things likely would have been different had Astros general manager Spec Richardson not traded away so much talent. When Morgan earned an All-Star selection as a Red, he noticed six other guys on the National League team that had been former Astros.

“I wont blame it on Spec, but I always wondered that to myself,” Morgan said. “If we would’ve been able to stay together as a group, we could’ve done something.”

Morgan appreciates how the franchise has transformed into a title winner and perennial contender. He looked over at Aspromonte.

“We started that road,” Morgan said.

Aspromonte made the franchise’s first plate appearance on April 10, 1962, and started at third base on seven consecutive Opening Days with Houston.

“The inception of creating this atmosphere of baseball in Houston was just absolutely incredible,” Aspromonte said. “Incredible growth.”

For now, the decades of losing or coming up short feel left in Houston’s baseball past. The franchise is basking in a continued glow from the 2017 World Series championship.

Dierker, who pitched for the Astros from 1964 to 1976 and managed the team from 1997 to 2001, said: “The franchise is mature enough now to be considered with all the great franchises—the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Phillies — the teams that have been around a really long time.”

“The timing’s right,” Ryan said.

Inductees wore sunburst orange blazers. Astros president Reid Ryan slipped one around his father, Nolan.

“He’s gonna wear it to the country club,” Reid joked. “Mike Scott might actually wear it around California.”

The majority of the group expressed reverence for Houston’s current stars, particularly six-time All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, who career already is more impressive than several of the inductees’.

“There’s really nothing he can’t do,” Biggio said. “Even at 5-foot-8, he can generate some bat speed.”

The room could not contain its laughter at the latter part of Biggio’s comment. Altuve is listed, perhaps generously, at 5-6.

“So that means I’m what, 6-2 now?” cracked Bagwell, who was listed at 6 feet. “He’s not even close to 5-8.”

Biggio and Bagwell steered back toward sincere praise of Altuve. Without him, the Astros might not have a championship, a promising future or the confidence to honor a past that had seemed too disappointing to enshrine.

“It’s something to think about. I have a lot of baseball left. Right now, I’m just trying to win.”