1984 Houston Astros season

Offseason

• February 17, 1984: J. R. Richard was signed as a free agent by the Astros.

Regular season

Summary

April

The Astros lost to the Montreal Expos, 4–2, on Opening Day. Charlie Lea outdueled Joe Niekro over seven frames each. During the top of the eighth, Andre Dawson tripled in Tim Raines. Later in the inning, Miguel Diloné scored Gary Carter for a 4–1 Expos lead.

On the Sunday evening of April 8 at the Astrodome, shortstop Dickie Thon was struck near the left eye by a rising fastball from pitcher Mike Torrez, an incident that changed the course of Thon's career. Craig Reynolds pinch ran for Thon, and though the Astros subsequently loaded the bases, Jerry Mumphrey popped out to extinguish the threat. The New York Mets won the contest, 3–1, which clinched a series sweep for New York, their first at the Astrodome since 1966. X-rays revealed a fractured orbital bone and Thon missed the rest of the season due to the injury.

May

With 39,924 fans in attendance at Shea Stadium on May 6, the second-largest of the season thus far had presented to witness the marquee duel between nineteen-year-old phenom Dwight "Doc" Gooden, and 37-year old Nolan Ryan. In the first inning, Ryan allowed one run on two hits, but then became unstoppable, polishing off the final eight innings yielding just four singles and two walks, while fanning seven. Meanwhile, Gooden started with two scoreless innings, but the Astros pummeled him in the third inning for eight runs on six hits. Ryan chipped in the offensive surge, executing a bunt single over Gooden's head that drove in a run. The Astros defeated the Mets for the second straight contest, 10–1, as Ryan went the distance. Ryan also lined a double to left in the sixth inning and later scored the Astros' ninth run.

On May 22, a pre-game incident took place during warmups when St. Louis Cardinals mascot Fredbird tackled Astros first baseman Enos Cabell, which exacerbated his knee injury. The two clubs exchanged words, but the Astros ultimately walked the game off in the 12th inning.

Riding a five-hit shutout on May 26, Nolan Ryan fanned nine to regain the all-time strikeout lead from Steve Carlton, 3,758 to 3,757. Ryan (6–2) also won his fifth straight decision while having aggregated a scoreless innings streak of 27 as the Astros defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2–0. In the Astros' fifth inning, Bill Doran stroked a tripled to the right field corner off starter José DeLeón (2–2). With one out, Terry Puhl doubled, scoring Doran, and Craig Reynolds followed with single to right, which scored Puhl. The most recent date that Ryan had led Carlton was on July 26, 1983 (3,591—3,588).

Ryan was named NL Player of the Week for May 27. Over two outings—one each against St. Louis (May 21) and Pittsburgh—Ryan launched 14 shutout innings with 16 strikeouts. He issued just four walks and surrendered seven hits.

Moreover, Ryan's total scoreless frames represented the best such work during his Astros tenure.

Following a superb performance in May, Nolan Ryan was recognized as the NL Pitcher of the Month. Nolan Ryan went 5–0 W–L over 6 starts, with a 0.20 earned run average (ERA), surrendering just one earned run over innings pitched (three runs total), 26 hits, and whiffed 50 batters. He also tossed three complete games with two shutouts.

June

During the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 1, Mike Scioscia singled in two runs off Nolan Ryan to halt his scoreless streak. Ryan lasted four innings with five hits and the two runs surrendered this time as the Dodgers eventually won, 6–2.

July

For the week of June 25–July 1, José Cruz was named NL Player of the Week,

On July 24, Cabell, Phil Garner, and Cruz each went deep back-to-back-to-back off San Francisco Giants starter Mark Davis to cap a nine-run explosion during the fifth inning. This was the first-ever instance where three Astros hitters homered consecutively. Cruz burnished an exclamation point with another blast off Bob Lacey in the seventh. Garner also doubled during the Astros' 10–3 thrashing. Nolan Ryan (8–6) tossed seven solid frames to earn the quality start and win.

Cruz continued his excellent offensive performance throughout the month of July, and was rewarded as NL Player of the Month. He torched National League pitching for 47 hits, 11 doubles and 22 runs scored for a slash line of .443 / .516 / .632 / 1.148. The first 25 games featured all 47 hits, during which he hit .495, prior to ending the final four games in an 0-for-14 slump.

August

At Wrigley Field on August 22, José Cruz ripped his third career grand slam in the second inning during which Houston exploded for seven total, on the way to a rout of the Chicago Cubs, 8–3. Earlier in the second inning, Garner had blasted his fourth home run, and also worked two bases on balls during the contest. Craig Reynolds added two hits. Nolan Ryan (11–7) went the distance, surrendering seven hits and two walks while two of the three runs were earned, and tallied 12 punchouts. The victory evened the Astros' record at 64–64.

September

On September 6, Glenn Davis swatted his first major league home run, launching an offering from Scott Garrelts in the seventh inning at Candlestick Park. This was a solo shot with Houston ahead, 13–1.

Hosting the San Diego Padres on September 16, switch-hitting catcher Mark Bailey became the 13th National Leaguer—on the 19th occasion—and second Houston Astro to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. Every score counted as the Astros triumphed in a 10–9 thriller. Bailey connected in the bottom of the second off Mark Thurmond (right side), and in the bottom of the sixth off Luis DeLeón (left). Going into the bottom of the eighth, San Diego led, 9–8. With Glenn Davis at bat and the bases loaded, Rich Gossage uncorked a wild pitch, on which Bill Doran raced home. Next, Davis stroked the game-winning sacrifice fly to plate Kevin Bass. Dave Smith (4–3) then hurled a clean ninth to pick up the victory.

Performance overview

The Astros concluded the season with an 80–82 record, tied with the Atlanta Braves for second place in the NL West and 12 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning Padres. It was the 10th season since 1969 that the Astros won at least 80 games, and 11th in which the they finished two games or fewer below the .500 line.

As a team, the Astros swatted 67 triples, tying the club record set in 1980. It was the third season within the last four in which they had hit at least 60.

Outfielder José Cruz batted .312 and drove in a career-high 95 runs batted in (RBI). He won his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award to become the first Astro to win more than once.

Terry Puhl, a native of Saskatchewan, was recognized with the inaugural edition of the Tip O'Neill Award, voted to single out the year's best Canadian player in baseball.

Cruz was also honored with an unprecedented fourth Houston Astros' team Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), extending his club record after having won for each of the 1977, 1980, and 1983 campaigns. Cruz also joined Rusty Staub, the previous record-holder, to win in successive campaigns (1966 and 1967).

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

• April 27, 1984: J. R. Richard was released by the Astros.
• May 25, 1984: Alan Bannister was traded by the Astros to the Texas Rangers for Mike Richardt.
• June 4, 1984: 1984 Major League Baseball draft:
  • Ken Caminiti was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round. Player signed June 9, 1984.
  • John Vander Wal was drafted by the Astros in the 8th round, but did not sign.
• July 4, 1984: Scott Loucks was traded by the Astros to the Montreal Expos for Brad Mills.
• August 28, 1984: Ray Knight was traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for players to be named later. The New York Mets completed the trade by sending Gerald Young and Manuel Lee to the Astros on August 31 and Mitch Cook (minors) to the Astros on September 10.

Roster

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

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Awards and achievements

Grand slams

Awards

• Houston Astros Most Valuable Player Award (MVP): José Cruz
• MLB All-Star Game—Reserve outfielder: Jerry Mumphrey
• National League (NL) Pitcher of the Month—May: Nolan Ryan
• National League (NL) Player of the Month—July: José Cruz
• National League (NL) Player of the Week:
  • May 27—Nolan Ryan
  • July 1—José Cruz
• Silver Slugger at outfield: José Cruz
• The Sporting News NL All-Star:José Cruz
• Tip O'Neill Award: Terry Puhl

League leaders

;Batting leaders

• Sacrifice flies: José Cruz (10)
• Sacrifice hits: Craig Reynolds (16)

;Pitching leaders

• Games started: Joe Niekro (38)

Minor league system

;Championships

• South Atlantic League champions: Asheville

References

;Footnotes

;Sources

References

1. "J. R. Richard stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
2. (April 3, 1984). "Montreal Expos (4) vs Houston Astros (2) box score". [[Baseball Almanac]].
3. "1984 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com.
4. (April 3, 1984Z). "Montreal Expos (4) vs Houston Astros (2) box score". Baseball-Reference.com.
5. McCurdy, Bill. (September 20, 2018). "April 8, 1984: Dickie Thon beaned in head in Astros’ loss to Mets". [[Society for American Baseball Research]] (SABR).
6. LeMoine, Bob. "Dickie Thon". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
7. Schwartzberg, Seth. (May 6, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 6". [[SB Nation]].
8. Rhoden, William C.. (May 7, 1984). "Astros rout Mets and Gooden". [[The New York Times]].
9. Schwartzberg, Seth. (May 22, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 22". SB Nation.
10. (May 26, 1984). "Nolan Ryan hurled a five-hitter and regained the all-time...". [[United Press International]] (UPI).
11. "MLB Players of the Week Awards". Baseball-Reference.com.
12. "Nolan Ryan 1984 pitching game logs". Baseball-Reference.com.
13. "Top performances for Nolan Ryan". [[Retrosheet]].
14. "Major League Baseball Pitchers of the Month". Baseball-Reference.com.
15. "Nolan Ryan 1984 pitching splits". Baseball-Reference.com.
16. (June 1, 1984). "Houston Astros (2) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (6) box score". Baseball-Reference.com.
17. "José Cruz 1984 batting game logs". Baseball-Reference.com.
18. (July 24, 1984). "Houston Astros (10) vs San Francisco Giants (3) box score". Baseball-Reference.com.
19. Hulsey, Bob. "1984—season recap". Astros Daily.
20. "MLB Player of the Month Award". Baseball Almanac.
21. "José Cruz 1984 batting splits". Baseball-Reference.com.
22. "José Cruz career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com.
23. (August 22, 1984). "Houston Astros (8) vs Chicago Cubs (3) box score". Baseball-Reference.com.
24. "Glenn Davis career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com.
25. "Home runs from both sides of the plate in one game". Baseball Almanac.
26. (September 16, 1984). "Houston Astros (10) vs San Diego Padres (9) box score". Baseball-Reference.com.
27. "1984 National League team statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
28. "Houston Astros team history & encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com.
29. "Houston Astros team yearly batting stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
30. "Astros history – Timeline". [[MLB.com]].
31. "Silver Slugger Award". Baseball Almanac.
32. "The James 'Tip' O’Neill Award". [[Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
33. McTaggart, Brian. (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com.
34. "Mike Richardt stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball Reference.
35. "Ken Caminiti stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball Reference.
36. "John Vander Wal stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball Reference.
37. "Brad Mills stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball Reference.
38. "Ray Knight stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball Reference.
39. "José Cruz stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com.
40. "Champions by league {{!}} South Atlantic League". MLB.com.