images from Pete Loeser, 12 March 2019
Last modified: 2019-05-18 by rick wyatt
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images from Pete Loeser, 12 March 2019
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The Houston Astros are the professional Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball team of Houston, Texas, but how they got there is an interesting history. From 1888 until 1961 Houston's only baseball club was the minor league Houston Buffaloes. Houston officials had for years been trying to get a professional major league baseball franchise for Houston. Their chance finally came
in 1962 when two expansion slots were offered by the National League. Two new teams were formed, the first the "New York Mets", and the second the "Houston Colt .45s". Huston's selected team name immediately came under attack during their first three seasons with demands they change it. In those early years (1962-1964) their home games were played in Colt Stadium built on the east side of Houston. During the Summers the fans fought extreme heat and mosquitoes supporting their new team. In the meantime, right next door, a domed stadium was being built for the team, the first indoor, air-conditioned baseball stadium in the world. It would locally be called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and in 1965 it was completed. The new "Astrodome" stadium (1965-1999) featured an artificial turf, and was named for Houston's involvement in the NASA space program. It also prompted a name change for the team to the Houston Astros with their new official team colors becoming Navy blue, orange, and white. In 2000, the Astros would leave the Astrodome to move to a new stadium, Minute Maid Park, which featured one of the worlds first retractable-roofs, and had a natural grass playing field.
The Astros are also the first franchise in MLB history to have win championship pennant in both the National League and the American League. The Astros played in the NL from 1962 to 2012 for 51 seasons. While a member of the NL, the Astros played in one World Series in 2005 losing to the Chicago White Sox in four straight game. In 2013 they were moved to the American League West where they won the 2017 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning four games to three, and winning their first World Series title. The Astros have also won 8 different championships in three different MLB divisions as of the 2018 season: the NL West Division, the NL Central Division, and the AL West Division.
It should be noted that in the early years baseball teams used pennants rather than flags (hence the practice of calling championships "winning the pennant") and there were a host of unofficial manufacturer's variants of these and later fan flags marketed for the Astros and their fans. They included flags, banners, and pennants too numerous to all be shown here.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
The Astros have played in two World Series - the first one lost to the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and the second won against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017.
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
With their 2017 defeat of the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning four games to three, the Astros became the World Champions with this first World Series title. Naturally there were scores of flags manufactured to let Huston fans celebrate the victory, several samples of which are shown here.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
This Houston Retro Flag is a fan flag that features the old "Houston Houston Colt .45s" logo. This logo was used by the franchise from 1962 to 1964, and still occasionally appears on fan memorabilia like T-shirts, mugs, etc.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
The new "Astrodome" stadium was finished in 1965 and prompted a name change from the Houston Houston Colt .45s to the Houston Astros along with introducing of new team colors of Navy blue, orange, and white. With these changes, flags incorporating their new stadium with the teams logo became popular.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images by Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
These Houston Retro Flags feature the 1994 Astro logo apparently using red, black and a tan colors instead of Navy blue, orange, and white. This logo became the Astro logo officially for a period one year, but still occasionally makes appearances on fan memorabilia like flags, pennants, T-shirts, mugs, etc.
images by Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
The replacement of white with the tan and navy blue with black is unexpected and one wonders if it is actually caused by discoloration and aging? I've added a speculative image of one these flags replacing the odd colors schemes with the state colors of Texas.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
These popular variants of the American national flag have been produced for all the MLB teams and displayed by their enthusiastic fans. These manufacturer variants show a variety of interpretations of stars and color schemes in the cantons. The number and color of the stripes also vary, as well as the length and ratio of the flags.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
Both these Astros fan flags place a team logo in the blue vertical hoist canton and replace the normal normal vertical stripe on the state fly with either red or orange. Both versions have been seen at Astro games being waved by the team mascots or fans.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
This bi-horizontal striped designed Astros flag places a large orange-white fimbriated text on the lower navy blue stripe and replaces the solid orange color on the top vertical stripe with a sunrise orange pattern. The centered Astros cap emblem defaces both stripes.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
This fan flag defaces a Texas State flag with an Astros logo replacing the normal Texas star.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
These manufacturer's variants use interesting rainbow-like themes using the colors from an orange color spectrum.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
These manufacturer's variants of Astros flags basically place variants the team's logos on either a plain blue or orange field. Although not shown here, both of these logos have been placed on either color backgrounds.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
This Astros fan flag places the team name vertically on the blue hoist end of the flag and a large team logo on the red fly.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
These manufacturer variant Astros flags mix both teams and sports logos for those divided families. The first mixes sports - Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Astros (Basketball, Basketball and Baseball) - and the second between the World Series rivals of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros for those families of mixed loyalties.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
Here is an Astros fan flag made specially for a place of honor on a the "Man Cave" walls. These type flags are available for most American sports and teams.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
image from Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
"Crush City" is a nickname coined by Houston sports commentator Matt Thomas in the 2015 Houston Astros season. "Crush" is a reference to the high amount of home runs hit by the Houston Astros, as the team ended with the second most home runs in the MLB in that season.
Pete Loeser, 9 March 2019
images from Pete Loeser, 23 April 2019
For those baseball fans who own boats and want to display their team loyalty afloat, these flags are available for them. The flags take the form of either a broad pennant or a square boat flag with either a cap or team logo near the hoist. Each uses the individual team's colors in their designs.
Note: Because of the small size of these nautical broad pennants. usually about a foot tall (approximately 30.48 centimeters), they have also gained popularity as "Golf Cart" flags. It should also be noted that a broad pennant, or any other flag shape, is only called a "burgee" if it designates an organized boating club.
Pete Loeser, 13 May 2019
