Click on the links ya like, or better yet, click 'em all--they're good people!
The Capital- O Official Major League Baseball site of the 'Stros. Looks like all the other major league sites. Where never is heard a discouraging word. . .
A new fan site run by people I ran into over at Beckett. Check it out!
Although it's only a memory now, this was the first and best of the Astro sites, run by two cowboys (I guess) by the names of Kev and Scott. These guys were putting together a no-bs Astro site long before I even knew what a "td bgcolor" was. . .And now they're gone.
Less, um flashy, than Astrosconnection, but with way more content, this is undoubtedly the leader in unbiased (Read: non-team-affiliated) Astro info on the net. When say, Biggio hit for the cycle, they posted a page the same night. And they update every day. Real good site, man. He's suspicious of my page-resizes, though.
A new message board, some of the people you've seen at Speedy's.
A rather new site without a fancy logo (see?) run by a rather nice lady with a razor wit. J-Mag's place is very refreshing because she wears her heart vis-a-vis Astros baseball on her sleeve. She's got the stat-thing going (and the engineering-thing, evidently), but does not allow them to overrun things. The only place to get Astro folk songs. I mean it. I do have a problem, maybe, with the Dave Mlicki song, considering Big Dave pitched the greatest playoff game in Astro history this side of Joe Niekro, but I'll get over it: this is a different kind of Astro site, quite possibly unique. And J-Mag's a big Lois McMaster Bujold fan, too. Maybe I can get her to pick up some Silverberg. . . .
Astros Fan Forum at ProBoards.com
When this racist bastard kilt the old EZ Board fan forum, they started this one, and I wish them luck.
The Astros entry in the Most Valuable Network of blogs. Written and performed by one Ms. Lisa Gray, this seems to have more than the requisite level of savvy.
Astros Fan Forum at ProBoards.com
When this racist bastard kilt the old EZ Board fan forum, they started this one, and I wish them luck.
Even though he roots for the bad guys, the guy who runs this site is 1) a hardcore baseball card person and 2) a knowledgeable baseball fan. I've conducted several trades with him, and can unreservedly recommend dealing with him. Beyond that, his site is one of the better card sites around, as he's got a whole lot of scans of the cards of the four players show in the banner above.
Was minding my own business one day, when this guy emailed me telling me about his brand new--and pretty spiffy-- Morgan Ensberg site. Great, I said, that's what we're all about. . . .
Real cool guy who wants to visit all 190 professional major league ballparks in his lifetime. Maintains a history of minor league baseball by league and year. Needs to get off geocities, though. He helped me with info for Astroland several times. Stop by, chat, maybe see a game with 'im. . .
A fan site for the AA Round Rock Express run by an amateur photographer. If you've checked out the banner at the top of my C page, you've seen how beautiful the Dell Diamond can be. There's more of that kind of stuff on this site, some player photos--good ones--too.
Have without question sold me more cards than anyone else. Always friendly: Ya can talk to 'em on the phone, they even got an 800 number, so you can order cards at work. . .
Baseball-Reference.Com's Houston team page. From here, check out the Astros' Pitching and Batting Leaders, the Pitching and Batting Register and more. Paypal the guy a five spot, fer chrissake. . .
Billing himself "the King of the Commons," Mr. Henderson has been in business for a long time, distancing himself from the hype by concentrating on cards made before 1989, when those Upper Deck guys brought out the product that made dufex, 1 of 1 inserts, and $15.00 packs inevitable. For this courage he is to be commended. Some years ago, he was instrumental in filling my wantlist with EX specimens of the 1970's Topps cards
Not affiliated with the single-A league itself, A Fan's Guide is probably the most complete, and best, website about a currently-existing minor league. Really an amazing amount of info, some of which the Astroman has kiped here and there. There are sections on history, ballparks, managers, playoffs and some bios of the more famous players to pass through the league. But what really makes the site worth checking out, in my mind, at least are a series of linked essays which attempt to communicate the nature of the Single A game, and serve as a very fine introduction to it.
Actually an excellent site, if you can ignore all the PSA garbage they have such a vested interest in. Their checklists are better than anyone else's (though still incomplete by my standards) and their online marketplace is outstanding. Collector to Collector auctions are also cool; people stuck with cards the stores won't buy will sell 'em to you--cheap, as long as you SASE. Better than ebay, that's for sure.
An amazing amount of information about a long defunct minor league, populated by the likes of the Fort Walton Jets, the Panama City Flyers, and the Selma Cloverleafs. Virgil Trucks pitched there, as did Bo Belinsky, Karl Spooner and the positively surreal Steve Dalkowski. It was also a stop for Lou Fitzgerald.
An excellent site that chronicles the New York Mets in much the same way Astroland does the Houston franchise. Every major league player for the Mets is given a page with stats and a scan of one of his baseball cards, and every year is given a page. Although the site does not fool with the minors, except tangentially, The Hall of Records is in a sense even more complete than Astroland. Really outstanding. If you love the Mets, like the Mets or even hate the Mets, you should visit this gentleman's site.
This site is simply an indispensable research tool. Nearly everyone involved in major league baseball, from writers for Baseball America to the glamour boys on ESPN to the information directors for the major league clubs uses this site. And it's all free! You just gotta mention that you got your box or whatever from them.
The ESPN.com Astro message boards; home of some idiocy, and some enlightened comment. We disagree often, but are united in our hatred of Cub trolls. Look for me as rastronomicals . . .
The Society for American Baseball Research: The Astroman is one of their newest members. The SABR-L lists are a pretty fascinating e-mail discussion group; they're fully searchable, too. Dues are steep at 50 bills, in my opinion.
The Express has just re-designed their site, and I liked it better before, but nobody's told the minor league clubs all their sites have to look the same. . .yet
And you thought I liked fancy computer scripts. This site's got Flash, Shockwave, Javascript galore. You're kind of torn between thinking it's all cool, and thinking that it's all a bit much. Anyway, the Legends are the Astros' Class A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.
It's what you get when you combine the Astros with a Podcast. Kewl. If Astroland were a Twins site. And less busy. Well that's it for right now. I'm sure I'll post some more. If you had a problem with any of these, Click here to go back to the Astroland home page
He's also cool coz, like me, he's got that groovy 2000 Upper Deck SPX Game Used Thang
please let me know so I can update/clean up.