He was the GM of the Big Red Machine and the guy who hoodwinked the Astros into trading them Joe Morgan (and Cesar Geronimo, Jack Billingham) for Lee (the bust) May. It has to be the worst trade in Astros history.
I remember him well as I lived in Dayton throughout his entire tenure. He was the perfect antidote to the prior owner, Bill Dewitt ( remember him, he traded Frank Robinson at the age of 30 claiming he was washed up. He won the Triple Crown for Baltimore the next year!). The Morgan trade was a steal but how about getting George Foster from the Giants for Frank Duffy? Howsam made sure his players were acessible and active in the local communities as well. I'm partial but I still think the Big Red machine was the greatest baseball team ever assembled. Pete Rose 3b Ken Griffey RF Joe Morgan 2b Tony Perez1B Johnny Bench C George Foster LF Dave Concepcion SS Cesar Geronimo CF Sparky Anderson, Mgr. Bench: Dan Driessen, Ray Knight etc. etc.
Probably position for position one the best. I think the pitching probably keeps them from being the best of all time. But that lineup was something else. PJ in Jersey
The Astros made up for that trade with the Glen Davis for Curt Schilling, Pete Harnisch, and Steve Finley rape of the Orioles in 1991.
I once had a business lunch with Dick Wagner when he was Howsam's asst. GM, somewhere around 73 to 74. It involved the possibility of the Reds investing some of their cash in a leveraged transaction that my bank in Indy was putting together. Although I conducted myself with the appropriate professionalism, I was like a little boy inside. The deal never worked out, but the meeting was a cool experience for this baseball junkie. As you know, Terry, Wagner went on to become the GM of the Astros several years later.
Lol...except as little as the Big Bopper did with the O's, none of those other guys did much for the Astros, Schilling was gone to the Phils the next year and while Finley and Harnish had some decent years neither lasted more than 4 years with us...so we might have bested the O's a little but not in the category of the Morgan trade!
Yeah he was here for some good Astros teams, he couldn't get along with either Hal Lanier or Marge Schott though could he!! 86 Astros were one of my favorite teams, we had Mike Scott who drove people nuts with his splitter which they all, esp the Reds, thought he was actually cutting or scuffing the ball. The Reds used to save every ball they could and show them to the Umps to try and expose him. We clinched the NL West on a no-hitter by Mike Scott against the Giants. We lost the Championship to the Mets though games 5 and 6 were esp tough losses.
I remember that 86 playoff. I was cheering for the Astros because I did not like the Mets. I liked to watch Scott pitch. He was a good one.