Long Before there was Farmstros, there were the Ex-Stros

I'm usually not one to give in to peer pressure, but seeing that all the cool bloggers and tweeters and Houston media people in general are fishing for clicks and listeners with a take on the possible Astros' name change, I figured I'd get in on the feeding frenzy.

I have always been a fan of words and more specifically the sound of words. My auditory leanings have been a large part of my baseball experience. There's no better way to "watch" a game than on the radio. With all due respect to Milo Hamilton, Dave Raymond and Bret Dolan, I still miss Gene Elston, who will always be the voice of the Astros in my ears.

I have no doubt that this love of sounds has led me to form an emotional bond with the name Astros. Why else would I affectionatley call them the 'strosies? Why else would I name this blog Farmstros? Why else did I play imaginary games in my backyard as a boy between the Astros and the Ex-Stros?

Yes, you read right, the Ex-stros. Many a summer day was passed in my backyard pretending to be Jose Cruz or Joe Niekro- I still have a pretty sweet knuckleball. Yet, as the Houston heat increased, in the summer of 1978, I started to vary my games to keep myself interested.

Underneath the chinaberry tree that stood right next to the pitcher's mound, Joe Niekro and Joe Sambito stared down Milt May (Tigers) and Joe Morgan(Reds). Prince my pet dog was amazed to watch Jose Cruz and Art Howe take their hacks against Tom Griffin(Angels) and Dave Roberts(Cubs). In my mind, Gene Elston made the call and the Ex-stros played in Houston again.

As Houston's Major League baseball team moves forward into a hopefully improving era, calling that team anything but the "Astros" just won't sound right to me.