List of Houston Astros managers

Bill Virdon is the all-time winningest manager in Astro history; he won 544 games while leading the Astros to their first postseason berth in 1980 and two division titles.

The Houston Astros are a professional baseball franchise based in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the American League West Division in Major League Baseball. The team joined MLB in 1962 as an expansion team named the Houston Colt .45s and changed their name to the Houston Astros in 1965. The team won their first NL Championship in 2005. Having first played in Colt Stadium (1962–1964), and later in The Astrodome, now known as the Reliant Astrodome (1965–1999), the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, which was first named The Ballpark at Union Station, since 2000.[1][2] The current manager is Joe Espada.

There have been 25 managers for the Astros franchise.[3] The team's first manager was Harry Craft, who managed for three seasons. Bill Virdon is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games managed (1066) and the most regular-season game wins (544). Dusty Baker is the franchise's all-time leader in career playoff games managed (53) and playoff games won (34). Salty Parker is the Astros' all-time leader for the highest regular-season winning percentage, as he has only managed one game, which he won. Of the managers who have managed a minimum of 162 games (one season), Baker has the highest regular-season winning percentage with .594.[3] Leo Durocher is the only Astros manager to have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Durocher and Baker each achieved their 2,000th managerial win with the Astros.[4] Garner, Hinch, and Baker are the only managers to have won league pennants with the franchise, Garner winning one in the National League in 2005, Hinch winning two in the American League in 2017 and 2019, and Baker winning two in 2021 and 2022. Larry Dierker is the only Astros manager to have had his uniform number retired by the Astros, with his uniform number 49 retired by the Astros in 2002.[5] Dierker is also the sixth manager in MLB history to win a division championship in his first season for the Astros in 1997.[5] Lanier and Dierker are the only managers to have won a Manager of the Year Award with the Astros, winning it in 1986 and 1998 respectively.[6] Grady Hatton, Lanier, Dierker, and Cooper have spent their entire managing careers with the Astros.

Key

# Number of managers[a]
GM Regular-season games managed
W Regular-season wins
L Regular-season losses
Win% Regular-season winning percentage
PGM Playoff games managed
PW Playoff wins
PL Playoff losses
PWin% Playoff winning percentage
* Spent entire MLB managing career with the Colt .45s / Astros[3]
** Interim manager only[3]
*** Acting manager during manager's medical leave of absence
† Elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager[4]
§ Number retired by the Colt .45s / Astros franchise[5]

Managers

Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 season.

# Image Manager Years Games Wins Losses Pct. PA PW PWL Pct. Notes
1 Harry Craft 1962–1964 471 191 280 .406 — — — —
2 Luman Harris 1964–1965 175 70 105 .400 — — — —
3 Grady Hatton* 1966–1968 385 164 221 .426 — — — —
4 Harry Walker 1968–1972 708 355 353 .501 — — — —
5 Salty Parker** 1972 1 1 0 1.000 — — — —
6 Leo Durocher† 1972–1973 193 98 95 .508 — — — —
7 Preston Gómez 1974–1975 289 128 161 .443 — — — —
8 Bill Virdon 1975–1982 1,066 544 522 .510 10 4 6 .400
9 Bob Lillis 1982–1985 537 276 261 .514 — — — —
10 Hal Lanier* 1986–1988 486 254 232 .523 6 2 4 .333 1986 NL Manager of the Year[6]
11 Art Howe 1989–1993 810 392 418 .484 — — — —
12 Terry Collins 1994–1996 421 224 197 .532 — — — —
13 Larry Dierker*§ 1997–2001 810 448 362 .553 14 2 12 .143 1998 NL Manager of the Year[6]
14 Matt Galante*** 1999 27 13 14 .481 — — — —
15 Jimy Williams 2002–2004 412 215 197 .522 — — — —
16 Phil Garner 2004–2007 529 277 252 .524 26 13 13 .500 2005 NL championship
17 Cecil Cooper* 2007–2009 341 171 170 .501 — — — —
18 Dave Clark** 2009 13 4 9 .308 — — — —
19 Brad Mills* 2010–2012 445 171 274 .384 — — — —
20 Tony DeFrancesco** 2012 41 16 25 .390 — — — —
21 Bo Porter* 2013–2014 300 110 190 .367 — — — —
22 Tom Lawless** 2014 24 11 13 .458 — — — —
23 A. J. Hinch 2015–2019 810 481 329 .594 50 28 22 .560 2017 World Series Champion
2019 AL championship
24 Dusty Baker 2020–2023 546 320 226 .586 53 34 19 .642 2022 World Series Champion
2021 AL championship
25 Joe Espada 2024–present 161 88 73 .547 — — — —

Notes

  • a A running total of the number of managers of the Colt .45s/Astros. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms as a manager is only counted once.
  • b Each year is linked to an article about that particular MLB season.

References

General
  • "Astros All-Time Managers". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  • "Astros Year-by-year Results". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  • "Houston Astros History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-04-06. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
Specific
  1. ^ "Astros History". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  2. ^ "Front Office". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  3. ^ a b c d "Houston Astros Managerial Register". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2015-03-22. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  4. ^ a b "Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Their Year of Induction". BaseballHallofFame.com. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  5. ^ a b c "Astros Retired Numbers". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  6. ^ a b c "Manager of the Year Award Winners". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2000-09-25. Retrieved 2008-12-26.