1999 Houston Astros season
| 1999 Houston Astros | |
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| 1999 NL Central Champions | |
Final Astros regular season game (in the Astrodome) on October 3, 1999
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| Major League affiliations | |
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| Location | |
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| Results | |
| Record | 97–65 (.599) |
| Divisional place | 1st |
| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | Drayton McLane, Jr. |
| General manager(s) | Gerry Hunsicker |
| Manager(s) | Larry Dierker |
| Local television |
KNWS-TV Fox Sports Southwest (Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies) |
| Local radio |
KTRH (Milo Hamilton, Alan Ashby) KXYZ (Francisco Ernesto Ruiz, Alex Treviño) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1999 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The Astros won their third consecutive National League Central division title. It was their final season playing in the Astrodome as their home ballpark.
In 1999, the Astros played their final season in the Astrodome as their new stadium was being prepared for play to begin in the 2000 season. The ballpark was first christened as Enron Field on April 9, 1999, with naming rights sold to the Houston energy and financial trading company in a 30-year, $100 million deal. Astros management faced a public relations nightmare when the energy corporation went bankrupt in the midst of one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history in 2001, and they bought back the remainder of Enron's thirty years of naming rights for $2.1 million, rechristening the ballpark as Astros Field on February 7, 2002. The field was unofficially known as "The Field Formerly Known As Enron" by fans and critics alike, in wake of the Enron scandal. On June 5, 2002, Houston-based Minute Maid, the fruit-juice subsidiary of Coca-Cola, acquired the naming rights to the stadium for 28 years at a price exceeding $100 million.
Based on its downtown location next to the old Union Station buildings, one of the suggested names (and nicknames) is the Ballpark at Union Station, or the BUS. During its days as Enron Field, it was also dubbed "Ten-Run" or "Home Run" Field due to its cozy left-field dimensions. In keeping with this theme while paying homage to its current sponsor, the nickname "The Juice Box" is colloquially used today.
On April 21, Jeff Bagwell hit three home runs in a 10–3 win against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, his second career three-home run game. The second home run allowed him to surpass Jimmy Wynn as the Astros' all-time home run leader at 224 and he tied a career-high in one game with six runs batted in (RBI). He produced another three-home run game on June 9 against the Chicago White Sox. He was also a grand slam short of hitting for the "home run cycle," with a solo home run, a three-run home run, and a two-run home run, respectively. The two three-home run games made him the only player to accomplish this feat at two different stadiums in Chicago in the same season.
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