Winning Is a Goal Again : A New Owner Has Brought a New Attitude and Experienced Talent to the Young Astros, Who Succeeded Despite Being Sent Packing Last Season

As coldly as he might snuff a bug in the Astrodome clubhouse, then-owner John McMullen put a boot heel to the Houston Astros and figured that was the end of it.

Little did he know.

Four years ago, McMullen’s already strained relationship with Houston fans became a public shouting match when the Astros chose not to re-sign hometown hero Nolan Ryan, who signed with the Texas Rangers--whose uniform he will now wear upon induction into the Hall of Fame.

In Houston, McMullen was Scrooge. He, in turn, turned a contender into a sidewalk sale. Looking to cut his losses and sell, he unloaded players with high salaries, lowered his overhead and offered the Astros to the highest bidder.

While he searched for a buyer, he ordered up untested players from the minors and force-fed them to the big leagues.

McMullen seemed to be tampering with the very integrity of the game.

The results were predictable. After finishing 10 games over .500 in 1989, the Astros fell to 75-87 in 1990 and slumped to 65-97 in 1991.

Mission accomplished.

McMullen made baseball a challenge. In 1992, he rented the Astrodome out for the Republican Convention in the middle of the baseball season, forcing his team on a 26-game trip.

Leaving the Astro players for dead was a mistake, though.

Playing for little more than pride and paychecks, the young Astros steadily improved under Manager Art Howe and closed the season with a remarkable run.

They went 12-14 on that trip from hell and ended the season 81-81, winning 33 of their last 50 games.

“I wish I could explain it,” Howe said recently. “About the middle of that long road trip, we started playing great baseball, and we continued the rest of the year.”

The best news came last November, when McMullen sold the team to grocery store baron Drayton McLane Jr., who paid $115 million and promised not only to build a winner, but to heal wounds with the city.

McLane took a bold first step in December, luring free-agent pitchers Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell to the Astros with long-term contracts.

Houston took notice.

Almost as fast as they had been disassembled, the Astros suddenly had the look of a contender in the National League West. Getting the team back on track would be easier than getting the town back.

Despite the team’s respectable 1992 season, the Astros averaged only 14,956 fans.

“It had something to do with the previous owner and his relationship with the town,” said relief pitcher Doug Jones, who led the league with 36 saves last season. “The Nolan Ryan deal. The documented history. (McMullen) had a problem with the people of the town. He would be the first to tell you he was not a PR-oriented type of guy.”

McLane was just the opposite.

He promised to win fans back to the Astrodome.

Easier said than done?

“I don’t blame anybody,” Howe said of his city’s response to his team. “I just wish we would have gotten a little more support for our youngsters. To me, that’s when you need the support. They needed help. We were the lowest in attendance last year, and the last month and a half of the season we played as well as anyone in baseball.”

Who knew?

McLane is shaking the rafters. Under his watch, concessionaires at the Astrodome will not be allowed to sit during their shifts. To make baseball more affordable, he has offered $2 tickets in a 15,000-seat section of the upper deck on 13 Fridays during the season.

Getting up for a hot dog won’t be the same, either.

“We’re going to have management-level people who are going to be in the stands,” McLane recently told the Houston Post. “They’re going to have stopwatches, and we are going to measure from the time the fan walks up to the time he leaves how many seconds it takes him to get served.”

McLane, unexpectedly, was left with a fine nucleus of young talent. Craig Biggio and Ken Caminiti quickly blossomed from the farm system. Last year, Howe moved Biggio from catcher, where he had been an All-Star, to second base, where he became an All-Star. He batted .277 last year with 38 stolen bases.

Caminiti batted .294 and his fielding percentage of .966 ranked second among National League third baseman.

Right fielder Eric Anthony struggled initially after being called up but drove in 80 runs last season, despite a .239 average. Houston is still waiting for breakthrough seasons from shortstop Andujar Cedeno and outfield Luis Gonzales.

But the foundation seems set.

Ordered to cut the fat, General Manager Bill Wood made the most of it.

In 1990, he traded veteran pitcher Larry Andersen to Boston for first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who became the National League rookie of the year in 1991.

A year later, Wood traded veteran power hitter Glenn Davis to Baltimore for center fielder Steve Finley, who batted .292 last year, and Pete Harnisch, a solid starting pitcher.

It was left to new owner McLane to make the changes necessary to make the Astros contenders.

On Dec. 1, former Pittsburgh ace Drabek signed a four-year deal worth $19.5 million.

Three days later, Swindell, formerly of division rival Cincinnati, signed for $17 million over four years.

Three years after the franchise had been gutted, Houston was suddenly a place players wanted to come.

Former Astro outfielder Kevin Bass returned as a free agent.

McLane didn’t stop there. To prove he was serious about keeping this group intact, he signed Biggio, Caminiti and Finley to three-year contracts in February.

Howe, the manager, was glad he stuck around.

He said he never wanted out, even in the darkest days.

“No,” said Howe, who took over as manager in 1989. “I took it as a challenge. “ ‘Hey, we’re going to show people we’re better than what they give us credit for,’ and we did. Hopefully, we can exceed their expectations again this year.”

Howe survived one owner and now embraces another.

“He has every quality you can ask for,” Howe said of McLane. “He’s honest, he has a lot of integrity, he’s a go-getter, he’s upbeat. Everybody I talked to over the winter who knew him or worked with him in any fashion had nothing but good things to say about him.”

With McLane, the Astros’ payroll is expected to double this year.

Casey Candaele, a veteran utility infielder, said the attitude from the top can be felt in the clubhouse.

“We had some players who were young that grew up last year,” he said. “They feel now that they belong in the big leagues. Then you get some experienced players to go along with that, and that’s how you build chemistry on a team.”

Jones, the 35-year-old closer whose career seemed to have derailed in Cleveland, signed a minor league contract with Houston and rebounded with an 11-8 record, a 1.85 earned-run average and 36 saves.

“We have a lot of young players who are just beginning to make a mark,” he said. “And there’s every indication they’re still going to be here for a while.”

The signing of Drabek and Swindell this season sent a shock through the organization.

“It says we’re going to make a valid effort to win,” Jones said.

“There’s never any guarantees, but we’re going to make an honest effort. The potential is there. And when the potential is there, then you can’t stop the human will. We’ll get it done somehow, some way.”