Bob Aspromonte

Signed from the sandlots of Brooklyn, New York by the Dodgers in 1956, Bob Aspromonte arrived in as an original member of the Houston Colt .45s after being selected in the 1961 National League expansion draft. Prior to Houston, Aspromonte spent two years with the Dodgers after their move to Los Angeles in 1960 and 1961. He recorded the first hit and scored the first run in Houston franchise history during the club’s inaugural game, on April 10, 1962, an 11-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Colt Stadium. An Opening Day starter during his entire career with Houston, “Aspro” set an NL record in 1962 by playing 57 consecutive errorless games at third base. In 1962 he also became friends with Bill Bradley, a young boy from Arkansas who was undergoing surgery in Houston to recover his eye sight following a lightning strike. Bradley asked his friend, “Bobby”, to hit a home run once in 1962 and twice in 1963, which Aspromonte amazingly did each time. Two of the homers were game-winning grand slams. Bob Aspromonte led the Astros with six career grand slams until his record was tied in 2004. He was the 1964 team MVP after setting NL records for fewest errors (11) and posting the highest fielding percentage (.973) at third base. A clutch hitter throughout his career, Aspromonte recorded 14 game-winning hits in 1965 and was the first Houston players to hit a regular season home run in the “Eighth Wonder of the World”, the Astrodome. Overall, Bob Aspromonte played in a Houston uniform from 1962-1968 before moving on to the Atlanta Braves (1969-70) and the New York Mets (1971). In 2019 Bob Aspromonte was inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class.