World Series Champions (2024): Houston Astros

In 1962 the Houston Colt .45s entered the National League as an expansion Major League Baseball franchise. Three years later, the team moved into the Astrodome, one of the first domed baseball parks in the world. At that point, the team’s name was changed to the Astros. Over the next two decades, the Astros were a very successful franchise in terms of attendance but rarely won many baseball games. In the 1990s a new generation of Astro players such as Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio led a recharged team to the National League Championship Series three times only to meet defeat on each occasion. It was not until 2005 that the Astros at last reached the World Series, only to be swept in four games by a resurgent Chicago White Sox team. In more recent years, the Astros, who had switched to the American League, won the World Series in 2017 and 2022. The Astros once again made the World Series in 2023 only to lose to their rival Texas Rangers in a thrilling playoff. It is the history of the Houston Astros, and some of its greatest players, that are highlighted in this selection from the illustrated “World Series Champions” series. In this concise book, young baseball fans will learn about this stellar team’s early years, its star players, and the rise to championships that has occurred in the Astros most recent seasons. No mention is made of the cheating scandal that dogged the team after its World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, but readers with an interest in this subject can certainly find documentation of that fact if they wish. Like other books in this baseball series, the story of the Astros is one that will interest emerging sports fans and baseball aficionados in particular.

–Children's Literature, 02/29/2024