Astros All-Time Best Seasons: Right Field

1967: Rusty Staub

My, my, doesn’t that uniform look awfully familiar?

I’ve always felt like Rusty Staub is one of those ‘forgotten Astros,’ so I feel it’s my duty to give him a small moment in the limelight. (Here come the comments from guys who are older than my dad telling me they remember Rusty Staub just fine…sorry fellas).

In ’67 on a team that finished 69-93, Staub quietly put up beastly numbers:

• Slash line: .333/.398/.473
• 10 home runs (but wait)/44 doubles/74 RBI
• Struck out just 47 times (to put things in perspective, Jose Altuve struck out just 53 times last season)

Staub wasn’t great in the field, and made 11 errors in ’67, but again, those offensive stats overshadow that. He put up a 5.1 WAR despite his fielding woes, which wasn’t a career high, but it was for his career in a Houston uniform.

I’m not sure if Staub has much of a chance of ever sneaking into the Hall of Fame, (probably wouldn’t wear a Houston Astros hat anyway, fringe Expos fans rejoice!) but with 2,716 career hits, 499 doubles and 1,466 RBI, he’s got to be one of the very, very good players in baseball history at the very least.

Oh, wait, 2,716 hits isn’t impressive, because he played for 23 years, and guys who play that long are just “stat aggregators,” right? Right?  

Sorry, no need to travel down that wormhole again, but good Lord, what has the baseball writing world come to?

Next: 2000: Moises Alou