Your Houston Astros vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 1980, The Astrodome

A couple years ago, I stumbled upon a set of negatives from one of my dad’s boxes full of them. He was a photojournalist and newspaperman in the early 1980s and while I was looking mostly for photos of our family, this one caught my eye. It was labeled “Astros/Cardinals 1980 ‘dome.” Some sleuthing revealed it to be this game, the second in a doubleheader between the Astros and the Cards (who will play presumably their last regular rivalry games this year, the Astros final in the National League). This Astros team, featuring Art Howe, Joe Morgan, Jose Cruz, Cesar Cedeno, and Luis Pujols, must have been a fun one to watch (these were taken two years before I was born; my brother was six months old). Here are a few of my favorites from the roll. As per usual, you can click to embiggen. All photos by my dad, Bill Burton, awesome person extraordinaire in more ways than 100:

Truth: this photo makes me all lump-throated.

Houston, Texas, y’all.

Amazing capture of a pitcher’s delivery. I miss you, real cameras.

Say what you will: Joe Morgan was baller.

Art Howe making sure he gets what he wants and, you know, not looking a thing like Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

I am a patient boy. I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait.

Uno.

Dos.

Tres.

Ted Simmons was handsome as heck.

My dad was by the Cards dugout for most of this game and this photo is amaaaaaaazing.

Where have you gone, Astros singers? / A nation turns its lonely eyes to you / Ooo ooo oo