Houston Sports: San Jacinto Day with the Astros and Rockets

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HOUSTON – APRIL 10: Original member of the Houston Colt 45’s, Bob Aspromonte, throws out the ceremonial first pitch gold baseball before the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on April 10, 2012 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

San Jacinto Day goes Major League

On April 21, 1962 the Houston Colt .45s played the first San Jacinto day game in the major leagues. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies that day 3-1.

The Colt .45s/Astros started out 0-4 on San Jacinto Day (including 0-2 in a double header at the Dodgers in 1963). Houston’s major league club won for the first time in 1965 at the Phillies by a score of 11-4.

On the whole the 60s were not a good decade for the Astros on San Jacinto Day as they went 1-7 over the decade.

A new team comes to Houston

The 1970s made it two Houston Sports teams able to compete on San Jacinto Day. It brought the Rockets to Houston from San Diego before the 1971-72 season. Around that time the NBA season ended at the end of March or first week of April and San Jacinto Day fell during the playoffs.

Because of the early ending season it wasn’t until 1977 that the Rockets played on Houston’s holiday. That year they faced the Washington Bullets in game two of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Rockets won 124-118 in front of the hometown crowd at the Summit.

While the Rockets only played on San Jacinto Day once in the 70s the Astros played eight times against five different teams on San Jacinto Day (every year but 1971 and 1977), finishing with a record of 6-2 during the decade.

Because the Astros didn’t play on San Jacinto Day 1977 Houstonians missed the chance to see both teams in action for the first time on their hometown holiday.

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