There are a few reasons why the Houston Astros didn’t want to part ways with Jose Altuve long-term.
One was watching him break a career and franchise milestone.
Altuve hit a game-tying home run against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night, adding another to his illustrious career with the franchise and moving into fourth place all-time in home runs with Houston.
The extra-base hit was his 224th career, moving him past Jimmy Wynn, who had 223 career extra-base hits with the Astros.
Wynn is a Houston legend. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he played his first 11 seasons with the Colt 45s and then the Astros, making his first All-Star Game appearance with Houston in 1967. He later played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers.
Jose Altuve’s game-tying home run gave him his 224th career home run, moving him past Jimmy Wynn for fourth place in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/uW3hFTWDpy
— Julia Morales (@JuliaMorales) August 10, 2024
With Houston, he had a batting average of .255, 223 home runs, and 719 RBIs. He passed away in 2020. Houston retired his number 24 in 2005 and served as a commentator for Astros television broadcasts.
Wynn has something in common with Altuve: Wynn was 5’9″, considered small for his time. Altuve, at 5’6″, was the shortest player in major league baseball.
Only three players rank higher than Altuve on this list: Jeff Bagwell with 499 home runs, Lance Berkman with 326 and Craig Biggio with 291.
Both Bagwell and Biggio are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Astros legend isn’t going anywhere, either: He signed a five-year, $125 million contract extension in the offseason, keeping him in Houston through the 2029 season, giving him plenty of time to overtake Biggio, and possibly Berkman.
With this deal, Altuve set a record by becoming the first second baseman to earn $300 million in career earnings.
Earlier this season, the 36-year-old second baseman became just the third Houston player to reach 300 career stolen bases. In fact, he became just the fifth player in MLB history to have a career batting average below .300 with 2,000+ hits, 400 doubles, 200 home runs and 300+ stolen bases.
The four players Altuve joined are Derek Jeter, Paul Molitor, Willie Mays and Roberto Alomar.
Altuve was injured while playing for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic last season and missed about two months of the season.
Despite missing the game, he became just the third Astros player to reach 2,000 career hits, joining Bagwell and Biggio, and Altuve also hit for the cycle.
He is a two-time World Series champion, the 2017 American League MVP, an eight-time American League All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a Gold Glove Award winner.
