Collecting baseball cards in the late 1960s presented a peculiar puzzle, especially for fans of the Houston Astros. Before they were known as the Astros, Houston’s baseball team was the Colt .45s from 1962 to 1964. The rebranding to the Astros in 1965 coincided with their move to the groundbreaking Astrodome. Initially, they even tried natural grass in this indoor marvel before switching to artificial turf in 1966, famously known as Astroturf. This much is well-documented baseball history.
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During this era, Topps, the major baseball card producer, generally aimed for accuracy in depicting players with their correct teams. If a player switched teams during the off-season, Topps would update their card, although sometimes they wouldn’t yet have a photo in the new uniform. In such cases, they might use a headshot without a hat, or obscure the hat logo, to avoid showing a player in an outdated uniform. This effort was to prevent confusion for young collectors, even if the team switch was often still discernible. The 1960s were a period of significant expansion in baseball, with numerous new teams and franchise relocations, making uniform accuracy a recurring challenge for Topps, often resulting in cards with altered or missing hats.
This brings us back to the Houston Astros and their Astros Uniforms.
In 1965, Topps initially seemed slow to acknowledge Houston’s name change. Early series cards referred to the team simply as “Houston” and still featured the old Colt .45s hats. Later 1965 cards did correctly use “Houston Astros,” but without any visible team logos.
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Image: A selection of 1965 Topps baseball cards, highlighting the evolving team name depiction for Houston.
However, for 1966 and 1967, Topps seemed to get it right. They released well-regarded sets that correctly identified the team as the Astros, complete with accurate names, hats, and astros uniforms. Problem solved? Not quite.
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Then came 1968, and suddenly, the “Astros” name vanished from both the front and back of the cards. Furthermore, the astros uniforms and hats were conspicuously absent. Interestingly, cards for the other 19 teams in the league still used team nicknames, not just city names. As a young, avid card collector at the time, the missing Astros name went unnoticed until years later. Investigating this anomaly, inquiries were made to Topps, former employees, the Astros team historian, player Rusty Staub, and various baseball bloggers. The common reaction was surprise, “I can’t believe I never noticed that.”
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The most credible explanation points to a trademark dispute between Monsanto and the Astros over the name “Astros.” While the baseball team adopted the name first, it’s theorized that Monsanto, the creator of Astroturf, actually trademarked it. Topps, wanting to avoid any legal entanglement, likely took a cautious stance by omitting the name altogether.
For a young fan growing up in Houston, collecting an entire set of these generic, hatless, and logoless Astros cards, like the Jim Wynn example, might have been disheartening. Would it have driven some young fans away from collecting, or even baseball itself? Perhaps towards more “productive” pursuits?
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Despite the Topps card mystery, the Astros team continued using their name and logo. Major League Baseball also authorized its use by other entities. Dexter Press, for example, released a set of postcard-sized cards in 1968 featuring vibrant Astros photos, including one of Joe Morgan, showcasing the correct astros uniforms and branding. These postcards would have been a much more appealing option for young Houston fans seeking Astros memorabilia that year.
In 1969, Topps again avoided the “Astros” name and the full astros uniform in the initial series of cards. However, by Series Four, around June, the uniform started reappearing, though the team name remained absent. Whatever the dispute was, it seemed to be resolving, but Topps likely decided to maintain consistency throughout the entire 1969 set by not reintroducing the name mid-season.
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Finally, in 1970, Topps fully reinstated the Astros, providing many collectors with their first proper look at the complete astros uniform in years, especially the striking home uniforms. While this was a welcome change for all collectors, for young baseball enthusiasts in Houston, Texas, it must have been a truly glorious return to full team representation on their beloved baseball cards.
Image: A 1970 Topps baseball card, marking the full return of Astros branding and uniforms, a relief for Houston baseball card collectors.
