Terry Puhl spent 14 of his 15 seasons in MLB with the Houston Astros. Along with Puhl, former Astros front office executive Tal Smith will be the two newest members of the Astros Hall of Fame.
Drafted out of high school from Melville, Saskatchewan, in 1973, Puhl was an exceptional athlete who caught Astros scouts’ attention. During his 14-year career with the Astros (1977-1990), Puhl played in 1516 games patrolling the Astros outfield. Still to this day, Puhl’s .993 fielding percentage ranks him among one of the best outfielders in Astros history.
Known for his left-handed swing, Puhl was a fixture in the Astros lineup where he hit .280, with 62 home runs and 435 RBIs. Puhl was also a menace on the base path, where he managed 217 stolen bases in his career with the Astros. In the 1980 NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies, Puhl had a slash line of .526/.591./632/1.222. The Astros would lose the series to the Phillies, later winning the World Series over the Kansas City Royals.
Since he retired in 1991, Puhl was elected to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2006, Puhl was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. Also, in 2006, Puhl was announced as the first head baseball coach at the University of Houston-Victoria. Puhl will be entering his 15th season as the Jaguars head baseball coach when the Jaguars take the field on January 28 against Wayland Baptist University.
Puhl was also the manager for Team Canada during the 2008 Bejing Olympics. Team Canada convincingly won their first game over Team China 10-0, and Team Canada would drop their next two games, both very close games, thus ending their run for a gold medal.
When Puhl found out he was elected to the Astros Hall of Fame, he said, “It’s an incredible honor. When I first heard about it, I actually got emotional, and I never get emotional.” Both Puhl and Smith will be inducted in a ceremony on August 13 at Minute Maid Park, before the Astros game vs. the Oakland Athletics.
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