Nowadays, it’s de rigueur to dog on Drayton McLane. The long-time Astros owner is cheap and an overspender, too concerned with marketing and driving fans away with losing teams, leaves impact prospects to rot on the vine in the minors and won’t draft good players. I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for seasonal flooding and mosquitoes, too. But let’s hop in the Houstonist DeLorean and take a second look at the erstwhile Uncle Drayton.

We’ve landed in Houston in 1993. McLane has just purchased the Astros from the previous owners, who drove away Nolan Ryan and threatened to move the team to Washington, D.C. McLane was one of two new pro team owners that year: Les Alexander had purchased the Rockets right as they apexed with their back-to-back championships. The third owner was some jackass named Bud Adams, and I think we all know how that one ended. The Astros had a core of young players, including 1991 Rookie of the Year Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, and a .500 record.

McLane’s first big splash was signing pitchers Doug Drabek and Craig Swindell, both local guys. Drabek was three years removed from a Cy Young season in Pittsburgh (back when Steel City knew how to win baseball games), and five consecutive seasons of 14 wins or more. The rest of the baseball world was on notice: gone were the days when the Astros would be sellers only; they had deep pockets and were willing to spend to get the players they wanted. While Drabek and Swindell both struggled with injuries and inconsistency in Houston, the tone was set. Even in other Houston sports, the bar had been raised, and between McLane, Alexander, and Bob McNair, we’re lucky to have three very consistent, focused owners.

Since McLane took over, the Astros have been the 4th winningest franchise in baseball. Re-read that. Now re-read that again. Now call your cousin who lives in Chicago (or Pittsburgh, or Baltimore, or Seattle) and ask them if they’d like to have a team that wins that much. As easily as we can rattle off McLane’s mistakes (overspending on veterans, under-spending on draft picks, alienating Gerry Hunsicker, bowing to fan pressure too easily), we’ve had it damned good. This isn’t just some battered wife syndrome, either. Wins are wins, and even in spite of the lean years since the 2005 World Series run, the Astros are one of the most successful professional baseball teams of the past 20 years.

No sports owner will make right decisions 100% of the time. The dearly departed George Steinbrenner ran a joke of a franchise for most of the 80’s and 90’s, before he replicated his Bronx Zoo success in the late ‘90s. Most baseball fans would give useful body parts for the kind of success that McLane has brought to Houston. You see, Biggio and Bagwell weren’t enough; hell, they were on the down slope of their careers by the time the World Series came to town. Drayton spent and hired and fired more wisely than not for close to a decade.

“But the Astros suck!” you say. And you’re right. “And their farm system sucks, too!” And you’re less right. But the Astros are in the same position today that they were in 1993, except that now fans expect more from the team because of their success.

Does this mean that it’s time for someone else to ride in on a white horse like McLane did almost 20 years ago, and inject some new life into the franchise? It wouldn’t hurt. But before you get out the pitchforks and torches to drive Drayton out of town, consider that any replacement has some big shoes to fill. The next guy could be a John Henry, the Red Sox owner who finally propelled them past the Yankees, or it could be another Bud Adams. If he’s just another Drayton, that may not be such a bad thing after all.

Filed in News and tagged astros, baseball, drayton mclane, sports, sports radio heresy

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