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He gave the ‘Stros the margin of victory in Game 3 of the 2022 ALCS against the Yankees in New York. Chas McCormick’s 2-run homer (shown above📸MLB.com) spotted Houston all they’d need to take a commanding 3-game lead in the best-of-seven series with a 5-zip win on October 22, 2022.

Smart money’s on Chas coming nowhere close to calling his 2-out, 2nd-inning dinger to right. But, I’m willing to bet the 27-year-old wasn’t surprised when it finally cleared the wall!

The Wayback Machine is set to nearly 3 1/2 years ago, when McCormick was wondering when his minor league trek would end, and he’d finally bust through to The Show for the Minute Maid Nine. His landing in Houston happened April 1, 2021.

Portions of this article appeared in The Runner Sports, June 13, 2019.

I can put the ball in play whenever I want.

“For me, making contact is easy.” Such bold self-confidence in a ballplayer is rare these days, with most pros opting to, at least, sound modest and self-effacing. But, Houston Astros centerfielder, Chas McCormick, is confident, but far from cocky.

“I can put the ball in play whenever I want.” Sure sounds cocky. But, two things convince Chas fans he’s not decidedly arrogant. His genial, “aw-shucks” personality, and his play in the field. Plus, you’ve just gotta love a guy whose pre-game meal is a PB&J sandwich, and whose Twitter handle is @Chazzyfizz!

2020 Foresight

Besides earning the organizational step-up by his play, McCormick’s promotion serves to fill the Round Rock Express roster spot vacated by baseball’s hottest new rookie, Yordan Alvarez, who was promoted to Houston, June 9, 2019.

The six-foot, 208-pound McCormick is smart enough to realize he’s got no one’s shoes to fill, but is simply progressing apace toward his goal of reaching Houston and their currently crowded outfield. That should happen next season, if only for a September peek.

Improvisational Chas

McCormick, born in 1995 in West Chester (one of four brothers, one an identical twin, Jason), less than an hour outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, excelled at both baseball and basketball for the Warriors at West Chester’s Henderson High School, amassing a career total of 1,000 points on the hardwood while pitching lefty and hitting on the diamond.

Among their many august graduates, Henderson also produced southpaw Jon Matlack, the three-time National League All-Star who pitched for the New York Mets and Texas Rangers in his 13-year career. Matlack, just before retiring, spent the 2012 season as the Astros’ minor league pitching coordinator.

Four all-conference nods with the diamond Warriors led the then- 5’11”, 175-pound McCormick to the Division II Millersville University.

Right away, McCormick displayed his high-contact ability with the Marauders, logging a .335/.413/.419 slash line with nine steals, and only 18 strikeouts in 236 plate appearances.

As a sophomore, and growing into his body a bit more, McCormick began driving the ball more noticeably, collecting six home runs, and continued to put the ball in play in over 90 percent of his trips to the plate.

A Slap in the Pace

It was his junior year that McCormick noticed some interest coming his way from MLB teams. A slash line of .412/.488/.525 with 33 stolen bases better get some interest from scouts.

McCormick recalled his junior year to The Crawfish Boxes: “I played really well down the stretch and we went to the World Series, we won a regional championship. I think scouts saw me perform. After that year I got a call from the Astros; they said ‘we’ll draft you in the 25th round’… and they never did.”

Redemption Sought…

A lesser man –a less confident man– might have felt defeated and let his performance flag the following year. Not Chas:

“That’s where I was like, okay, at least they have interest. As long as I stay focused my senior year, I think I should get drafted as a senior sign, and that’s exactly what happened,” McCormick recalled, failing miserably in hiding that infectious grin.

…And Found

McCormick, a right-handed batter, made more believers his senior year at Millersville, hitting .384 while nabbing another 23 steals in 25 attempts and whacking a career-high nine homers. A full year after his 2016 draft day disappointment, the Astros selected McCormick in the 21st round in 2017. It’s said he was not on any other team’s draft board.

I think he has a chip on his shoulder.

“He’s one of the most beloved guys in our program ever,” Millersville head coach Jon Shehan proudly beamed to MiLB.com recently. “I can tell you that Chas always steps up to the plate and gets hits.

“He’s a super competitive kid, and I think he has a chip on his shoulder. He was one of the best players at the D-II level, and I think he wants to prove to other teams that he was overlooked coming out of college.”

Self-aware almost to a fault, McCormick is philosophical when realizing he’s not a sexy, round-one star coveted by 30 teams: “I think you have to play with a sense of urgency, because you don’t have all the time in the world to be sitting in A-ball, or on the IL, so personally, I’m making sure I stay healthy every year so I can play every single day, and play my butt off.

“There’s less room for error for guys like me.”

Creating a Little More Room For Error

In 2017, McCormick batted .298 through three levels in his first pro season, reaching Advanced-A Buies Creek by year’s end. In 2018, he spent the back half of the season with Corpus Christi, batting .280 with a .344 on-base percentage.

In 2019, he closed his AA Hooks campaign with a .277 average, and nine of 12 steals, with a Texas League-leading .426 on-base percentage through 53 games. He played all outfield positions, but mostly right.

His 39 walks to only 28 Ks speaks… and does so loudly… to his high contact rate, should there still be any skeptics.

And, Then There’s That Wall Thing…

Picture it: Tulsa, sometime in early 2019, a ball… a wall. So the ball wouldn’t clear the wall, somebody had to go up and get it. And, a social media sensation (and a SportsCenter Top 10 clip) was born:

In speaking to Spencer Morris of The Crawfish Boxes in early May, Chas relayed this update on his progress through Houston’s system: “I’m a good two-strike hitter, too, so I’m getting in deeper counts, which is helping me a lot. [I’m not] so focused on just putting the ball in play.”

Digging a little more, McCormick continued: “[Houston’s minor league coaches] actually told me to swing and miss more. And that’s tough for me, because usually if I’m swinging, I’m going to make contact.”

There he goes again!

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Orbit is the Houston Astros’ chubby, fuzzy, award-winning alien mascot. And, curiously, he’s on his second “mission” in his current position.

From 1990 through 1999, when the team’s home was the Astrodome, Orbit energized his team and the Dome faithful. For some reason, he gave way to a seven-foot-tall railroad conductor jackrabbit named Junction Jack.

As the Astros were moving downtown, adjacent to the 103-year-old Union Station train depot, perhaps a desert-dwelling, long-eared leporid seemed appropriate.

Junction Jack ultimately retired (with his unofficial, non-mascot “relatives,” Junction Julie and Junction Jesse), it’s widely-believed, to a hill country carrot ranch somewhere in the Texas hill country, which opened the door for Orbit’s return.

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Social Media Outcry

Concurrent with Junction Jack’s exit was a sudden Facebook uprising in 2010 with the loud “Bring Back Orbit” fan-driven clarion call. The goal, of course, was to encourage Houston’s baseball suits to consider bringing back the popular green leader of cheers with the orange antennas.

Re-inserted into his Astros’ mascot role in November, 2012, Orbit (aka Homerunus Spectacularus from the Grand Slam Galaxy) was brought back to help kick off the Astros’ new retro colors and uniform. This coincided with the team’s switch from the National League to the American League for the 2013 season, and effectively sent the long-eared baseball bunny, Jack, back into his Junction hole.

The Man Under the Fuzz

In the early fall of 2012, the Astros conducted a two-month-long contest to fill the newly-reconstituted Orbit costume. The winner was one Richard Tapia, a 2003 University of Texas graduate. Tapia had extensive mascot experience that he was sure helped push him over the top.

He was his high school’s mascot, and he manifested his sports excitement in the guise of UT’s Hook ‘Em, the school’s boot-scootin’, hat-doffin’ Longhorn steer. Tapia even went pro portraying the Round Rock Express’ bulldog, Spike, just prior to his being tapped as Orbit.

“I’ve been doing this for 13 years now,” Tapia proudly told the Texas Exes publication, Alcalde, in November 2012. “I brought the judges a detailed business plan, and told them what I brought to the table in terms of the creative and the business side of the job.” Tapia now holds the title of the Astros’ Senior Manager of Entertainment Marketing.

The Grand Slam Galaxy’s Gift to Space City

Discounting any origin story that might result in some sort of “Big Bang Theory,” the Astros’ Publicity Department provides the following official Orbit bio: “After the 1999 season, Houston Astros mascot, Orbit, hitched a ride on the space shuttle Discovery to visit his home back in the Grand Slam Galaxy. After founding an intergalactic school for kids and serving diligently in his community, Orbit yearned for Houston and the best fans in baseball.

“Time in space sure makes the years fly. After Orbit heard the outcry from fans asking him to come back to their beloved Houston Astros, he knew it was time to return. Orbit is back and ready to lead the Houston Astros and their fans into a new era of baseball.” Orbit won the 2015 Best Mascot by Gameops.com, the first MLB mascot to win the award.

If one lime-green alien wasn’t enough, the Astros introduced his “evil twin,” Norbit, in early May 2016. As one might guess, as fun and family-friendly as Orbit is and has been….well, Norbit, from the get-go, was up to no good, right down to his Snidely Whiplash handlebar mustache, backwards cap, and black slash line through his “00”jersey number:

Not to be outdone, #1/2, Lil’ Bit, made his debut in 2016!

Orbit, since his 2012 return, has since become quite the decorated alien, as he was named a 2014 All-Star, and that year traveled with the MLB All-Stars to Japan. He was also the first MLB mascot to win the Best Mascot Award by Gameops.com.

1960s and Beyond

Orbit, as long-time Colt .45s and Astros fans will fondly remember, wasn’t the first Astros mascot, or even the first on-field representative of Houston’s baseball team.

The first Astros mascot wasn’t furry, and didn’t even sport an oversized head (at least according to his agent), but was fairly short-lived. He was an actual human, comedian Bill Dana, who was initially introduced to fans in January 1965 by Astrodome creator and team president Roy Hofheinz.  

Dana appeared as his comedic alter-ego, Jose Jimenez, “the honorary eighth astronaut,” in full Astros uniform, and performed comedy skits before games.

Also in the Astros’ early days of the 1960s and into the ’90s, the Astrodome had a house band: The Astronuts were a four-piece Dixieland band who delighted fans in the stands between innings with banjo, trombone, trumpet, and tuba.

Also (and clearly not mascots), for many years, orange-suited, helmeted “Earthmen” groundskeepers dragged the infield periodically during games. Serving as ushers were fetching females roaming the concourse and field boxes, known as “Spacettes.” They dressed in suitably “space-age” style suits, replete with Jackie Kennedy-esque pill box hats.

“Chet” in Charge, 1970s

Following closely on the heels of Ted Giannoulas’ iconic 1974 San Diego Chicken (Padres), the Astros debuted their very first “traditional” mascot, Chester Charge in April 1977. Charge had a short life span, and was retired in 1979.

Chester Charge was a 45-pound costumed cartoon Texas Cavalry soldier (portrayed by Reed Robinson), occasionally on horseback, with limited game-time activities, including a pre-game appearance, 7th-inning stretch shenanigans, and post-win base-rounding. He’d usually appear at the sound of a bugle call (and the crowd bellowing “Charge!”) as the Dome’s spectacular scoreboard lit up after an Astros homer and win.

The first Chester Charge was played by Steve Ross, who was then an 18-year-old high school student. The creation of Chester Charge and the captivating scoreboard graphics were devised by Houston cartoonist Ed Henderson.

The ‘80s: Bunnies ‘n’ Dillos ‘n’ Rainbows!

Astrojack, a humanoid rabbit, and Astrodillo, an anthropomorphic armadillo, were mascots for the Astros in the 1980s. They wore the Astros’ iconic “rainbow” uniforms of the time, and were also the team’s first mascots to entertain in the stands.

Before games and during breaks between innings, ‘Jack and ‘Dillo would also race around the field on three-wheelers and perform skits with The Astronuts. The creator of Astrojack and Astrodillo, Logan Goodson, would go on to create Junction Jack.

1990s, Mascot Mayhem Ensues

General Admission (shamelessly punning on the $4 bleacher seats of the Astrodome) was a mascot in the mid-to-late 1990s whose ultimate fate was unpredictable. He was played by a middle-aged male and wore a traditional U.S. Cavalry uniform complete with gold stars he would apply to his uni for every Astros dinger hit in the Dome.

Also, whenever an Astro hit a homer, The General would fire a cannon from his outfield perch that would sometimes startle fans seated nearby. Nevertheless, the General’s Dome time was limited.

Fun, if not disturbing, fact: General Admission’s “public execution” made him the only Major League mascot ever to be "killed" in front of fans: At the end of 1999’s final game at the Astrodome, Orbit pointed his ray gun (reportedly named “Ronald”—Ronald Ray Gun) at General Admission, and zapped him, unceremoniously, right between the eyes. Hey, it happens.

“Track”-ing Spring “Train”-ing

A gentleman named Michael Kenny was the man in the General’s costume that fateful night. Altruistic to a fault, and always ones to take care of their own, Astros brass (in 2000) saw fit to award Kenny the job of conducting the Enron Field (as it was originally and briefly known) train looming on its track above the outfield.

The train (25% larger than a real-life locomotive), with its car filled with oranges following closely behind, inches its way down the track behind the Crawford Boxes during home run celebrations. Kenny is currently Senior Director of Guest Services for the ‘Stros.

Kenny’s job on the track lasted just one year, however. In 2001, Bobby Vazquez, then an intern with the team’s promotions department, decided to slip on the engineer’s overalls. “I just happened to be in the right place," Vasquez (aka “Bobby Dynamite”) told the Houston Chronicle in 2015.

Immensely popular with fans, Vazquez blows the horn and rings the bell on the train, particularly when an Astro hits a dinger. "Are you kidding me? I've got the greatest job in the world," Vasquez added, almost giddily. "I get to come to the best stadium in baseball and drive the train for the team I've loved all my life. Who could want anything more?"

Vasquez is in his mid-’40s; he figures he might have another decade in him on the track. "I'll do this until they tell me I can't do it anymore. Why would I want to stop?"

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