Days Of Dominance: The Houston Astros' 1986 Rotation of Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Bob Knepper, Jim DeShaies

Musicologists have spent plenty of ink detailing how The Beatles got together. Like the Fab 4, the rainbow-wrapped 1986 Astros starting rotation didn’t just merge in one day, either….or by accident.

Nolan Ryan was used to being the ace on a pitching staff. But, on the 1986 Houston Astros, who won the National League Western Division that year, he not only wasn’t the ace, he was happy to be a member of a starting rotation that arguably boasted four.

Mike Scott was the stopper, and rounding out that remarkable staff were southpaws Jim Deshaies and Bob Knepper. Like most memorable team moments in baseball (the ’27 Yankees and the ’17 World Champion Astros, for example), this 1986 Houston rotation, who led the Astros to the NL Championship Series, didn’t just appear out of nowhere.

And, while the Astros lost that franchise benchmark series to the New York Mets, 4-2, it remains locked into Houston sports lore, over 30 years later. MLB Network ranked the clinching Game 6, 16-inning, 7-6 Mets win as the fifth greatest game in 50 years.

Joining the by-now legendary Ryan was a Mets castoff who might have thought his career was over four years before this series, plus two lefties—one a former Yankees draftee, and the other, a 32-year-old who may have wondered if his career was on the wane.

The Splitter and the Damage Done

Mike Scott grew up a few blocks away from the Wilson family (later, the youngest Wilsons were known as The Beach Boys), in Hawthorne, California, and was six when the “surf rock” legends formed in 1961.

A hoopster as well as a baseball player, Scott actually preferred basketball, and was a fan of the LA Lakers, in the Jerry West and Elgin Baylor era, both his favorite players.

Scott played baseball at Hawthorne High School, the same school Brian Wilson and his Beach Boy brothers attended in the late ‘50s. Scott wasn’t drafted after graduation, but attended Pepperdine University, 27 miles up the coast in Malibu, with a stunning campus that includes student distractions like the Pacific Ocean just a long toss away.

Drafted in the 2nd round of the 1976 Amateur Draft (37th overall) by the Mets, Scott made his MLB debut on April 18, 1979, a relief appearance in Montreal. At the time, Scott’s repertoire was limited to a near-95-mph fastball, curve, and slider.

A 14-27 four-year record clouded a decidedly humdrum New York tenure, coupled with his 4.67 combined ERA, and a .301 batting average against. Scott’s combined strikeouts per 9 IP was 3.76 with the Mets, a K/9 he’d almost triple (and bedevil his former mates with) a scant four years later with Houston in 1986.

“We feel that Scott is just what we need in terms of a strong-armed right-hander.”-GM Al Rosen

Danny Heep was a left-handed Texas native, an OF/1B drafted by the Astros two years after Scott was tapped by New York, in the same overall draft position as the pitcher, 37th.

Riding the bench for most of his Houston tenure from 1979-82, Houston GM Al Rosen swapped Heep for Scott during 1982’s December Winter Meetings.

“We were reluctant to deal Danny Heep. He was one of the finest minor-league hitters. He is a pure hitter,” said Rosen, at the time, according to a 12/10/82 UPI article. “But we were anxious to shore up our pitching.”

“We feel that Scott is just what we need in terms of a strong-armed right-hander,” Rosen continued. “He has been used by the Mets as a starter throughout his career, but we will have a better knowledge of his abilities after observing him during spring training.”

Mets GM, Frank Cashen, offered his perspective, at the time of the trade: “(Heep’s) a pure hitter. We didn’t want to give up Scott but the Astros insisted upon including him in the deal.”

New York Times scribe, Murray Chass, looked back ruefully in this February 1, 1987, article: “The Scott-for-Danny Heep exchange was a deal that wasn’t good for either side until Scott developed a split-fingered fastball. Heep didn’t develop and now is gone as a free agent.”

The Day He Created a Monster

That brings us to Roger Craig, the Astros’ pitching coach in 1975 and ’76. Scott, coming off a 5-11/4.68 1984, went to then-Detroit pitching coach Craig.

According to Scott, in a February 4, 2002, interview with The Astros Daily’s Ray Kerby, “Rosen arranged the meeting; I spent a week in San Diego with Roger Craig for about an hour a day.”

Then he said, “Today we’re going to talk about The Pitch.”

“Roger was great,” said the then-30-year-old Scott, in a June 8, 1986, L.A. Times article. “We went over to Grossmont Junior College in San Diego and, after watching me throw, he said my mechanics were fine.

“Then he said, ‘Today we’re going to talk about The Pitch.’ He meant the split-fingered fastball, and he gave me three things to remember. He said first I had to make sure I threw it over the top. Second, I had to throw it exactly like a fastball, and third, if I wanted to control the pitch better, I had to put my fingers closer together on the ball.”

In the article, “Scott says he was surprised by how easy it was to throw the pitch. All he had to do was spread his forefinger and third finger apart on the ball.”

Craig has always been self-effacing when others praise his role in teaching the devastating splitter, especially to those with the ability to master the unhittable missile.

Craig, in 1986: “It’s really not very hard to learn. When I was still pitching, guys like Elroy Face, Lindy McDaniel and Diego Segui threw the pitch, and it was called a forkball. Some people say I discovered the split-fingered fastball. I don’t know if I did. I just discovered a better way to teach it.”

Thus, a pitch re-invented a pitcher. In 1986, Mike Scott was the dominant pitcher in the majors. His 18-10 record, with a 2.22 ERA and a 10 K/9, easily secured the NL Cy Young Award. He was also named to the NL All-Star team (with the game held, coincidentally enough that year, in the Astrodome), was voted team MVP, and named NLCS MVP.

“When I pitched the no-hitter, I remember that…Cincinnati was playing earlier, and if they had lost, we would have won the pennant just by showing up. I didn’t want that to happen.”

Armed with his wicked splitter (and, really, only his fastball to accompany), he spun a no-hitter against the Giants in the Astrodome on September 25 to clinch the NL West title.

In a 2001 ESPN interview, Scott remembered that unforgettable day: “When I pitched the no-hitter, I remember that even though we were playing a day game, Cincinnati was playing earlier, and if they had lost, we would have won the pennant just by showing up. I didn’t want that to happen.

“I wanted to win the game while winning the pennant, and I wanted to do it at home — we were going on the road the next day. The first pitch I threw, I hit Dan Gladden in the back. I was trying to throw as hard as I could, and you don’t do that. It was a wake-up call to settle down.”

From Astros Daily: “I started thinking about the no-hitter when, in the 7th inning, [catcher Alan] Ashby told me, ‘we’re clinching the pennant anyway, just concentrate on the no-hitter.’ The toughest moment in the game came when Billy Doran made a great play behind me to a force a runner out at 2nd; I think that had the best chance of being a base hit.”

In the 1986 NLCS, Scott won Games 1 and 4, pitching 18 innings and striking out 19, while giving up only one earned run and eight hits.

The Astros were facing elimination going into Game 6 against the Mets, who had taken a 3-2 series lead after Game 5. In a sense, the Mets, too, were facing “elimination,” as a Game 6 loss to the Astros would have meant that New York would again face an apparently unbeatable Mike Scott in a deciding Game 7 in the Astrodome.

“The man had a power over us even when he was spending the game on the bench.”

The Mets won that Game 6 in sixteen innings—averting another Scott appearance—to win the NL pennant.

Mets catcher Gary Carter: “Mike Scott watched that sixth game from the Astros’ dugout, and he haunted us. He stuck in the back of our minds. No, sir, we didn’t want to face him the following day for all the marbles. The man had a power over us even when he was spending the game on the bench.”

About the NLCS series with the Mets, Scott recalls that “the Mets series was the most intense series I’ve ever been involved in. I’ve never been in the World Series, but everyone says that the playoffs before are even more intense.

“Both teams clinched pretty early, so we knew who was playing who. There was a lot of buildup. I knew the Mets were a good team. They had power, (Wally) Backman and (Lenny) Dykstra were tough and pesky in the one and two spots.”

Trivia Note: The date of that 16-inning NLCS-clinching game by the Mets over Houston was October 15, 1986, which is also the last time the iconic orange/yellow full rainbow jerseys were ever worn by the Astros.

Kid Lefty From New York State

Just 26 when the Astros made their Division-topping run in 1986, James Joseph Deshaies was the kid in a field of “grizzled” veterans into their 30s, with Nolan Ryan, at this time, pushing 40.

Deshaies was born a stone’s throw from the Canadian border in Massena, NY, 2,800 miles from Mike Scott’s California beach home. A strapping 6’4″, 220-pounder, Jim Deshaies was drafted out of Massena High School by the Montreal Expos in 1978, but elected not to sign.

He played for the Dolphins of Le Moyne College, a private Jesuit school in Syracuse, prior to becoming a 21st round draft pick by the New York Yankees in 1982.

Deshaies was obtained by Houston GM Al Rosen from New York in September 1985, along with infielder Neder Horta (who never made it out of the low minors after 4 years) and RHP Dody Rather (a Houston native who also never logged MLB playing time), as the Yankees received 11-year Astro veteran, knuckleballing righty Joe Niekro in return.

With 7 innings logged with the Yanks in ’84, and just enough time left in the 1985 season to make two relief appearances for Houston (totaling 3 innings), the 1986 season, for all intents and purposes, was Deshaies’ rookie season.

He responded with a 12-5 record and a 3.25 ERA, with 144 IP, a complete game shutout, a .234 BAA, and a solid 8 K/9, ranking 20th in the NL with 128 strikeouts.

(Above): Deshaies (L) helps Kevin Bass carry Scott, celebrating Scott’s West-clinching no-hitter.

Deshaies finished his pitching career with Philadelphia in 1995, after short-lived turns with the Padres, Twins, and Giants. He quickly signed with Houston to be the Astros’ TV color commentator in 1997, a post he continued through the 2012 season.

Sadly for Houston fans, Deshaies took his humor and impressive pop culture knowledge to the Chicago Cubs in 2013, to tackle broadcast color commentator duties. 2022 (or 2023, depending on MLB) will be his tenth season with the Cubs.

“I was always wanting to be an Astro and play in Houston, so when I got the opportunity, it was really special.”-Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan had already built a Hall of Fame resumé by the time he joined his third team, signing a 4-year, $4.5 million deal with Houston after the 1979 season, becoming the sport’s first million-dollar man, courtesy of GM Tal Smith, or rather, then-owner John McMullen, who ignored Smith’s reticence on this (Houston Press, July 10, 2015).

As described by biographer Kenny Hand, “McMullen didn’t know an RBI from a UFO when he bought the Astros in 1979, but he knew enough to know he wanted Nolan Ryan. At any price.” (Kenny Hand, Bill Shaikin, et al, Nolan Ryan: The Authorized Pictorial History, 1991)

Remarkably, and perhaps, fittingly, Ryan was the first free agent signing, ever, in the 17-year-old franchise’s history. “I was always wanting to be an Astro and play in Houston, so when I got the opportunity, it was really special,” Ryan (75 in 2022) told the press recently. “I was able to live at home.”

“When Ryan rubs the shine off a new ball, those expensive fingers touching the dirt will be a source of continual wonder.”

In the August 1980 issue of Texas Monthly, Max Apple characterized the Ryan signing this way: “When Ryan rubs the shine off a new ball, those expensive fingers touching the dirt will be a source of continual wonder. Marketing this hero will be no problem.”

Further, Apple offered this oddly accurate observation: “To the fans, Ryan’s vulnerability is his greatest strength. Being worth a million dollars is awesome. It will weigh down his arm; he will stumble, lose control, talk about retirement, sit for hours in the whirlpool, and brood in the midst of his family. And the fans will love every second of it.”

Ryan, though, was a native of the Houston area, having grown up in Alvin, just 26 miles south of the Astrodome.

So, the signing of the Ryan Express energized the Astros’ fan base, while concurrently improving the Astros’ chances of making the playoffs in 1980…which they did.

In joining Mike Scott, Jim Deshaies, and Bob Knepper as the Astros’ 1986 starting rotation, Ryan contributed a 12-8 record, a 3.34 ERA, and a measly .188 BAA in 178 innings. So dominating was Mike Scott’s 1986, Ryan’s K/9 was 9.81, just a tick lower than Scott’s even 10. Ryan ended up ranking 6th in the NL in strikeouts, that year, with 194.

In the two games Ryan pitched against his former team in the ’86 NLCS, he logged 14 innings, with a 3.86 ERA, having suffered the loss in Game 2 (5-1, Mets), but struck out a series total of 17, for a just under 11 K/9: 10.93 for the series.

In Game 5, Nolan was pure Ryan, but was out-dueled by the youngster, Dwight Gooden, who even outlasted Ryan, in pitching 10 innings to the legend’s nine! Ryan struck out 12, and allowed just two hits and one run through his nine innings, but Gooden matched him pitch for pitch, as the game moved into the 10th, tied at one. New York prevailed, after 12, 2-1.

Napa Valley Knepper

While Robert Wesley Knepper was born in Akron, Ohio, his family moved to the Napa Valley when he was nine. Knepper attended (playing both baseball and football) Calistoga High School in Calistoga, California, a town of 5,000, about 75 miles north of the Bay Area. The San Francisco Giants, a team the young Knepper must have seen a few times, sent no fewer than four scouts to observe the lefty’s high school games at various times.

He was drafted by the Giants in the 2nd round of the 1972 draft (43rd overall), and made his MLB debut September 10, 1976, after three years toiling in the Giants’ farm system.

Knepper, 6’2″, 200 lbs, spent five years with the Giants, the last four (1977-’80) as a major contributor to San Francisco’s starting rotation. His 2.63 ERA in 1978 ranked 4th in the National League, while his 17 wins ranked 7th.

Winning records for two years, followed by two losing seasons, and a near 2-run increase in his ERA in 1979 and ’80, led to his being sent to Houston on December 8, 1980 (on the day of John Lennon’s assassination).

Knepper (along with OF prospect Chris Bourjos, who never played for Houston as a major leaguer) was traded to the Astros for popular and productive third baseman Enos Cabell (who would later return to Houston in 1984).

“Knepper welcomed the move. He was pleased to join a more positive and…strongly spiritual clubhouse.”

David E. Skelton (of SABR.org) offers this account of both teams’ universes at the time of the trade: “Houston’s success was built upon its trademark pitching, but the staff lacked a left-handed presence. The Astros were unconcerned about Knepper’s prior struggles: ‘Our scouting reports on Knepper were excellent,’ said Houston GM Al Rosen.

“‘Some of our people felt he may have had a [correctable] problem with his delivery.’ Frank Robinson, who was hired as the Giants’ skipper after the trade, stated he would not have sanctioned moving the lefty, whatsoever. Knepper welcomed the move. He was pleased to join a more positive and, as he perceived, strongly spiritual clubhouse.”

Five years of solid starting marked Knepper as a Houston mainstay, on rotations that also featured, for most years leading to ’86, Vern Ruhle, Don Sutton, and Joe Niekro.

Sutton was signed by Houston as a free agent just four days before the Astros acquired Knepper from the Giants (12/4/80), but was traded to Milwaukee in August 1982.

Houston received 23-year-old outfielder Kevin Bass, who cemented his career as a fan favorite and perennially productive member of the lineup for over seven years, culminating with his All-Star Team selection in 1986, his .311 BA and 20 homers a key reason for that year’s playoff run.

The All-Star Game was held, that year, in the Astrodome. Bass was joined, on the NL roster, by reliever Dave Smith, 1B Glenn Davis, and Mike Scott.

Niekro’s 1985 numbers (9-12, 3.72 ERA) slipped from his ’84 16-12 and 3.04, so he was shipped off to New York for the Yankees’ Jim Deshaies (and two prospects who never saw big league time).

Knepper, in 1986, contributed 17 wins to the team, including five shutouts. His 3.14 ERA ranked 10th in the NL.

Hal Lanier was beginning his first year with the team, his rookie year as a big league manager, promising a more aggressive Astro attack. The architect of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of the mid-’70s, Dick Wagner was brought in as GM.

A handful of early days off gave Lanier the confidence to boldly proceed with a three-man rotation of Scott, Ryan, and Knepper, as the Astros bolted out of the gate into first place, taking seven of the eight on their initial road trip.

Knepper had actually won nine games by the end of May. Lanier’s plan was to gradually work the young Deshaies into the rotation.

The Dodgers’ skipper, Tommy Lasorda, was less than impressed by Houston’s hot early start, and proclaimed the Astros were merely “renting” first place.

Squatters the ‘Stros may have been, but LA joined the rest of the Western Division as being completely unable to evict the Dome dwellers from the top spot, as their 96 wins were more than enough to pit them against the formidable 108-54 season record of the Metropolitans.

After a 7-of-8 September start, Astro fans’ cloak of disbelief began to lift. Deshaies’ 4-0 mastery of Lasorda’s sagging Dodgers on September 23 included a modern major league record: Deshaies struck out the first eight batters he faced, a delicious revenge for the fans insulted by Lasorda’s previous “rental” assertion.

Bob Knepper pitched NLCS Games 3 and 6, the latter turning into the classic 16-inning Mets clincher, as Knepper did his part, dominating for eight innings. His series ERA was 3.52, and he logged no decisions in his 15.1 innings.

Mike Scott’s #33 jersey number was retired by the Astros in 1992.

Nolan Ryan is the only player to have his jersey number retired by three teams. He had his Houston jersey number (34) retired in 1996, the same year the Texas Rangers retired his number. The California Angels were the first team to retire his number, doing so four years earlier.

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