I agree, Virdon is the best! Awesome success, Andrew! Virdon was the best manager the Astros every had. For those of you who remember how horrid the Astros were in 1975 when he took over the team, you know what I mean. He quickly turned them into a contender while they were still rebuilding. They were 47-80 under Gomez, and then Virdon came in and they went 17-17 the rest of the way. The next year they went from dead last in the NL West to a respectable 3rd Place. In 1979 they contended for the NL West title for the first time since 1972, and finally won it in 1980 in a sudden death one game playoff against the Dodgers.