Biggio hands down is the Best Houston Astro ever. He not only played his heart out every game but started at multiple postions and never once said “I play second base only”. You also have to look at what he has done for the community (Sunshine Kids) he is what I would say is the best representation of what an Astro should be.

Growing up in the 1990s, I watched the Astros possess fantastic talent year after year, only to break down and fail in the playoffs. I’d say that whoever embodies that fact the best is the “Astro-iest.”

So, with that in mind, I think Mike Hampton is the guy who best personifies the Astros. He was a small pitcher whom no one (save the Astros, of course) thought would succeed. But he was awesome while in Houston. Since then, he just hasn’t been able to catch a break (well, except for when he made it to the World Series with the Mets). He blew up in Colorado and keeps getting injured. He’s a guy who had so much promise, but he just didn’t get lucky enough to have a fantastic career.

I’d also like to mention Dickie Thon. There’s no one better that I can think of who embodies that spirit. Incredible talent sidelined by fate.

I agree with wadero’s reference to the Sunshine Kids. In addition, Biggio excelled in both the Dome and MMP eras and, by most accounts, had a great influence on the team culture.

However, we shouldn’t forget that the 60’s and 70’s was a completely different era for the Astros, characterized by perhaps the best collection of amateur talent in baseball but the a consistent failure to reach the playoffs. That probably wasn’t the players’ fault as much as the front office’s failure, since the top management seemed to misuse or discard the great talent signed by the teams’ scouts.
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So, for that reason, I would put Jimmy Wynn and Larry Dierker at the top of this list. Both of these guys were very, very good players, but enormously underrated by national baseball media and fans. Both players never got to the playoff land (even though Dierker did, later as an Astros manager), but it wasn’t a reflection on their talent. That seems like the profile of those early Astros’ teams. And both Wynn and Dierker continue to be identified with the Astros.

Mike Hampton
Roy Oswalt
Joe Niekro
Alan Ashby
Brad Ausmus
Shane Reynolds
Nolan Ryan
Jimmy Wynn
Larry Dierker
Lance Berkman
Craig Biggio
Jeff Bagwell
The Astrodome
Billy Wagner
Mike Scott
Roger Clemens

As awesome as Nolan Ryan is, I feel like his personal allegiances run stronger to the ballclub in Arlington.

Look, the Astros have had their share of screwball (no, not the pitch) pitchers, from Kerfeld to Mike Marshall. (This is complicated…Marshall actually did throw a screwball.) But Bouton was funny and irreverent and wrote one of the greatest baseball books of all time, “Ball Four.” I suspect that most everyone who frequents this board has read it (but if you haven’t, get it.) I suppose some might disqualify Bouton because his great years were with the Yankees. But he wrote the book while he was journeyman knuckleballer with the Astros.

What other team can boast two pitchers (Dierker and Bouton) who wrote two of the funniest baseball books around? Interestingly, Dierker and Bouton were on the same pitching staff.

1) Bagwell – promising, HOF career gets cut short, leaving in legacy somewhat in question.

2) Biggio – one of the two who I think of when I think: Astros.

3) JR Richard – for all the reasons mentioned above.

4) Ken Caminiti – sure his own demons are to fault, but as I kid I admired his hard nose approach to the game and also associated it with how the Astros played — getting the most they could out of themselves.

5) Roy Oswalt

6) Billy Doran – If Craig Biggio is a guy I think of as embodying what it means to be an Astro, then the man who taught him how to play his position deserves a nod.

7) Deshaies – mainly for his off the field contribution.

8) Berkman – Plays the game the right way.

9) Jimmy Wynn

10) Brad Ausmus – Intelligence and reverence for the game. Plus, what sums up Astros baseball more than offensive ineptitude.

Honorable Mention:
Tony Eusebio – dude had a ridiculous streak.

I think you’ve got most of the Astroiest on that list, especially w/ the names tossed in from the comments

My only opinion is that you remove Roger Clemens. Not because of his recent turmoil or anything – he just never felt like an Astro to me. Maybe I just had too many baseball cards of him in a Red Sox uniform, but he’s an AL East baseball player. He sure as hell won’t go into the HOF w/ our star on his cap, if he gets in at all. I know what he did for us, but that doesn’t make him Astro-y. I know he’s from Texas and all that, but he won’t be remembered as an Astro.

Also, I just want to second Eusebio for honorable mention. For some reason, when I was scrolling through some of my favorite Astros in my head, Tony came up. But, like DQ, I’m not sure he’d make the top 10 cut.

1. & 2. Biggio and Bagwell – these are the guys who lead the team when I was a kid and loved the game, who stuck with the team through thick and thin, even when I didn’t (I became a disillusioned teenager after the 1994 strike), and who were still there as "elder statesmen" when I found my way back to the game in college.

3. & 4. Gene Elston and Milo Hamilton – between these two guys, they’ve been the "voice" of the Houston Astros since before they were Astros. Elston from the inaugural season of the Colt .45’s through 1986, and Milo from 1987 to the present (although he only does home games these days). I know a lot of people don’t like Milo’s style, but I’ve gotta admit, his voice is strongly linked to the ‘Stros for me…I may not always know what just happened on-field or what the score is, but I do know that I’m listening to an Astros game.

5. , 6., & 7. Larry Dierker, Phil Garner, and Jose Cruz – First they played, then they managed/coached. One day, maybe Ausmus or Biggio will join this list. I will always remember my first game at the Dome, asking my dad why they were booing their own team, and him explaining to me that they were saying Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz.

8. & 9. Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown – J.D. and Brownie are one of the best duos in baseball broadcasting today. And Deshaies held the team record for most wins by an rookie pitcher until Roy O broke it ’01.

10. & 11. Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman – these guys were new faces to me when I returned to the fold in the early 2000’s. Believe it or not, I actually remember initially disliking Berkman, thinking "How could this guy even think about filling Bagwell’s shoes". But they managed to give me my first World Series where I watched every minute of every game. And regardless of what happens from here on out, Roy O will always be an Astros legend simply for the whole tractor business.

Rounding out my top 16: J. R. Richard, Mike Scott, Jimmy Wynn, Alan Ashby, and The Astrodome
       

asst. trainer, Rex Jones. His handlebar mustache is truly supreme.

Steve Finely to a lesser extent?

… as a recent vice presidential candidate might say.

Here’s my list. At least two names on here no one else has mentioned, I don’t think. These are sentimental picks.

Bagwell
Biggio (those two in that order, the rest are random)
Mike Scott
Nolan Ryan
Jose Cruz
Ken Caminiti
Bill Doran
Larry Dierker
Brad Ausmus
Alan Ashby
Roy Oswalt
Billy Wagner
Cesar Cedeno
J.R. Richard
Darryl Kile
Lance Berkman (and here I was struggling to think of the 16th!)

i think Scott Elarton! i’ll vote for Biggio though as the astro-iest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC2y3RmQUdw

… on a 25 minute digression of watching Astros crap on YouTube.