By Blaidd Drwg
OK – If you had to guess at who is the all-time wins leader for the Houston Astros, you would probably guess Nolan Ryan, JR Richard or Mike Scott, right? Well, you would be wrong as they rank 6th, 5th and 4th respectively, significantly behind #3 Larry Dierker (who was vastly underrated), #2 Roy Oswalt and #1…wait for it…Joe Niekro. Raise your hand if you had a clue that Niekro won 38 more games as an Astro than Nolan Ryan.
If you gave me 10 guesses on the answer to this one, there is no way I would have ever gotten it.
FlatbreadGarden 
I wouldn’t have gotten Niekro. I would have guessed Ryan, then probably Mike Scott, then maybe Oswalt (or “who knows?”).
When I think of the Niekro brothers, I think “Cleveland” or “Yankees.”
Phil played for Mil/Atl Braves basically his whole career, then the Yankees, Cleveland, and Toronto (very briefly.)
Joe played for the Cubs, Tigers, Padres, Astros (long period), Yankees, and Twins.
It’s funny that the two teams I associate those guys with are the teams they were on as they faded out of the league.
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I had forgotten that Joe Niekro played for the Astros as long as he did also. I probably would have guessed Ryan, Scott, Richards and Oswalt (who is 2 wins away from passing Niekro). I remember Phil Niekro as a Yankee well, but I guess I always associated him with the Braves. I always think of Joe as a Twin, mostly because I remember him getting caught with an emory board at the end of his career with them.
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Why Richards? I only remember the fastball, the size, and the stroke.
..Richards actually has many more wins than I’d visualized..
(from Baseball Reference)
Rank Player Wins
1. Joe Niekro 144
2. Roy Oswalt 143
3. Larry Dierker 137
4. Mike Scott 110
5. J.R. Richard 107
6. Nolan Ryan 106
7. Don Wilson 104
8. Shane Reynolds 103
9. Bob Knepper 93
10. Ken Forsch 78
Oswalt should pass Niekro around the end of the month.
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Richards was so good that I forget he essentially only had 5 dominating seasons. I think he easily would have passed the 4 guys ahead of him on this list had he lasted longer. I still am amazed Ryan only won 106 games for the Astros in 9 seasons. Heck, in the 14 seasons after the left the Angels, he only managed to win more than 12 games 4 times. It is amazing that the guy made it to 324 wins for his career.
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