Florida State League (1985-1994)
Tombstone
Born: 1985 – The Daytona Beach Astros relocate to Kissimmee, FL.
Re-Branded: October 4, 1994 (Kissimmee Cobras)
Florida State League Championships: None
Stadium
Osceola County Stadium (5,130)
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Houston Astros
Major League Affiliation: Houston Astros
Background
The Osceola Astros were part of the Houston Astros long-time connection to Kissimmee and Osceola County, Florida. In 1985, Houston left their long-time spring training home in Cocoa Beach and relocated to Kissimmee. That same spring, the Astros moved their Class A Florida State League affiliate from Daytona Beach to Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee. Kissimmee had never had professional baseball before the Astros arrived in the spring of 1985.
A handful of notable future big leaguers came through Kissimmee during this era. Ken Caminiti, who would win National League MVP honors in 1996, played on the first Osceola Astros club in the summer of 1985. Other future All-Stars included Luis Gonzalez (1989), Kenny Lofton (1990), and Bobby Abreu, who came through in 1993 as a 19-year old and hit 17 triples that summer.
Attendance was lean in Kissimmee during the 1980’s, even by the low standards of the Florida State League. During their first season, the 1985 Osceola Astros averaged only 578 fans per game.
Astros To Cobras
Shortly after the 1994 season, the team underwent a re-branding and were dubbed the Kissimmee Cobras. The Cobras operated for another six seasons as an Astros farm club at Osceola County Stadium from 1995-2000.
Former Osceola Astros GM Pat O’Conner (1986-1993) was elected President & CEO of Minor League Baseball in 2007.
In Memoriam
Ken Caminiti (Osceola ’85) died on October 10, 2004 at age 41. New York Times obituary.
Links
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One Response
Two Kissimmee stories:
1 – Supposedly they were the “Osceola Astros” instead of the “Kissimmee Astros” because “Kissimmee Astros” was a little too phonetically similar to “Kiss My Ass…tros.” Don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what was said at the time, and I was around there then.
2 – The old joke is that a snowbird and his wife were driving through Central Florida and were arguing about whether the town should be pronounced “kiss-IMM-ee” or “KISS-uh-mee.” So they said “We’ll go into the first place we see next and ask a local.”
So they do, and the snowbird asks the first guy he encounters, “Do me a favor…real slow, say the name of this place.”
The guy pauses and finally says, very slowly…”Burrrrr…..gerrrrr…..King.”