[Sleepless72]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

The 1978 Topps Houston Astros

There are 24 Astro images, not counting the Walton and Zamora paint jobs.

The team photo was taken in the Astrodome, sometime between 8/24 and 8/31, after Bannister came off the DL but before the call-ups arrived.

The small image of Virdon was taken while he was with the Pirates, 56-65.

Several images were taken at Candlestick, during 4/26-4/28, 8/9-8/11, 9/14-9/15: Howe, Cabell, Metzger and Pentz (August or September).

A few were taken in Shea, 6/16-6/19 or 8/22-8/23: Bannister, Watson, Lemongello, Gonzalez and Sperring.

The rest were taken during the spring - Herrmann was definitely taken at the Astros facility, Cocoa Expo Stadium in Cocoa Beach, FL. The rest were likely taken there as well - Ferguson, Cedeno, Forsch, Puhl, Niekro, Sambito, Andujar, Cruz, Richard, McLaughlin, Virdon and Howard.

Hey Dewey! This is a great thread. I don't know how important/useful this detail is to you, but I noticed that you dated Bill Virdon's playing-days photo as "56-65." I thought I'd mention that the Pirates began wearing sleeveless jerseys in 1957, so that should narrow the dating of the photo to 1956-57, allowing for the possibility that the Bucs wore the old jerseys during spring training of 1957.

Also, I see that you live(d) in Ellicott City. I'm right down the street in Columbia!