The Second Day

The Second Day

A sixteen-year-old was turned away from an Astros tryout camp in Maracay for being too short. He came back the next day with his father's encouragement and his birth certificate. Al Pedrique, a special assistant in the Astros organization, asked if he could play. The boy said he would show him. He signed for $15,000 — after telling them he would play for free.

That boy is 36 now. On September 6, 2026, Jose Altuve scored his 1,300th career run, in his sixteenth season with the Houston Astros. He debuted on July 20, 2011, a second baseman listed at 5-foot-6 and 167 pounds, and he has played every one of his 16 major-league seasons for the same club. The totals since debut: 2,093 games, 2,499 hits, a .300 average, 475 doubles, 329 stolen bases. He won the MVP in 2017 and the World Series that fall, and again in 2022. Nine All-Star selections and seven Silver Sluggers run alongside those years.

One Ball

Carlos Altuve was a retired chemical company assistant who taught his son the game on local fields after work, sometimes with a single ball. When it went over a wall, they went to local professional games early or sat in the bleachers waiting for a home run to give them a replacement — then returned to drill. Jose met Salvador Perez at seven in Maracay. They grew up competing. Perez also reached the major leagues.

Omar Lopez managed Altuve in the Venezuelan Summer League. A minor-league coach remembered Altuve telling a YMCA gathering he could dunk a basketball, and doing it on one try before someone stopped him to avoid injury. Teammates and coaches have described him as a selfless leader who plays hard and instills confidence in others.

He is still at second base for Houston in 2026, 111 hits into this season.

Reporting: Sports Illustrated, Joker Mag, The Athletic, Houston Chronicle, New York Times, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.