HOUSTON – In Joe Espada’s quest to grow as a leader, he found a mentor only a few miles away in a different sport. The Astros’ manager paid close attention to University of Houston basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, who long ago established himself as one of the greats in his profession.
The sports may be different, but there are many similarities in their mutual tasks as they try to get the best out of their players. You don’t treat Cam Smith the same as you would veteran former MVP Jose Altuve, just as Sampson knows true freshman star Kingston Flemings needs to learn a few more things about college basketball life than senior star Emanuel Sharp.
“How you do it with three freshmen on the court? How do you relate to those players?” Espada says. “I have younger players. How can I be better with my younger players? How can you be better with your seniors?
“I have some seniors on my team. So I’m always looking to grow and be a better coach, and (Sampson is) one heck of a coach.”
A short drive
Espada plans to make the short trip from Daikin Park to Toyota Center on Thursday evening after Opening Day to cheer on Sampson and the Cougars in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game against Illinois.
Sampson, a longtime baseball fan who considered Henry Aaron a childhood favorite, actually has a bond with Espada and former Astros manager Dusty Baker. If all goes well Thursday and Saturday at Toyota Center and then at the Final Four for Sampson and the Cougars, Sampson will open a special bottle of wine he received from Baker.
The East End of Houston will be busy on Thursday as the Astros open their season and the Cougars try to extend theirs.
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“A win by the Astros and a win by UH, we’ll be celebrating all night hopefully, that’s what I’m hoping for,” Espada said. “But it’s going to be exciting. I think Houston is a city of championship sports, and we’ll get to see some of that on Thursday having us Opening Day and having the Cougars hopefully beat (Illinois).”
The Astros will open the season against the Los Angeles Angels at 3 p.m. Then at 6:30 p.m. the University of Iowa will face Nebraska in the first Sweet 16 game at Toyota Center. Houston is scheduled to face Illinois at 9:05 p.m. in the second game unless the second game is pushed back because Iowa and Nebraska go into overtime.
Text connection
Espada, who is set to begin his second year managing the Astros, reached out to Sampson via text during spring training in 2025. He asked if he could make the drive from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Orlando to watch the Cougars face the University of Central Florida.
Since then, the two have exchanged texts. Espada has even attended some of Sampson’s weekly radio shows at a local barbecue joint.
Espada, 50, asked Sampson, 70, if he could visit with Sampson before the UCF game.
HOUSTON, TX – APRIL, 21: The Toronto Blue Jays against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on April 21, 2025 in Houston, TX. (Photo by Rankin White/Houston Astros)
“I said, ‘Well, that would be hard to do because of our routine before the game and what time we get to the arena,’” Sampson recalled. “But we just started texting each other then. And then during the season it just started developing. He watched our games — and I’m a big baseball fan.
“I mean, I love baseball. So he would run stuff by me, nothing major, major, but he was a first-time manager. And I’m an old guy, seen a lot. Haven’t done a lot, but seen a lot. But I’m also a giver too. … Probably more than anything else, I just like helping people. And when someone asked me if I can do something for them I’ll move heaven and earth to help you.”
Dusty Baker Vineyard bottle awaits
Sampson and Baker, 76, are more contemporaries. They quickly hit it off when Baker was hired to manage the Astros before the 2020 season, and now Sampson considers Baker a good friend.
Sampson’s father was a childhood fan of Willie Mays, and Kelvin Sampson was a fan of Henry Aaron. Before Mays died at 93 years of age in June 2024, Baker took a picture with the Say Hey Kid and sent it to Sampson.
“And as soon as I got the picture I said, ‘God, I wish my father was alive so I could show him that picture of Dusty and Willie Mays,’” Sampson said. “Because Willie Mays was his favorite player. Mine was Henry Aaron. And that led me back to my relationship with Dusty, because when Henry Aaron was patrolling right field for the Atlanta Braves, Dusty was the left fielder for them.
“So when (Baker) came here as a manager, we knew who each other was, but we didn’t have a relationship. We developed a relationship when he got here. He had this special bottle of wine made for me with Henry Aaron’s jersey and his number and all that and he said, ‘Don’t you crack that wine until you win a National Championship. So I still got that bottle of wine.”
With Espada as his bench coach, Baker won his first World Series title as a manager in 2022 at the age of 73. Sampson is chasing the first national title of his legendary career, and the current and former Astros managers are pulling for him.
“He’s a man of few words,” Espada says of Sampson, “but a wise man.”
