[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15728]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF JOSE ALTUVE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 13, 2014

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the 
millions of Astros fans in Houston and Texas and throughout the world 
to recognize the historic performance of our all-star second baseman 
and Venezuelan native, Jose Altuve, during the 2014 Major League 
Baseball season.
  Jose finished the 2014 season with 225 hits and a .341 batting 
average, the best in all of baseball, along with 56 stolen bases, tops 
in the American League. Jose is just the second player since 1945 to 
lead the AL in all three categories.
  Baseball writers at the season's end noted that Jose's 2014 season 
will go down as one of the greatest performances by a second baseman in 
baseball history.
  Most notably, Jose had more hits than any second baseman since 
Charlie Gehringer's 227 hits in 1936 and became only one of two players 
since the turn of the 20th century to record 220-plus hits, 55-plus 
extra-base hits, and 55-plus stolen bases in one season. The other is 
Ty Cobb.
  But beyond the numbers, Jose shows baseball fans, young and old, that 
with tenacity and a commitment to be the best, anyone, no matter their 
background or size, can achieve greatness.
  On the last day of the season, the Astros planned to keep Jose out of 
the line-up in order to secure his batting championship, a first for 
any player in an Astros uniform. Instead, Altuve convinced Coach 
Lawless to put him back in the line-up just minutes before the game 
started. Jose proved to all that he was the true batting champion, 
going 2-for-4 with a double.
  I had the opportunity to meet Jose last April, when he, fellow Astro 
Jason Castro, and baseball great Nolan Ryan, came to Denver Harbor, a 
working class neighborhood in our congressional district in Houston, to 
celebrate the opening of the revitalized baseball fields at Denver 
Harbor Park and spend the morning with little leaguers from the area.
  It was a pleasure to see Jose, Jason, and Nolan spend time with these 
wide-eyed little leaguers and inspire them to work hard and achieve 
their dreams.
  On behalf of the Astros faithful, I would like to say ``thank you'' 
and anticipate that with Jose and our squad of talented young players, 
Houston will continue to be competitive in the American League.

                          ____________________