Cheering fans greet World Series champion Astros
HOUSTON — World Series MVP George Springer planted the Houston Astros’ championship trophy at the front of a fire truck to a cheering crowd as the team began their victory parade Friday, with orange and blue confetti raining down as they passed tens of thousands of fans in downtown Houston.
Four military jets soared above a sea of orange and blue T-shirts, jerseys, pennants and banners along the 20-block parade route, which was quickly extended to accommodate the larger-than-expected crowd. Fans stood more than 10 rows deep, with chants of “Let’s go Astros” echoing off skyscrapers, while some claimed bird’seye views from the upper floors of parking structures, draping banners down the walls.
“This is amazing. This is awesome,” General Manager Jeff Luhnow said from atop a float that carried a giant baseball. “Everybody is smiling. We’ve been excited all day.”
Several Astros players and manager A.J. Hinch waved at
fans from the top of a doubledecker bus as the parade started. Some fans threw caps and jerseys in their direction. Players autographed the items and tossed them back.
Scored of fans had gathered downtown hours ahead of the parade’s start, including Manuel Mejia and his 15-yearold son, Jonah. They snatched a key spot along the route by 9 a.m. and set up four folding chairs at a street corner to be able to see the start and end of the parade.
“I’m just trying to get a good spot. It’s going to get packed,” the 43-year-old father said before the parade began, noting he’d been an Astros fan since his father took him to his first Astros game when he was 8 years old.
But he and other fans said the World Series win is great for all of Houston, as the city continues to recover from Harvey and the devastating rains and flooding that followed the late August storm.
“We needed this win real bad for the city of Houston,” said 47-year-old LaShawn Harris, who lives in the suburb of Baytown. “Harvey is gone. Harvey is smashed. Harvey is no more. It is all about today.”