The first time I met Ed Wade was 1980. He was the Astros media relations director and he gave me my first Astros pass. I remember back in those days Ed would walk around alot wearing a dark blue warmup jacket adorned with the Astros rainbow colored stripes. I think he wore it to better deal with the cool temperatures inside the Astrodome back then.

Ed originally was hired by the late Donald Davidson as a media relations assistant ...in 1979 he was named the media relations director. He kept the job until 1981 ...when he moved on to Pittsburgh to take the same job there. He's a Pennsylvania native and it was understandable that he wanted to be closer to home. In 1986 he returned to Houston to work for Tal Smith Enterprises ... a firm which provided consulting services to most of the Major League clubs. Wade learned the ins and outs of arbitration, player contract negotiations and more. It helped him get the Assistant GM job with the Phillies in 1989 and eventually the GM's job there.

Wade is a good man. Can he turn the Astros around ....nobody knows right now ... but while he was with the Phillies, he signed most of the players who make up the core of that team today. Wade says he likes Cecil Cooper. He got to know him well when Coop was a player agent. Wade says,"I remember talking to him on the phone a number of times and he never hung up on me...which I can't say for a lot of agents.
Listening to Wade talk ... it sounds like he'll keep Cooper on to manage the team next year.

Wade and President Tal Smith will join the team on the road for it's final road trip this weekend....to begin the evaluation process of the current roster and staff. Smith says he'll start to be more active in the day to day activities ...and it's not that he wants to be looking over his former pupil's shoulder everyday ......Smith says it's because he just wants to help turn this team around as quickly as possible. It's not going to be an easy task. Not only has the team been a huge dissappointment on the field this season it's farm system is rated one of the worst in the majors.

It will not be easy to get this team back in the playoffs but Wade has been given a little time to get the job done. His contract is good for three years.

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