Did not realize that John Bateman played with the Astros for six years. If I remember correctly, the promo on him as a rookie was his eating prowess, 5-10 hamburgers at one meal.
Good read about him here:
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/99158d49Signed in part b/c he lied about his age - never "caught".
Anxious to see where his late-developing talent might take him, John began writing to various major-league clubs requesting a tryout. In March 1962 the newly formed Houston Colt .45s invested $50 — the cost of a sweatshirt, a new mitt and a bus ticket for Bateman to travel to Texas City, site of their amateur camp southeast of Houston — to look at the right-handed hitter. Scout Red Murff, who conducted the camp, took an instant liking to Bateman and urged his signing. Murff did so in part because he believed the 21-year-old to be two years younger.2
.... But he is one of the few whose lie was never eventually disclosed. Every team roster published throughout Bateman’s playing career incorrectly listed his birth in 1942.
Here's the reason he & Grote decided to quit being roommates -
Houston turned to a platoon with catcher Jerry Grote whose .181-3-24 batting line did little to improve the team’s offense. The pair quit rooming together on the road because, as Grote joked, “There weren’t any base-hits in that room so we figured we had to do something.”9
He had a tough life.
