McLane spent most Saturdays and summers during his teenage years sweeping floors and learning various aspects of the wholesale grocery business.
During his years with the company, McLane assisted his father in building an effective grocery distribution network that served convenience stores, supermarkets, and the fast-food industry nationwide.
On July 24, 1992, it was announced that McLane had come to an agreement with John McMullen to purchase the team, which also included the lease on the Astrodome for a total of $117 million; approval by the league owners followed in the fall.
[4][5] In his first season as owner in 1993, the Astros went 85-77, with the free-agent acquisitions of Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell (each signed to four-year deals) making minimal contributions.
After the season, he fired Bill Wood and Art Howe on October 5 and replaced them with Bob Watson (promoted from assistant GM) and Terry Collins; Watson was the second African American general manager in Major League Baseball (first since Bill Lucas in the 1970s), and he served at the position until 1995, when he left to be the GM of the New York Yankees.
[8] The Astros had to rely on creativity to cultivate a club worthy of contention, as their minor-league system provided virtually nothing from 1986 to 1996, and McLane claimed to have lost $65 million by 1995 to the point where he implored the business community and fans to increase the season ticket base by at least 12,000 in the guise of being able to remain competitive, and rumors surfaced about the team possibly moving to Northern Virginia.
[9] McLane, who had balked at the idea of building a new stadium by the County that wanted over $200 million contributed by the Astros, had approached Bill Collins about a backup plan to sell the team to him for $150 million if the Harris County stadium referendum failed, which McLane apparently felt was going to not pass.
[13] The 2003 offseason brought the arrival of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, each of whom played for three seasons, while longtime reliever Billy Wagner was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies reportedly due to his harsh comments about McLane.
It was the last postseason run for the Astros, who fell into a decade-long drought that saw just two winning seasons from 2006 to 2014, owing to an aging team that lacked a suitable farm system, as done due to McLane and others pushing for goals of a World Series with a favor for free agents that left the team cratering after 2008.
McLane said the sale was for "family" reasons, and he was joined in the announcement by his two adult sons, Drayton III and Denton.
[22][23] McLane countersued, accusing the Astros of deliberately tanking in 2012 and 2013 (where they lost 218 combined games) to sink the network.
[26] In nineteen seasons as owner, the Astros had a winning record in fourteen of them while reaching the postseason six times and overseeing the team move into a new stadium with Daikin Park in 2000.
This worked to both success and detriment with a variety of free agent pushes with moderate payroll that saw players such as Darryl Kile, Randy Johnson, Beltran, and Mike Hampton leave for more money while paying for veterans such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Carlos Lee and Woody Williams.
McLane made moves without consulting his general managers at times, such as when Ken Caminiti wanted to return to Houston in 2000 or when he exercised Craig Biggio's contract in 2005.
By the spring of 2009, the McLane family had brought "new life" to Michigan State University's baseball facility through a $4 million commitment to enhance one of the most pristine environments in all of intercollegiate athletics.
On September 12, 2008, MSU's board of trustees voted unanimously to approve the naming of Drayton McLane Baseball Stadium at John H. Kobs Field.
In April 2020, Governor Greg Abbott named McLane to the Strike Force to Open Texas – a group "tasked with finding safe and effective ways to slowly reopen the state" amid the COVID-19 pandemic.