Astrodome
Astrodome,Houston,TX
Ball Park First Game
Date – 04/12/1965 (1)
Starting Pitchers – vs. Phillies: 04/12/1965
Final Score 2-0 (PHI)
Attendance – 42,652
Starting Pitchers Bob Bruce (HOU); Chris Short (PHI)
First Batter – Tony Taylor (PHI) Result – Doubled to LF
First Hits – Tony Taylor (PHI),Doubled to LF (1st)
First Run – Ruben Amaro (PHI)
First RBI – Dick Allen (PHI)
First Homerun – Dick Allen (PHI) vs. Bob Bruce (HOU) on 04/12/1965 (3rd inning)
First Grandslam – Bob Aspromonte (HOU) vs. Cal Koonce (CHN) on 08/26/1966 (9th inning)
First Inside Park Homerun – Jim Ray Hart (SFN) vs. Ken Johnson (HOU) on 5/23/1965 (1st inning)
First No Hitter – Don Wilson (HOU) vs. Braves on 06/18/1967
Ball Park Lasts
Last Game – vs. Braves: 10/09/1999 (NLDS Game 4), Final Score – 7-5 (ATL)
Attendance – 48,553
Starting Pitchers – Shane Reynolds (HOU); John Smoltz (ATL), Winning Pitcher – John Smoltz (ATL) Losing Pitcher – Shane Reynolds (HOU)
Last Batter – Ken Caminiti (HOU), result – Flied to CF
Last Hit – Mark Grudzielanek (LAN), Singled to CF (9)
Last Run – Dave Hansen (LAN), Last RBI – Mark Grudzielanek (LAN)
Last HR – Ken Caminiti (HOU) vs. Matt Herges (LAN) on 10/03/1999 (3rd inning)
Last Grand Slam – Ken Caminiti (HOU) vs. Turk Wendell (NYN) on 08/31/1999 (8th inning)
Last Inside The Park Homerun – Tony Womack (ARI) vs. Billy Wagner (HOU) on 07/21/1999 (8th inning)
Last No Hitter – Darryl Kile (HOU) vs. Mets on 09/08/1993
TRIVIA –
Mickey Mantle hit the first home run in the Astrodome in an exhibition game on April 9, 1965; On September 13, 1965 Willie Mays belted his 500th career home run with a fourth-inning blast off Don Nottebart;
Notable Events and Chronology
Biography
FIRST IMPRESSION
Millions of visitors marveled at her grandeur and millions more were mesmerized by tales of her majesty and mystique. During her prime, Houston’s Astrodome was the grandest lady in all of sports, the queen of a universe beyond anyone’s imagination. During her twilight years, she served as a stately reminder of what can be achieved when vision and dreams are stretched beyond the boundaries.
You never lost that sense of elegance and vision over the Astrodome’s 35-year reign as home of the Houston Astros. Whether stepping into this futuristic wonderland in 1965 or paying your last respects in 1999, you always came away with a feeling of immensity and history — the sense that this huge, overwhelming, multi-purpose structure was the first of its kind and that the innovations that sprang from it would continue to have an impact on the sports world long after playing host to its final event.
The Astrodome was never about charm, charisma or beauty, characteristics long associated with America’s ballparks. It was about that Texas-like appetite for big, powerful and extravagant.
Conceived, pushed and coddled to completion by Astros owner judge Roy Hofheinz in 1965 as an antidote to the oppressive Texas heat, the structure became the most incredible sports facility ever constructed — the so-called Eighth Wonder of the World.
SIGNATURE FEATURES
Extravagance was the name of the game when the Astrodome was unveiled in 1965 as the world’s first covered stadium. It seemed to glow, like a crown jewel, set all by itself in the open fields of south Houston, surrounded only by an expansive parking lot — a 9 1/2-acre fantasy island.
The structure was immense, a feeling that really struck home when you stepped inside. The dome literally exploded overhead, like a cascading fireworks display. The dome’s panels were held in place by steel-framed supports that worked their way skyward toward the 208-foot apex — a dynamic, intricately-patterned puzzle for the eye.
It was an architectural marvel that never escaped attention, no matter how many times you attended games there. Neither could you escape the eye-blinking vividness of the multi-colored seats, spread over six decks, and a 474-foot scoreboard that wrapped around much of the perimeter above the outfield.
The board displayed information as well as animated cartoons, the most amazing of which celebrated an Astros home run with snorting bulls and a six-gun battle between two cowboys over the length of the board.
Over the years, the Astrodome was a good place to watch baseball, even with a few quirky ground rules dictated by the oddities of indoor baseball. Incredulous fans during a 1974 game watched Philadelphia third baseman Mike Schmidt hit what appeared to be a prodigious home run, only to see the ball carom off a speaker and drop into short left-center field for a single.
There was even a rule that declared pigeons in play, just in case one might be struck by a batted ball. The Astros, a 3-year-old expansion team when the Astrodome was built, shared the facility with the NFL’s Oilers for 29 seasons, but no team was more closely associated with a stadium.
QUOTABLE
“If you dust off old junk, sometimes you come up with a gem.” — Kansas City Star columnist Bill Vaughan
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