Minute Maid Park

Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field and Astros Field) is a baseball stadium in Houston, Texas that opened in 2000 to house the Houston Astros.

The ballpark was Houston's first retractable-roofed stadium, protecting fans and athletes from Houston's notoriously humid weather like its predecessor, the Astrodome, but allowing fans to also enjoy outdoor baseball, something they couldn't enjoy in the Astrodome. It also features a grass field, compared to the Astrodome's astroturf which was generally disliked by professional baseball players. Its largest entrance is inside what was once Houston's Union Station, and the left-field side of the stadium features a train as homage to the site's history. The train moves along a track on top of the length of the exterior wall beyond left field whenever an Astros player hits a home run, or when the Astros win a game (the engine's tender, traditionally used to carry coal, is filled with giant oranges in tribute to Minute Maid's most famous product, orange juice).

Previous names

The ballpark was first christened as Enron Field on April 9, 1999, with naming rights sold to the Houston energy corporation in a 30 year, States dollar|$" target="_blank" >^*100 million deal. Astros management faced a public relations nightmare when the energy corporation went bankrupt in the midst of one of the biggest business scandals in American history in 2001, and they bought back the remainder of Enron's thirty years of naming rights for $2.1 million, rechristening the ballpark as Astros Field on February 7, 2002. On June 5, 2002 Houston-based Minute Maid, the fruit-juice subsidiary of Coca-Cola, acquired the naming rights to the stadium for 28 years at a price exceeding $100 million.

During its days as Enron Field, it was also dubbed "Ten-Run" or "Home Run" Field due to its cozy left-field dimensions. In keeping with this theme while paying homage to its current sponsor, the nickname "The Juice Box" is sometimes heard today.

Features

The stadium is known for being particularly hitter-friendly down the lines, especially in left field where it is only 315 ft (96 m) to the Crawford Boxes, though the wall there is 19 feet tall. Conversely, it is quite difficult to hit a ball out in center field, though fielding is a challenge there as well, due to the 30-degree steep up-sloped grade, known as Tal's Hill, for team president Tal Smith, an element taken from Crosley Field and other historic ballparks (in a bit of gallows humor, the hill is also known as the "Grassy Knoll"), and the flagpole in play, an element taken from Yankee Stadium and Tiger Stadium among others. The difference is that the Crosley Field "terrace" was necessitated by the difference in elevation between field level and street level, while Tal's Hill is purely decorative. Both structures have been held in equal disdain by the respective outfielders that have had to patrol those areas.

A concourse above Tal's Hill features the "Conoco Home Run Porch" in left-center field that is actually over the field of play, and features a classic gasoline pump that displays the total number of Astros home runs hit since the park opened.

In 2004, the Astros launched Wi-Fi throughout the ballpark, allowing fans to use the Internet while attending a game for a fee. In addition, the ballpark is the first major sports facility to have a closed captioning board for the hearing impaired.

Major events

On July 13, 2004, Minute Maid Park hosted the 2004 MLB All-Star Game

On October 9, 2005, Minute Maid Park hosted the longest postseason game in Major League Baseball history, both in terms of time and number of innings. The game lasted eighteen innings and took 5 hours and 50 minutes to play. Ortiz, Jose De Jesus (October 10, 2005) "A win like no other" The Houston Chronicle

On October 25, 2005, Minute Maid Park hosted the first World Series game ever played in Texas. Ortiz, Jose De Jesus (October 26, 2005) "Astros lose heartbreaker at bitter end" The Houston Chronicle

Ballpark firsts

Statistic	Person(s)	Date
First Ceremonial First Pitch	Ken Lay	April 7, 2000
First Hit	Doug Glanville (Philadelphia Phillies), single to right	April 7, 2000
First Astros Hit	Craig Biggio, single to center	April 7, 2000
First Double	Rico Brogna (Philadelphia Phillies)	April 7, 2000
First Astros Double	Craig Biggio	April 8, 2000
First Triple	Tim Bogar	April 8, 2000
First Home Run	Scott Rolen (Philadelphia Phillies)	April 7, 2000
First Astros Home Run	Richard Hidalgo	April 7, 2000
First Grand Slam	Thomas Howard (St. Louis Cardinals)	April 11, 2000
First Astros Grand Slam	Ken Caminiti	May 09, 2000
First Winning Pitcher	Randy Wolf (Philadelphia Phillies)	April 7, 2000
First Astros Winning Pitcher	Mike Maddux	April 8, 2000
First Save	Wayne Gomes (Philadelphia Phillies)	April 7, 2000
First Astros Save	Billy Wagner	April 8, 2000
First Shutout	Minnesota Twins 2-0	June 7, 2000
First Astros Shutout	3-0 over the Chicago Cubs	July 22, 2001
First No-Hitter	---	---

References

Minute Maid Park: Facts and Figures. Accessed May 24, 2006.
Ballpark Digest Visit to Minute Maid Park

Notes