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Tass wrote:The exploding scoreboard in the Astrodome! Judge Roy Hofheinz was a character...never got to see the hotel suite with the rumored fun house mirrors, etc.

Going to the weekday games with my Dad and getting autographs: Nolan (got to see the NLCS Game 5 vs. the Mets!), Dickie Thon (just before he took the shot to his head), Jose Cruz, JR Reynolds, Larry Dierker, Glen Davis, Mike Scott...still have 'em.

Still have my t-shirt from the '86 NLCS series when several Mets were arrested by HPD. HPD: 4, Mets: 0!

When Nolan went to the Texas Rangers because of McMullen, I boxed up all my Astro's freebies (I still looked young enough to take advantage of the 14 and under specials) and sent them on to McMullen via the Houston Chronicle's Sports Editor. My father was so proud when my letter and a picture of all the stuff ended up in the editorial section!

Tass

I have a lot of fond memories of the Astros and the Dome as well. The wife of the Astros manager at the time, Bob Willis, sold my parents their first home in Houston. So my parents got her to pull some strings and when they took me and friends to the Dome for my 10th birthday and I got to go into the tunnel below the stands and shake hands with Craig Reynolds and Jose Cruze (I don't think I washed my hands for a week), then they put my name up on the giant exploding scoreboard with all the other birthdays that day.

Watched Game 6 of the '86 NLCS in my Algebra class in 8th grade (teachers knew they wouldn't be able to teach us anyway). That loss still hurts a bit.

Once got to take pictures in the Dome's home team photo dugout area (where the pro photogs sit just beyond the player dugout on first-base side). Was opening game of the 1993 season, Drabek was on the mound making his first start for the Astros. Someone from the Phillies, I think it was, fouled a liner into the dugout that nearly took out the rest of the starting rotation (Harnisch, Swindell, Reyonds, Portugal) who were lined up sitting on the bench closest to us photogs. Harnisch and Portugal walked over and hid behind us photographers for the rest of the half inning (nice guys, they joked around with us and each took a few photos with our cameras). Also saw Ann Richards and George HW Bush sitting in the same box with McClane right behind home plate. Interesting group. Richards got a lukewarm reception from the crowd. Bush got a standing O. But best part was watching Bush, who was just more than a year out of the White House, thrust his fist in the air in triumph when the red dot won the dot race and spilling half his beer on the ground. I remember chuckling and thinking "wow, that guy had the red phone on his desk 18 months ago. now he's cheering dot races and spilling beer at the ballpark"

Closest I ever came to snagging a ball in the stands was at the the Dome. My dad took my brother and I - we were both late teens by then. We're sitting about halfway up first level, third base side. Left-handed batter slices one right for us and it literally would've hit my dad square in the jewels if no one had moved, but two huge guys behind us lunged for it and when the pile finally cleared, one of the two oafs had the ball, my brother had run down to the end of the aisle to get out of the way, and my dad - who was only about a year removed from back surgery - was a crumpled pile on the floor between the rows of seats. Had I been older and drinking I probably would've punched one of those inconsiderate jerks. But my dad calmed me down and we took a stroll around the concourse to let him stretch out his legs and back. When we returned, the two oafs were gone.

When I was college, I waited tables on and off for about two years at the Pappasitos across 620 from the Dome. That was early to mid 90s, back when the Astros were always coming up short to the Braves for division titles. Those Braves-Astros late season series were always huge money makers for us waiters. Crushing dinner rush started about 5:00 or 5:30 pm and lasted straight up to game time. Then the place was nearly a ghost town until after the game. If we were lucky and it was a pitcher's dual that ended quickly we'd also get a post-game rush. Best night I ever had was during a Friday night Braves-Astros game - made about $275 in tips that night as I remember. But best part was the ballplayers and celebrities who would come in to eat. I waited on Brett Butler of the Dodgers; Pete Incaviglia, Darren Daulton, and Mitch Williams of the Phillies; and US Sen. Phil Gramm. I delivered food to Jeff Bagwell and his GORGEOUS wife (now ex-wife?). A bunch of execs from one of the teams left me a $100 tip one night.

Wow, I'm really rambling on. This thread has certainly brought back some old memories for me.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

austinrealtor wrote:I saw a double-header at the old Arlington Stadium between Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox that I'm certain was the precursor to Robin Ventura charging the mound on Nolan Ryan the next year. Ryan pitched 10 1/3rd innings, gave up one hit, no runs and got a no decision . But around the 7th inning, he hit one of the Sox players hard in the shoulder with an errant pitch. The bottom of that inning, first Rangers batter at the plate is Steve Buechele and he gets beaned right in the helmet. Benches empty, except for Ryan who is sitting patiently in the dugout next to his then teen-age son Reid (now in charge of the Round Rock Express, I believe). The next time Ryan faced the Sox was the following year when Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life and disrespected a living Texas legend, who promptly grabbed him like a steer and beat the top of his head until he submitted

I remember when Bryn was playing for the Expos and they came to town to play the Dodgers. I don't remember for certain who was pitching for the Dodgers in that game, but it might have been Valenzuela... in any case, the Dodger pitcher hit an Expos batter right in the left eye with a fast ball. They poor guy went down like he'd been hit by a truck, and they carted him off the field on a stretcher. It turned out the guy had a minor fracture of his cheek bone, but his eyeball was uninjured and he was otherwise alright. But Bryn was pitching that game for the Expos, and he told me after the game that he was surprised when the skipper didn't tell him to put down the first Dodger batter he faced after that incident. He said that pretty much everybody on both teams understood that it was a wild pitch and the beaning was entirely accidental. I remember the Dodger pitcher being very distraught after the pitch, and wanting to help but being told to stay out of the way.

At the time, I was incredulous. I remember asking him, "You would have really tried to hit the other player if told to do so?" And he nodded, yes, and made some comment like the pros not being a place for the faint at heart. It's weird, because Bryn is basically a soft-spoken, and gentle guy.

I've heard similar unwritten "rules" for when one pitcher will throw at another team's batter. As I understood it, purposely aiming for the head was never OK. But the you hit one of ours I'm gonna hit one of yours mentality is alive and well, I've seen it practiced on college, high school, even Little League level (though not condoned even unofficially at that level).

Nolan Ryan was never known as a head hunter, as some pitchers are, but he definitely had the reputation that he would "back you off HIS plate" if you got too close. That's how power pitching works in baseball, make the batter nervous to lean too far out over the plate to hit the outside pitch, then pitch outside. Or, the other way is to just continue to pound fastballs inside, more inside, way inside, until you either strike the guy out, hit him, or break his wooden bat. College pitchers practice the first scenario more (because a metal bat can fight off a hard inside pitch for a dinky single), while pros tend to pound the fastballs inside.

And for those who've neer seen a Major League fastball up close and personal, let me tell you it is SCARY fast. One of my other MLB memories is watching a guy who went to my high school, with whom I'd played catch with in a friend's front yard once, pitch 6 innings at Fenway Park. Just a fluke of scheduling that he was pitching the one and only time I've been to Fenway. He was a top draft pick out of college, blew out his shoulder his first minor league season, spent 3 or 4 years coming back, then pitched about one season's worth in MLB before retiring. His fastball when I caught him in the front yard (he was a junior in college at the time) had been recorded a 95+ mph. Who knows what he was throwing in street clothes in his girlfriend's front yard to his girlfriend's brother and his friend (me), but it was and still is the fastest I've ever seen a baseball thrown up close.

Oldgringo wrote:Does anyone remember if Jim Bunning ever got hit by a ball ...in the head...real hard?

I saw a double-header at the old Arlington Stadium between Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox that I'm certain was the precursor to Robin Ventura charging the mound on Nolan Ryan the next year. Ryan pitched 10 1/3rd innings, gave up one hit, no runs and got a no decision . But around the 7th inning, he hit one of the Sox players hard in the shoulder with an errant pitch. The bottom of that inning, first Rangers batter at the plate is Steve Buechele and he gets beaned right in the helmet. Benches empty, except for Ryan who is sitting patiently in the dugout next to his then teen-age son Reid (now in charge of the Round Rock Express, I believe). The next time Ryan faced the Sox was the following year when Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life and disrespected a living Texas legend, who promptly grabbed him like a steer and beat the top of his head until he submitted

Also from the same game(s), I remember the temperature at game time was about 115F on the stadium scoreboard and we poured water on the old aluminum bleacher benches in the outfield just so we could sit down. Beer never tasted so good (or had such quick effect).

To start off the second game of the double-header, Carlton Fisk hit a home run that either broke or tied (can't remember now) Johnny Bench's career record for HRs by a catcher.

My other memory is going with a group of college friends to the Astrodome for what would be the final home game of the 1993 season before the strike. We all dressed up, painted our shirts and faces with words protesting the pending strike, and generally acted like angry children.

I have never paid my own money to attend a Major League baseball game since that day in 1993. That strike and the canceling of the World Series that year ruined me on baseball, with only brief respites in 1998 for the HR chase and 2004 (2005?) when Astros made the Series. But the steroid scandals of the last few years have sealed my hatred for the game. I don't even know who played in the World Series last year. Haven't attended a game since that Astros playoff run (free tickets courtesy of step-dad's company). And truly have no further interest in the game on that level.

But I still love baseball. Watch college and minor leagues when the opportunity presents itself. Plan to teach my kids how to play.

Just can't stomach The Show anymore.