Our review of Minute Maid Park - Home of the Houston Astros - Day 46 (7/5)

Minute Maid Park in Houston is the fifth retractable domed stadium that we have seen.  Michael and I agree that of all of them, it is the most unique.  Unfortunately, the Astros were out of town, but we got to take a great tour thanks to our tour guide Kyle.  Michael and I give the Astros high marks for what they've got there.

The stadium opened in 2000 and it is situated just south of downtown Houston on the sight of the old Union Station.  Needless to say, it is a great place to see a game.  Outside of the park, there is not much in terms of bars or restaurants to visit before or after a game.  But the park looks nice from the outside.  The distinct feature, obviously is the huge retractable dome that sits on one side of the stadium.  The dome was open so it feels like an open-air park.  From the outside, a renovated Union Station building sits on the north side of the park and gives it that old-time feel.  There is also a really nice park/gathering area in front of the stadium that gives it a relaxing feel.  The Astros did a nice job of blending in the whole train station feel inside the park too.  More on that in a minute.

The view outside of Minute Maid Park

Michael and Chris inside of Union Station

Union Station in the ballpark.  Very nice!

When you walk into the stadium from the north side, you come into the Union Station building and it is very cool (figuratively and literally).  As you walk into the park in the outfield, the park does a nice job of giving you an immediate view of the field.  The walkways around the lower level are spacious, which is a good thing when it's hot, humid, and you have lots of people in one place.  The park does a nice job of blending in the team's colors and the old style part of the park.  It's one of the best parks we've seen that has blended the old with the new.  

The view of right field

The boys from left field

The boys loved the suites.

The views of the field are great from anywhere in the park.  The scoreboard is the second largest in the MLB - second only to KC.  We didn't like it perched up in right field, but I guess there's really no other place to do it there.  The out-of-town scoreboard is one of four manually operated  scoreboards in the MLB and it is placed perfectly along the left field wall.  Our tour guide told us that the manual scoreboard in left was designed to pay homage to Fenway Park's Green Monster.  It's only five feet further back than the Green Monster (315 feet) and only half of its size at 18 feet which means that home runs are plentiful in the stadium.

Inside the manual scoreboard in the left field wall.

The park has two other unique features.  First, although it has one of the shortest left fields, it has the deepest center field wall at 436 feet.  And in center field, there is a hill, yes a hill, with a flag pole that is in play.  Kyle said it was because the owner loved the old Crosley Field in Cincinnati that had a hill in center field and wanted to do something unique in Minute Maid.  Second, there is a big train that is full of oranges, rather than coal, in its coal car that comes out three times during a game - at the beginning to wish the Astros luck to win the game, during the game if there is a home run hit, and at the end of the game if there is a win.  Judging by how the Astros have been playing lately, it's only manage to make the first of those three trips.

The famous train

Chris and Michael in the dugout on the phone to the bullpen

Yes, that's a hill and flagpole in centerfield

The Astros' version of the Green Monster

On the tour, we got to go see some cool places in the stadium.  We went to the diamond club, the press box, and then we got to take a lap around the entire field along the warning track.  While doing that, we got to go inside the home and visitors bullpen, and inside the manual scoreboard.  Very nice!  We also got to see the seats that are reserved for the George Sr. and Barbara Bush who are frequent visitors to the park and big Astros fans.  We also want to give a shout out to our tour guide Kyle who was very nice and very knowledgeable of all things Astros.  

The view from behind home plate

The boys

Our famous pose behind home plate

Me and the main main

Overall, I really liked Minute Maid Park.  I would give it an 8/10.  Here's Michael's take:

Hi everyone - it's me Michael again.  I really liked Minute Maid Park.  My favorite part of the park was the choo choo train in center field.  I wish we could have seen a game to watch it in action.  I also liked the big scoreboard in right field although it should have been in center field.  I really like the tour.  It was great to walk  around the entire field and pretend like we were pitching in the bullpens.  The manual scoreboard was cool too.  The suites were awesome!!  In fact, I really can't find too many things I didn't like about it other than the fact that it was really hot and humid in Houston.  I give it an 8/10 like my dad.  My friend Chris wants to tell us what he thinks too.  Here's his review:

Hi everybody - it's Michael's friend Chris.  We go to school together in Tempe.  I liked the train just like Michael did.  It was really cool.  I liked seeing the hill in center field.  I had never seen a hill on the field of a ballpark.  I also liked how we learned that the Astros were the first team to put the words from the announcer on the big screen to help people who are deaf.  I thought the way the visiting team's bullpen is under the stands to protect them from crazy fans was also pretty cool.  There wasn't much I didn't like.  Overall, I give it a 7/10.

Well there you have it!  We are all done with our tours and we are down to one more ballpark - Rangers Stadium in Arlington, TX.  We will be there tonight (Wednesday) and then tomorrow we will be done!  We have a 4.5 hour drive to Dallas today.  We'll check in later this evening.