Colt Stadium - Houston

[Astros]

Here are some shots of Colt Stadium in Houston.

Colt Stadium was the original home for Major League Baseball in Houston as the Astrodome was being constructed just a few hundred yards away. The Colt .45’s played their first ever regular season game at Colt Stadium defeating the Chicago Cubs 11-2 in front of 25,271 fans on April 10, 1962. Houston third baseman Bob Aspromonte had the honor of scoring the first run in Houston history. Outfielder Roman Mejias hit two three-run homers and Bobby Shantz got the win.

All of the 33,000-plus seats at Colt Stadium were in the blaze of the Texas sun and there was a strong wind that blew in from right field. In 1963 the Colt .45s became the first team to play Sunday night baseball after receiving special dispensation from the National League office. In addition the stadium was sprayed regularly before games for mosquitoes. A Wild West theme circulated around the ballpark with female ushers dubbed “Triggerettes” and parking attendants with orange 10-gallon hats directing cars into sections named “Wyatt Earp Territory”, “Cheyenne Bodie Territory”, and “Matt Dillon Territory”. Ticket takers were dressed in 1880’s style baseball caps, blue and white blazers and orange trousers. The Fast Draw Club, modeled roughly after TV’s Gunsmoke, served season ticket holders. A Dixieland band played in and around various seating sections.

On September 27, 1964 the Colt .45’s played their last game ever at Colt Stadium with 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 12 innings. Less than one week later, team president Judge Roy Hofheinz announced the end of the “Colt .45’s” name with the last game of the 1964 season. The team would emerge as the Astros in 1965. Hofheinz eventually sold most of the Colt Stadium structure and it was dismantled in 1970. It would be trucked to Torreon, Mexico where its parts became home to a Mexican League team. The locals later referred to it as “El Mecano” because it reminded them of an erector set.

[alpineinc]

Great stuff.

What's the stadium model in the second dining room photo? Is that a cutaway of the Astrodome?

[Astros]

Great stuff.

What's the stadium model in the second dining room photo? Is that a cutaway of the Astrodome?

Yes it is. That model shows the seating, concourse and ramp layouts minus the exterior walls, scoreboard and the dome. The view of that model would be looking back towards home plate from center. Notice that it has a small resemblence to Shea Stadium.

[alpineinc]

Yes it is. That model shows the seating, concourse and ramp layouts minus the exterior walls, scoreboard and the dome. The view of that model would be looking back towards home plate from center. Notice that it has a small resemblence to Shea Stadium.

LOL, that's what caught my eye. Good looking model!

Love the waitresses and also the female usher in the aisle shot.

[Astros]

LOL, that's what caught my eye. Good looking model!

Love the waitresses and also the female usher in the aisle shot.

She's wearing high heels too. Wonder how long it took to feel uncomfortable.

[darbypitcher22]

Colt Stadium looked very small.... I had never seen these before, thanks for posting!

[Astros]

Colt Stadium looked very small.... I had never seen these before, thanks for posting!

It only held about 33,000 and the seats were all folding chairs or benches. The dimensions were huge though with about 420' to center, 390' to the alleys and 350'-ish down the lines. A scaffolding company built the place!

[darbypitcher22]

It looked like there was a lot of playing area, but not a lot of seating... looks pretty jammed together....

[atdy17]

Colt staduim is the reason why Minute Maid Park has a roof over it. Colt staduim was know as the hottest staduim in MLB and had major mosquito problem.

[Astros]

Colt staduim is the reason why Minute Maid Park has a roof over it. Colt staduim was know as the hottest staduim in MLB and had major mosquito problem.

The mosquitos were due in part to the 710' hole that was dug for the Astrodome. There was a delay in construction and the hole began to fill up with water from the underground streams that ran through the area. They grew in large numbers despite the county's efforts to continously pump out the water.

[darbypitcher22]

no need to worry about that for the last 50 years or so since they've been playing inside....

[OBomb]

Great shots, Astros. I honestly cannot imagine sitting in that place for even 1/3 of an inning. Between the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes it must have been hell on Earth. It's one of the few instances where a baseball team's move to a dome was a good thing. Thanks again for the pictures Astros.

[stadiumbuilder]

Until now, I didn't have the slightest idea what the park the Astros first played in looked like. Hard to believe such a small turnout for any opening day, but I guess with the reasons mentioned above, it's understandable. It was quite a jump going from that place to what was the most modern facility of it's time.

[Astros]

Here are a few more shots. They were on a blog from the Houston Chronicle a while back.

The first shot shows the excavation for the Astrodome with Colt Stadium in the background.

The bottom two show Colt Stadium in deterioration after the Astrodome opened.

[Digitalballparks]

Here are a few more shots. They were on a blog from the Houston Chronicle a while back.

The first shot shows the excavation for the Astrodome with Colt Stadium in the background.

The bottom two show Colt Stadium in deterioration after the Astrodome opened.

Hey Astros... Here's a few that we were saving for a post on www.digitalballparks.com. Don't know if you have these yet...

[Astros]

Hey Astros... Here's a few that we were saving for a post on www.digitalballparks.com. Don't know if you have these yet...

I don't think I had that middle one. Thanks!

[darbypitcher22]

wow... they really let it go after the Astrodome came into use...

[Fudbutter]

Great pix !

The whole place was dismantled and shipped off to Mexico to serve in the Mexican League:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomez_Palacio


EDIT: oops, didn't see that this was in the original post

Seems like more trouble than it was worth. Anyone know of this being done before or since?

[Chevy114]

What a joke, this makes the rangers old ballpark look good! I think it was cool that they got to be the first team to have sunday night games!

[mandrake]

What a joke, this makes the rangers old ballpark look good! I think it was cool that they got to be the first team to have sunday night games!

It served its purpose as a temporary home, thrown together at the last minute when Houston and NY Continental league franchises were accepted as expansion clubs. Look where the Los Angeles Angels had to play for a season(Wrigley Field). And the Washington Senators II (aka Texas Rangers)were stuck in Griffith Park, and the Mets had to reopen the Polo Grounds.

HOFer Ralph Kiner once said that he never saw so many large mosquitoes in his life, and was the first ball park where bug spray was the leading concession.

[Greg B.]

Reminds me somewhat of Jarry Park in Montreal. It had what appeared to be a bigger main grandstand than Colt Stadium but lacked any kind of right field bleachers. Colt Stadium had more capacity (33K versus about 29K for Jarry) and more amenities it seemed. Dimensions were pretty close.

[thechefs2003]

Are there any pics around of this park in Mexico after it was moved down there?

[Astros]

Are there any pics around of this park in Mexico after it was moved down there?

Yes, actually. Below are two shots that were in a 1989 Astros program magazine showing how the stadium had been rebuilt in Mexico. By this time, it had been moved again to Tampico from Torreon.

[Chevy114]

It served its purpose as a temporary home, thrown together at the last minute when Houston and NY Continental league franchises were accepted as expansion clubs. Look where the Los Angeles Angels had to play for a season(Wrigley Field). And the Washington Senators II (aka Texas Rangers)were stuck in Griffith Park, and the Mets had to reopen the Polo Grounds.

HOFer Ralph Kiner once said that he never saw so many large mosquitoes in his life, and was the first ball park where bug spray was the leading concession.

Yeah I know, but it just looks funny to me though. I would take every stadium you named over that one.

[DrBear]

Looking at the Mexican version of Colt Stadium:

1. I'll bet the original fans would have liked to have had a roof!

2. They ditched the rim boxes down the baselines and just kept the press box

3. The field is much smaller - in Houston the grandstand ended before the foul lines.

4. No self-respecting D-1 college would want this field any more.

[Calif_Eagle]

Does anyone know how much it cost to build Colt Stadium?

EDIT: To answer my own question, Wikipedia says it cost $2,000,000 dollars in 1962 to build it. According to an inflation calculator on the site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, this is $14,260,000 in 2008 currency. I'd say if all you want to do is see a ballgame and dont care about the extraneous cr*p that modern ballpark builders seem to feel a need to feature, Colt Stadium or a modern day counterpart would sure give you a lot more bang for the buck. (Maybe not in Houston, near a mosquito breeding pool... but in general, lol) For that price you could probably afford to add a nice roof to cover the bulk of the stands.

[mrjpa]

Anyone know what happened to the park after the Tampico team folded?

[64Cards]

I can't imagine why they didn't tear down Colt Stadium after the Astrodome was finished, but I remember reading in Bouton's "Ball Four" when he was playing with the Astros, that the pitchers would go over to Colt to do their running so they would be acclimated to the heat and humidity they would have in most cities when they played on the road.

Back when they played at Colt I remember a quote some player said about the women who came to watch the games, "In Houston the gals don't put on perfume, they wear insect repellant"