HOUSTON -- The Yankees and Astros will cross swords in the 2017 ALCS, and since the Astros are the higher seed they'll enjoy home-field advantage for this series. That means Games 1 and 2 and -- if the fates bless us with maximum baseball -- Games 6 and 7 will go down at Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston. As such, it's only polite that we get properly acquainted with the venue in question (all images via CBS Sports) ...
The facts
Address: 501 Crawford Street
Broke ground: Nov. 1, 1997
First opened: 2000
Capacity: 41,168
Construction cost: $248 million
Naming rights: Coca-Cola Company, $6 million per year through 2030
Previous names: The Ballpark at Union Station, Enron Field, Astros Field
Surface: Grass (Platinum TE Paspalum turf sourced from Georgia)
Dimensions: LF - 315 feet; LC - 362 feet; CF - 409 feet; RC - 373 feet; RF - 326 feet
Wall height: LF - 19 feet; LC - 25 feet; CF - 10 feet; RC - 10 feet; RF - 7 feet
Size of batter's eye: 40 feet by 80 feet ...
Size of scoreboard: 6,696 square feet (fourth largest in MLB at the time of its installation in 2011) ...
Distance from home plate to backstop: 49 feet
Fair territory: 107,000 square feet
Foul territory: 21,000 square feet
Total size of ballpark: 1,263,240 square feet
Ballpark height: 93 feet
Design: Neoclassical
All-Star Games hosted: One (2004)
World Series hosted: One (2005)
Record attendance: 44,203; vs. Cardinals; Sept. 26, 2001 (box score)
The quirks
Like a lot of throwback parks build in the 1990s and aughts, Minute Maid Park is rich with distinctive flourishes. For instance ...
Union Station
From conception to the current day, Houston's Union Station, which first opened back in 1911, has been an integral part of Minute Maid Park. Union Station last served as a rail depot in 1974 and in 1977 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As such, the Astros' ballpark -- if it was to be constructed in adjacency to Union Station -- would need to incorporate it into the design. That's what happened, to excellent effect ...
The Union Station edifice and interior is now the Astros team store, and many of the classical architectural elements have thankfully been preserved ...
It's a very cool touch, and fans can enter the ballpark through Union Station (possibly after purchasing some exciting products). Incidentally, the idea of building a ballpark in proximity to Union Station was widely reported to be the idea of Kenneth Lay, the disgraced Enron CEO and chairman who passed away in 2006.
The retractable roof
The retractable roof is a pretty impressive one, as such things go. Mostly that's because it truly retracts -- when it's fully open, the entire playing surface is exposed, making for the largest open area of any retractable roof currently in use. It takes around 15 minutes to open or close the roof's three main panels, and to do so it makes use of 140 wheels and 60 motors. In total, the three roof panels weigh more than 5,700 metric tons.
Speaking of which, he's a somewhat disconcerting detail via the official guide to Minute Maid Park:
If the track is slightly out of alignment, all the weight of a roof panel could come to rest on one wheel, causing severe structural damage.
Noted! The glass in the roof on the northwest side of the park keeps Minute Maid Park from having a "dome" feel, even when the roof is closed, as it was for Game 1.
Marlins Park, for one, seems to have taken a cue from this design element. That left field light tower used to have a Citgo sign hung on it, which, in tandem with the cramped left field dimensions and elevated wall was evocative of Fenway Park.
Speaking of which, the Minute Maid Park left field dimensions are technically in violation of MLB guidelines. Every since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and spent time in the absurd baseball environment that was the L.A. Coliseum, the league has mandated minimum outfield distances. In this case, 325 is the minimum distance down the left field line. As you see above, Minute Maid Park measures a paltry 315 down the left field line. It's not only semi-new park in violation of distance standards, so it's apparently not a hard-and-fast rule.
That blue house
So as you make your way down Avenida de las Americas to Minute Maid Park, you'll run into this ...
Why is the author showing you a photo of a charming-but-dilapidated Victorian? Here's why ...
Yes, said rundown Victorian is mere steps from Minute Maid Park. Even in light of Houston's "let the good times roll" zoning laws, it's a curiosity to see a single-family home that's, by my count, 78 steps from the exterior of a big-league ballpark. It also stands athwart a sprawling convention center.
Time was when the neighborhood around Union Station before there was any such thing as Union Station was called Quality Hill. I'll take them at their word on the "quality" descriptor, but there appears to be no hill involved. Anyhow, what came to known as the Cohn House (it was once home to one of the founders of Rice University, name of Cohn) was built in 1905 and survived the many changes that the neighborhood would see over the years.
St. Francis Charities took over the house in the 1960s, and as recently as the early 2000s the organization was resisting efforts from the city to buy the house and property. Here's a winning detail from long about that time, via the Houston Press ...
A statue of St. Vincent de Paul made in France in the 1840s has been placed near the front steps, but vandals recently managed to scale the protective fence and knock his head off. The headless statue gives the sagging house an ominous feel.
As well as I can tell, the remainder of St. Vince has taken leave of the place in the intervening years. Anyhow, according to Houston Public Media, the city of Houston now owns the Cohn House, but, as you can see, the upkeep leaves something to be desired (to be fair, though, the grass is mowed). According to a recent report by the Houston ABC affiliate, the Cohn House will be redeveloped in some form or fashion within the next two years. For now, though, it's a Victorian home that you could perhaps hit with a well-placed and viciously smote foul ball. Viva such a thing, we say.
The train
High above the wall in left center, you see this ...
That's a 50,000-pound replica of an 1860 locomotive, and its yoked to a tender that carries not coal but rather delicious oranges (Minute Maid Park you see). It's a unique nod to the linked histories of the Astros and Union Station. When the Astros score at home, which they've done 411 times this season counting the ALDS win over Boston, the train makes its way along 800 feet of track ...
And the people say: Choo and or choo.
The Phillips 66 pump
Anytime the Astros hit a home run at Minute Maid Park, the count goes up on the Phillips 66 pump out in the standing room only section, just next to the batter's eye ...
Intrepid prediction: The number will go up during the span of the 2017 ALCS.
The moments
Since the Astros clinched their only pennant on the road (before getting swept in the 2005 World Series), we'll turn to an individual moment. We'll make it Craig Biggio's 3,000th hit on June 28, 2007 ...
A little bathos when he got pegged going for second, but it counts! Also, you probably caught a glimpse of "Tal's Hill" in deep center -- a 90-foot, 30-degree inclined slope that fly-catchers had to negotiate back in the day. It was a tribute of sorts to old Crosley Field, which also featured a hill in center. Much to our national diminishment, Tal's Hill went away after the 2016 season. Here's to the late greats ...
The flagpole was a great idea.
The beer prices
Presented without judgment or commentary, the price of wholesome, nutritious beer prior the ALCS ...
Should you get yourself upsold to the souvenir beer? But of course. Also, Torchy's Tacos in the center field concourse has fried avocados.
The tendencies
For much of its early history, Minute Maid Park played as a hitter's haven. That stands to reason, what with the tiny foul territory and that tantalizing short porch in left. A few years in, though, it played as more of a neutral environment, and over the past three years it has suppressed run-scoring by a hefty nine percent. It still modestly inflates home run rates, so the people might just get what they want.
The best seat in the house
We'll give it Section C of the Diamond Club seats behind home plate. The view from therein ...
Intimate, you'll agree. Also ...
Note the fancy-breeches theater seating in this section complete with Little Lord Fauntleroy cup holders. My, my, aren't we important over there.
Not best seat in the house
Let's kick it up to Section 405, Row 22, Seat 1 ...
Lofty, no? At this point, you're likely saying, "This elevation strikes me as the jurisdiction of mighty birds. Perchance was there -- despite the Minute Park Roof being closed -- a nearby pigeon?"
Yes, is the answer. Also, here's what it looks like when, at great professional hazard and possible in violation of local ordinances, you stick your smartphone through the railing and take a photo of the cavernous depths below Section 405, Row 22, Seat 1 ...
Not even Lassie's rescuing you from that well.
Solitary concluding FAQ
At this point there's only one final question pertaining to Minute Maid Park: Is there a team photo of the 1962 Houston Colt .45's outside the main press box?
Yes.
Play ball, people.
