DECEMBER 1, 1964 | HOUSTON, TEXAS • The Houston “Colt .45s” officially became the “Astros” on this date in 1964. It was quite a change in image, from a symbol of the old west to the city’s modern image as home to NASA and the space program.
The new name coincided with the team’s new home, the world’s first ever indoor baseball stadium. It was initially called the Harris County Domed Stadium. It later became known as the Astrodome. It was also unofficially referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”
Playing baseball inside created problems during the 1965 inaugural season. The original design called for real grass. Sunlight was allowed in through semi-transparent synthetic glass panels in the dome so the grass would grow. But the players quickly discovered that the hundreds of panels created such a glare that they couldn’t see fly balls.
The solution was to paint over the synthetic glass panels, but then the grass wouldn’t grow. Hence, synthetic grass (Astroturf) was developed, but it took a while.
There were times during the 1965 baseball season when the grounds crew had to paint parts of the playing surface green because the grass had died off. It wasn’t until midway through the 1966 season that there was enough Astroturf to blanket the entire surface of the playing field.
Contributing source:
Astrodome
