The year 2000 saw something the grand old game of baseball had not experienced since 1964 – a Major League team in Houston playing on natural grass outdoors. While clear skies and real grass were welcome additions for fans, Bayou City hardball faithful also enjoyed another first in Minute Maid Park’s 242-foot high, retractable roof. Fans approved the new ballpark overwhelmingly, resulting in a record of more than 3,000,000 fans through the Minute Maid Park turnstiles in the 2000 season. The club has welcomed almost 6,000,000 visitors in the facility?s two seasons of play.

A jewel in the crown of the majestic downtown Houston skyline, Minute Maid Park has become a welcome home for the Houston Astros and has ushered in a new era of Major League sports in the city. The downtown ballpark continues the proud tradition of visionary innovation in stadium construction, beginning with the club’s previous home – the Astrodome. Minute Maid Park’s retractable roof technology brought open-air baseball to Houston for the first time in 35 years, and the natural grass surface and classic architecture provided Minute Maid Park the atmosphere of the great ballparks of baseball’s Golden age.

For more on Minute Maid Park please visit:
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/hou/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=facts_figures