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 Colt
Stadium
Houston, TX
When talking about
Colt Stadium, Astros player Rusty Staub described the ballpark as
any other player at the time would. Talking of the stadium he said,
"I don't care what ballpark they ever talk about as being the
hottest place on the face of the Earth, Colt Stadium was it." Home of the
Houston Colt .45’s, Colt Stadium was one known as one of the hottest ballparks
for both players and fans during its existence. When MLB awarded the Houston area a
National League franchise in 1960, the team needed a home until a planned dome stadium could be built. They decided to
construct a temporary stadium until the
dome stadium was built. A 33,000 seat, one tier ballpark was
constructed. Named Colt
Stadium, the Colts played their first game at the stadium on April 10, 1962. One
tier of multicolored seats and bleachers extended from the right
field foul pole to home plate and around to the left field foul
pole. Additional seating was located in both right and left field.
The scoreboard made up part of the centerfield wall. Colt Stadium
was an awful place for baseball. The temperature was always
hot, even at night and mosquitoes were terrible. During a doubleheader one Sunday, over 100 fans were sent to the first aid room at
Colt Stadium. While the Colts .45s played at Colt Stadium, their new dome stadium, the Astrodome, was constructed beyond
the first base grandstand. The final game at Colt Stadium was on
September 27, 1964. In 1965, the Colts .45s were renamed the Astros
and moved across the parking lot into the
Astrodome. Colt Stadium remained standing for five years after
the Colt .45s left as it served mainly as a storage yard. Team
owner Roy Hofheinz had the entire stadium painted grey so it
would not stand out in aerial photos of the Astrodome. In the late
1960s Colt Stadium was sold to a minor league Mexican team for
$100,000. The stadium was disassembled and moved to Torreon, Mexico.
The stadium was moved once again to Tampico, Mexico where it stills
sits today and is part of a public playground.
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