Hal McCoy has been around a while, long enough to to remember the differences between Colt Stadium and the Astrodome and now Minute Maid:
Houston’s Minute Maid Park is one of my favorite baseball venues with its viaduct in left field with the train tracks and train on top, plus the terrace in center field with the flag pole in the field of play.
What a difference from old Colt Stadium, the franchise’s first ballpark when the team was the Houston Colt .45s and the mosquitoes in the outdoor facility doubled as Coast Guard helicopters.
Then there was the Houston Astrodome, which was infested with mice and rats. They released packs of cats after games to roam the park to take care of the problem.
They didn’t do such a great job, in my opinion. One night after a game, as I wrote my story, I felt something scurry across my foot in the press box. When I looked down I saw a rat as big as my Miniature Schnauzer, Barkley. I finished my story in record time.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
