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for sale is a lot of four (4) 35 mm color slides containing photos taken during a 1966 baseball game at the then (almost) new Houston Astrodome. This famous stadium was called the "8th Wonder of the World". It was designed to be home for both the Houston Astros (MLB) and the Houston Oilers (NFL). It was the largest enclosed structure ever built and featured a massive animated, "exploding" scoreboard (known as the "Astrolite") which was a massive four stories tall and a football field long!
The four slides that comprise this lot are shown in photos # 1 -4 of this listing and are described as follows:
-Slide
# 1: Shows a portion of the scoreboard. Taken at 7:57 (PM), it features two cartoons: one of a bull with steam coming from the nostrils, and another of a cowboy trying to lasso a steer. There is also the face of the batter, Chuck Harrison, the Astro's first baseman who was about to be at bat in the bottom of the second inning, with game still scoreless.
-Slide
# 2: Shows another view of the scoreboard, taken at 7:17 (PM), probably before the game had begun.
-Slide
# 3: Shows the outside of the brilliantly illuminated Astrodome.
-Slide
# 4: Shows a view of the infield taken from the stands. It looks as if groundskeepers are working on the field.
The Astrodome opened in 1965. The batter whose face is shown on the scoreboard (see photo # 1) is Chuck Harrison, a first baseman who played for the Astros between 1965 and 1967. The photos in these slides must date from either the 1965 or 1966 seasons because they were developed (as slides) in September, 1966. I think it is much more likely that the photos were taken in 1966, than in 1965. On the day these photos were taken, the opposing (visiting) club was the Chicago Cubs. In 1966, the Astros hosted the Cubs for a total of 9 games (3 different 3 game series), which were played on May 3, 4, 5; June 10, 11, 12; and August 26, 27 28. Of these 9 games, Chuck Harrison was in the lineup on May 4, 5 (only as a pinch hitter), and on August 26, 27, 28. (He did not play during the June series.)
As impressive as the photos make the scoreboard look, I believe that they only capture a portion of the massive structure. It would have taken a very special panoramic lens to photograph the entire scoreboard in one shot.
Sadly, neither the scoreboard nor the stadium itself aged well. In 1988, at the insistence of Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams, the scoreboard was removed so that 15,000 additional seats could be installed for football games. By the mid-1990's, both Adams and Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane were dissatisfied with the stadium which they felt was "obsolete". Adams eventually moved the Oilers to Nashville, where they became known as the Tennessee Titans. A Harris County referendum on a new stadium passed narrowly, preventing the Astros from leaving as well. In 2000, the baseball team moved to a retractable roof stadium (Enron Field, now known as Minute Maid Park). After serving as a refugee center for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, minor portions of the facility were demolished in 2007 and 2013. Numerous redevelopment plans have fallen through, and the Astrodome remains a vacant hulk to this day and is actually dwarfed by the adjacent NRG Stadium (the home of the Oilers' replacement, the Houston Texans).
Please
see above for full description of condition and for photos. Sold as is.