12 February 2015

where in the world is my wallet card? - astrodome edition

this is a picture of the dormant houston astrodome that i took during a trip to h-town sometime last year.
i never saw a game inside the astrodome, although i have been to a game at minute maid park, the astros' current home.  anyway, the "8th wonder of the world" was surprisingly small in scale when i first saw it in person.  the houston texans' football stadium next door dwarfs it.  still, it was home to the astros from 1965 through 1999, which means that every game steve garvey played in houston against the astros was played inside that stadium.

so, on a more recent trip to planet houston, i took my wallet card along for the ride. here is my wallet card, a beat up 1974 topps steve garvey card, with the astrodome in the background
i couldn't get as close to the stadium as before due to some events being held on the grounds.

the astros were part of the nl west for garvey's entire career, so he played in the astrodome fairly often.  unfortunately, he performed worse there than in any other nl west ballpark, and worse than in any other ballpark outside of 31 games in montreal's pre-olympic stadium venue and 2 games in cincinnati's crosley field.  in 128 games at the astrodome, garvey hit just .250 with an obp of .291.  he had only 4 home runs inside the cavernous stadium, although he did steal 11 bases there, which was more than he stole in any ballpark other than dodger stadium.

i wonder where wallet card will surface next?
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4 comments:

  1. The Junior JunkieFebruary 12, 2015 at 10:29 AM

    I saw an Astros game there as a kid. Somebody hit a dozen or so foul balls in a row. It was crazy.

    The place was mammoth to me, but I remember my parents telling me the Astrodome could fit INSIDE the Superdome and my little mind being blown.

    Never made it back. I'll be sorry to see it go.

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  2. JediJeffFebruary 12, 2015 at 10:59 AM

    "i wonder where wallet card will surface next?"

    I'm guessing your wallet. Do I win a prize?

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  3. CommishbobFebruary 12, 2015 at 11:32 AM

    LOL, my #walletcard showed up in a picture with the Astrodome as well. So it looks like a defunct stadium has taken the lead in that category.


    I sat in front of Steve Garvey at a University of Houston-Arizona State game. The Astros were playing the Dodgers that night. It was a weird baseball/football doubleheader of sorts and the Dodgers came over from their hotel to watch. My buddies and I noticed that our section sudenly filled up and then we realized it was the Dodgers. Frank Robinson sat at the end of our row and I went over to talk to him. Crazy experience.

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  4. gcrlFebruary 12, 2015 at 9:05 PM

    @tjj - not sure it's going anywhere. i understand it was added to the national register of historic buildings last year.

    @jedijeff - yes, you win a pwe coming soon

    @commishbob - that's a great story. sometimes it's hard for me to fathom frobby as a dodger.

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