Photo of the Missing Signs at Minute Maid Park by Mike McCroskey, 2/07/2014.
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane kept his word. And we had no reason to think he would not. The sponsor signs are no longer hanging from the rafters in deep left field, no longer blocking the view of downtown Houston from the deep right field stands, and no more in violation of all the beautiful architectural integrity that went into the original design of Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Friend and fellow SABR colleague Mike McCroskey sent me the above photo last week. He took it on February 7th, when the signs were down, but not yet relocated to the surface areas of the left to center field wall, which should work far better.
Just wanted to give Mr. Crane another shout-out for doing the right thing in this matter. Many of us fans want to see MMP maintain its unique and quirky integrity too – and that includes keeping Tal’s Hill and the Crawford Boxes in place as fixtures for as long as the park remains the home of Houston Astros baseball. We also would not mind losing those revenue bovines along the two foul polls, but, if not, some of us do appreciate the need for a diversity of revenue streams.
Speaking of views – this may be the “best view of downtown season ever” in 2014. That horizon is going to close again once they construct the high-rise across the street that is going up to replace the old Ben Milam Hotel that was taken down after the 2013 season. Yes, this probably will be the only season in which there is nothing across the street on Crawford to obstruct a “looking west” view of downtown.
Most of all, we need to have some good baseball going on from an improving young Astros team of tomorrow. No more 100-loss seasons is important this year – and getting close to .500 ball would be both wonderful and acceptable as a sign of positive upturns and better days ahead.
Cmon, 2014 Baseball Season! Hurry up and get here! A ballpark without games that count is like a beautifully equipped kitchen that comes with none of the ingredients it takes to fix great Italian food!
Tags: the signs of spring
The Pecan Park Eagle 
February 12, 2014 at 12:34 pm |
That is a beautiful picture!
February 12, 2014 at 3:52 pm |
good job Bill , I’m sure that through your efforts finally we now have our park looking good, hope this makes the team play better,
February 13, 2014 at 5:36 pm |
The new building is supposed to be only 7 stores.. the old Ben Milam was even taller where it used to be.. so the view should still be great