April 9, 1965: Mantle waits on pitch from Turk Farrell. Later in the game, he would take Farrell deep for the first HR in Astrodome history.
HOUSTON CHRISTENS DOME
By Curt Block
UPI Sports Writer
6th inning: Mantle waits on pitch from Farrell that will be the first in Dome history.
That $31.6 million domed Colossus, Harris County Domed Stadium, home of the Houston Astros, has every wrinkle in the book plus a few that need to be ironed out.
The stadium is absolutely ideal for night baseball and the Astros were never better than last night when they delighted a partisan crowd of 47,876 that included President and Mrs. Johnson, with a 12-inning, 2-1 victory over the American League Champion New York Yankees.
Many in attendance were gazing toward the President’s box or gaping at the luxurious interior of the of the six level structure in the sixth inning when Mickey Mantle unloaded a blast that landed on top of the center field wall 406 feet from home plate for New York’s only run. (Unmentioned here, Mantle’s blast was the first home run in Astrodome history.)
Houston tied the score in their half of the (sixth) inning on an unearned run and won in the twelfth when pinch hitter Nellie Fox delivered Jim Wynn with a single.
The Astros played errorless ball while the Yanks committed three miscues.
... Curt Block, UPI Sports Writer, El Paso Herald Post, April 10, 1965, Page 17.
Tags: first astrodome game
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 9, 2014 at 3:31 pm |
Interesting that the Astrodome now sits abandoned, an eyesore and a subject of neglect and scorn while, Downtown, the Astros sit largely abandoned, an eyesore and a subject of neglect and scorn.
April 10, 2014 at 6:05 pm |
I attended the game and afterwards wandered around the bowels of the Astrodome and found the Yankee dressing room. I walked out and saw Joe Garagiola looking for the dressing room. I led him up the stairs, but when they asked if he knew me, he said no, and I was thrown out.