Today’s column is simply an excerpt from the epilogue chapter of our new SABR book, “Dome Sweet Dome” – a book made possible by the Captain Ahab presence of Editor Gregory H. Wolf and his obsession with the same goal we, his crew, also valued, above all others. Our only shared crew intention was to harpoon and harvest the truth about all of the major and some of the minor moments in Astrodome history. It is also our strong hope that you shall find some things to enjoy and appreciate in what we have tried to accomplish here, especially at this latest teeter-totter point in the life of this should-be-free-of-local-wharf-rat-politics upon a giant 0f world class architectural history status by more banal factions that see the Astrodome as an interference to their own plans.

The Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR contributed heavily to the full development of “Dome Sweet Dome”. In fact, Larry Dierker and former Astros President Tal Smith both contributed to the book’s introduction – and local SABR member Frederick C. “Rick” Bush served in a dual role – as one of our chapter authors and, along with James Forr, Len Levin, and Bill Nowin, he also served as one of the project’s Associate Editors. Joseph Thompson, one of our SABR contributors to “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961” also served as a writer, as did Paul Geisler, from nearby Lake Jackson, Texas. Other writing contributors include Mark Armour, John Bauer, Alan Cohen, Rory Costello, Richard Cuicchi, Greg Erion. Dan Fields, T.S. Flynn, James Forr, Gordon J. Gattie, Chip Greene, Matt Henshon, Brent Heutmaker, Michael Huber, Chuck Johnson, Norman King, Bob Lemoine, Len Levin, Bill McCurdy, Bill Nowlin, Chad Osborne, Thomas Rathkamp. Alan Reifman, Richard Riis, Rick Schabowski, Mark S. Sternman, Jim Sweetman Robert C. Trumpnour, Steve West, Mike Whiteman, Gregory H. Wolf, and Kenneth Womack.

Under the able leadership of Captain Gregory H. Wolf, the crew of the S.A.B.R. Pequod now sails for port in late February 2017. We hope you shall all hope that you find something of value from our dedicated group effort. Today’s column is an excerpt from the epilogue chapter what we have written, but reading it first will not spoil the excitement to be found in all the individual Astrodome stories this work contains. As a matter of fact, this part of the epilogue chapter itself easily could have functioned as well as a prologue tought on my the Astrodome is so important to those of us who came of age in the days of its earliest shadows of significant change upon the histories of both architecture and sports.

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 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas