The Astrodome turns 50 today

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They don’t play baseball anymore. Heck, they don’t do anything there anymore. But the Astrodome turns 50 years-old today, and to celebrate it the place is going to be open to the public for the first time in a long time. It won’t be much of a tour — the building is falling apart as folks debate its future — but there will festivities in the plaza outside the park.

It was April 9th, 1965 when the Astros defeated the New York Yankees with a 2-1 victory, playing the first game in a domed stadium in baseball history. Three days later the first regular season game was held. In the decades after some history happened there. Some movies were filmed there. And, if you’re from Houston, a lot of memories were formed there as well.

At the time it opened the place was called the Eighth Wonder of the World. And it had some seriously awesome mid-century modern design flourishes going on which made it a pretty darn spiffy example of the space age aesthetic. But for all of the awe it inspired, it’s worth remembering that, unless they somehow hit that sweet spot where nostalgia and cash flow come together like Fenway and Wrigley, sports facilities have a shelf life. Eventually it went out of date and out of fashion and now it stands crumbling. More of an inspiration for other, hopefully more enduring domed facilities than an example of something wonderful in and of itself.

But it certainly — and quite literally — changed the game. And for that it’s worth celebrating its 50th birthday. Even if it’s not looking all that great for 50.

(Thanks to STex52 for the reminder)

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN on opening day

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Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.