Colt Stadium

Home of Houston Colt .45's, 1962 to 1964

BUILT: 1962

CAPACITY: 32,601 (1962); 33,010 (1964)

FIRST GAME: April 10, 1962, vs. Chicago Cubs (Colt .45's 11, Cubs 2)

LAST GAME: September 27, 1964, vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (Colt .45's 1, Dodgers 0, 11 innings)

LARGEST CROWD: 30,027 - June 10, 1962, vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

HIGH SEASON ATTENDANCE: 924,456 (1962)

LOW SEASON ATTENDANCE: 719,502 (1963)

Located on Houston's South Main Street, Colt Stadium was built as a temporary home for the expansion Houston Colt .45's. In groundbreaking ceremonies on January 3, 1962, .45 caliber blanks were used rather than the traditional shovels.

The symmetrical stadium had a single deck and scoreboards on both sides of the centerfield batter's background. The winds blew in from the right to the plate, and the outfield was spacious, making this a somewhat difficult park for home runs. The park was plagued with mosquitoes, earning the nickname "Mosquito Heaven", and insect repellent was often sprayed by crews between innings. The stadium also had notably bad lighting, and fans often had to suffer through Texas's sweltering heat, as there was no shade to be found anywhere. During one Sunday doubleheader on June 10, 1962, 78 fans and umpire Jocko Conlan needed first aid due to the heat. As a result, the Colts played a large number of night games here, including the major leagues' first Sunday night game on June 9, 1963, against the San Francisco Giants.

After the 1964 season, the Colts left the park for their new home, the Astrodome, which was just across Kirby Street from Colt Stadium, and became the Houston Astros. Colt Stadium laid in disrepair until the early 1970s when it was bought and moved to Torreon, Mexico, where it became the home of a Mexican League team. Today, a parking lot for the Astrodome occupies the park's former site.

Further Reading

• Philip J. Lowry: Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebration of Major League and Negro League Ballparks, SABR, Walker & Company, New York, NY, 2006, pp. 100-101. ISBN 978-0-8027-1562-3
• Bill McCurdy: "Houston’s Role in the Initiation of Sunday Night Baseball", in Cecilia Tan, ed.: Baseball in the Space Age: Houston since 1961, The National Pastime, SABR, 2014, pp. 5-9.