I don't dislike the ballpark.....I have only been there 4 or 5 times....but I think watching the game from Ruggles is a blast...I sat in the Crawford boxes once and that was pretty cool as well. The train is a cool touch and the kids love it... I think the hill is a nice asthetic touch....but shouldn't be there because it only a hinderance to both teams playing
First off, I'm no bandwagoner. I have been a TRUE obnoxious Yankee fan for my entire life, through the good times and the bad times. And you know you cant prove otherwise so I don’t see why the hell your even going there anyways.....it makes no sense. "Me never seen a Sawx game".......once again, this pathetic cheap shot just seems stupid since you can’t prove this as being true. So why even bring that garbage in here. To better your point perhaps. Look, do us all a favor and leave all that weak "fugazy" smack-talk across the river in New Jerusalem ------------------------------------------------ I'm just glad you brought up Fenway's fences.......it proves my point best about how silly all this complaining is. You see, Fenway's fences aren’t exactly normal by baseball's standards, just like MMP. Yet, you don’t see Sawx fans at "Sons of Sam Horn" angrily chanting..... "Get rid of Pesky's Pole...." "Raise the Bullpen fences..." "Take down the Monsta' It was really just a spite fence anyways!!!" P.S.....Where's Manny Ramierez....I wanna get his take on this too. In fact, they love Fenway and embrace all of its weird quirks. You never hear the fences and quirks being blamed for "the Curse." That's why when former CEO John Harrington came up with designs for a new ballpark back in 99', he made sure and kept the field dimensions exactly the same as to incorporate the same quirks Fenway had into the new park. Because he knew if he didn’t incorporate all of the characteristics of the old park into his new dream park, no one in New England would embrace his vision. And hell, they didn’t anyways....that's why John Henry is instead settling for renovating the ole' ballpark...and he's doing a good job so far. Now compare that situation to what we have now.... Boston has a "baseball funhouse".....there fans love it. Houston has a "baseball funhouse" .....your complaining about a damn hill. It just seems too silly to even bother wasting my time and explaining. Actually Mr Mooch was dead money on this one. If it wasn’t for the Hill's presence, making center field at MMP the longest in baseball at 436 ft, Astros pitching would have surrendered more homers this series then they currently have, making each defeat look even worse then they currently are. That Hill has saved you 3 or 4 homers this series. In any other park in baseball, those ball's are obviously outta here. So theoretically, the Hill does provide a home field advantage. Now I guess its time for you to start whining about the flag pole, eh?
Spoken like a true bandwagoner. You get very defensive over that ridiculous hill to the point that oyu made both of your responses a personal attack...are you on the grounds crew or something?
Yeah he did. Stros won by 1 run that game. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/1976236 "Stairs' home run to center-field was estimated at 461 feet, longest in Minute Maid Park history." -- May 5, 2003 http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/030506/6/szum.html Berkman hit one estimated at 464 on June 7, 2003, the current recordholder at MMP, but his was to RF.
I was at all 3 of those games, and Sexon's shot would have been the furthest. The reak kick in the @ss for the Brewers was that he ended up getting stranded on 3rd that inning and they lost by one run. Another memorable shot I saw was Sosa's "The Natural" blast into the lights in LF on a hazy night. I believe it was in 2000 and off Elarton. The crowd was absolutely buzzing after that shot.
A buddy of mine set up this site. http://www.killthehill.com It's pretty funny. Sign the petition...who knows.
That is the truth. If we didn't have such a bad defensive outfield, the hill would be a homefield advantage. If we actually hit the ball out there, then it would be a bigger advantage. Why are people b****in' about the hill? Our problems are at the plate, not Tal's Hill. I like the hill, it is something that is unique about the ballpark. It works both ways, if we actually had hitters to hit it out there, it would be an advantage for us.
I guess it takes one to know one........ First off, the first post didnt have a personal attack. I just thought your claim was ridiculous, just like most others here. The big difference, I just made that blatantly obvious with comments like.... "most asinine thing ever said"........ "hall of fame/shame" comment......... Now the second post I am guilty for... only cause it was in response to your post. If your gonna call me out, how do you not expect me to reply? C'mon now....... Now as to explain my defense of the hill..... First, how on earth would I be grounds crew for Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas when I live in NYC, almost 3000 miles away? The Astros would have to pay me some good money for me to make those 3 hour+ round trips everyday, just to mow their lawn. But I will admit this.......I was involved in the Ballpark at Union Station project. I am employed with Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum (a.k.a HOK) as an architect. As some of you know, this was the main designing firm employed by the Astros to design the ballpark. Yours truly was one of those who worked under Senior AIA Earl Santee to design the ballpark. But my opinions of this ballpark are mostly un-biased however as I have also worked on numerous baseball facilities including the China Basin Ballpark project (now named SBC Park) and PNC Park.
