Area of fair territory: xxx,xxx sq. ft.

Area of foul territory: Small

Fences: LF - 21 feet

            CF - 9 feet

            RF - 7 feet

Elevation: 40 feet (old Astrodome)

Ground Rules

Who Plays Here: Houston Astros (NL)
First opened: March 30, 2000 (exhibition against the New York Yankees)
First regular season game: April 7, 2000 (against the Philadelphia Phillies)
First regular season indoor game: May 27, 2000 (against the Atlanta Braves)
Construction began: November 1, 1997
Style: Retractable roof
Capacity: 42,000 (March 2000); 40,950 (April 2000)
Surface: Grass

Architect: HOK Sport (Kansas City)
Construction: Brown & Root (Houston), Barton Malow (Southfield, MI) and Empire Construction
Owner: Harris County-Houston Sports Authority

Cost: $265 million
Public financing: $180 million, or 68 percent, from a 2 percent hotel tax and a 5 percent rental-car tax
Private financing: $52 million, or 20 percent, from Astros owners; $33 million, or 12 percent, from no-interest loan
Lease: 30 years (2000-2029); $7.1 million annually ($4.6 million rent; $2.5 million to capital improvements fund)

History

     Enron Field opened a new chapter in the history of the "City of Destiny."  After the Houston Oilers split for Tennessee in 1997, the city got serious about providing a state of the art, cutting-edge technology facility for their remaining sports team.  On November 5, 1996, the voters of Harris County approved the construction of a new ballpark in downtown Houston.  Astros owner Drayton McLane, Jr., had considered selling the Astros to Virginia businessman Bill Collins, who wanted to move the team to the suburbs south of Washington, D.C.; but the promise of a new facility stayed his hand.

     The downtown stadium put the team closer to the center of the region's population, and the classical architecture, natural grass and retractable roof make it a pleasant place to watch a game.  Enron has 50,000 square feet of glass in the west wall of the roof, which provides the fans a view of the Houston skyline even when closed.  Seats along the right field and left field lines are five feet from the foul line, which brings the game closer to the fans.  Another nice "retro" feature is the exploding scoreboard - the biggest in baseball, this is Texas, after all - reminiscent of the famous scoreboard that was removed from the Astrodome to expand the seating capacity in 1988.

     Enron Field also boasts the first closed-caption board for the hearing impaired.

Playing Field: Natural grass, bringing an end to the Astroturf era in Houston.

Minute Maid Park Firsts
Game- April 7, 2000, vs. Phillies
Batter - Doug Glanville
Hit - Doug Glanville
Home Run - Scott Rolen
Stolen Base - Doug Glanville
Victory - Randy Wolf
Save - Wayne Gomes

Analysis

   Highly offensive ballpark, producing large increases in runs, home runs and batting average.  It also boosted doubles and triples dramatically, thanks to the oddly-shaped outfield walls and deep center field, and the minimum of foul territory gives hitters extra swings at the ball.  When the hot Houston summer air fills the stadium, the ball carries substantially better than it did at the Astrodome.

Defense: The park plays very easy on fielders, with good lighting and well-kept grass.  The quirky angle of Enron's outfield walls expose defensive weaknesses, and allowed a massive increase in extra-base hits here.  The deep center field (435 feet) means that a center fielder must be fleet of foot and get a great jump to succeed here.  The Astros play Richard Hidalgo here - he is solid, getting outstanding jumps on the ball to make up for average running speed, and his arm is one of the strongest and most accurate in baseball.

Who benefits: Extreme pull hitters can reach the short porches in left and right without challenging the deep center field wall area.  Jeff Bagwell, a pull hitter, was unstoppable at home in 2000 - he hit .353, with 28 HR and 72 RBI.  On the road, he hit just .270, with 19 HR and 60 RBI.  Last year, he hit 21 HR at home, and hit 18 on the road; he hit .306 at home and just .271 on the road.

   Meanwhile, Houston's other top hitters - Lance Berkman and Moises Alou - didn't benefit as much from the home park.  Berkman did better on the road (.336, 13 HR, 56 RBI) than at home (.327, 21 HR, 70 RBI), but don't expect this to continue.  Hidalgo had a lot more doubles at home (27 vs. 15).  As for Alou, he hit .341 at home, and .321 on the road; he had 15 of his 27 HR at home.

Who gets hurt: A hitter with alley power has a longer way to go than extreme pull hitters who can go for the foul poles.  No type of pitcher ought do well here, though power pitchers who allow flyballs will be the worst off. Pedro Astacio had a 6.48 ERA at home and a 3.99 ERA on the road.

     Still, three Astro pitchers had lower ERAs at home than on the road - Nelson Cruz, Octavio Dotel and Roy Oswalt.

Park Factors

Location

On the east side of downtown Houston at the corner of Crawford and Texas Streets, adjacent to Union Station and near the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Seating Chart

		Dugout Seats (Sections 112-126)	$29
		Club Seats (Sections 211-229)	$28
		Field Boxes (Sections 105-111 & 127-134)	$25
		Club Seats (Sections 205-210 & 230-236)	$24
		Crawford Boxes (Sections 100-104)	$17
		Bullpen Boxes (Sections 150-156)	$15
		Mezzanine (Sections 250-258)	$12
		Terrace Deck (Sections 305-338)	$12
		Upper Deck (Sections 409-438)	$10
		Outfield Deck (Sections 405-408)	$5
		Outfield Deck Children (Sections 405-408)	$1

Dimensions

Left field: 315 ft.

Left-center: 362 feet

Center field: 435 feet

Right-center: 373 feet

Right field: 326 feet

Backstop: 49 feet.

Fun Facts

• Highest triple factor in NL in 2000

• Second highest run factor in NL in 2000

• Second highest doubles factor in NL in 2000

• Second highest home run factor in NL in 2000