Funny, most of my Dome memories are more than a bit fuzzy. Two of my favorite memories came from the same game, I think. Albert Belle (?) hit an upper deck home run to left field. I think there were only about 15 of those in the entire history of the Dome. Definitely the longest I have ever seen a baseball fly. The second memory has the Astros in the field, wild pitch bounces high in the air. Ausmus can't find the ball anywhere as a runner scores. The ball was eventually retrieved from the umpire's shirt pocket, who had just been standing there acting all innocent. Thanks to Google, here is the story: No one on the Astros had ever seen anything like it. It happened during Wednesday night's game against the Chicago White Sox. With Ray Durham at third and Frank Thomas hitting Houston pitcher Doug Henry uncorked a wild pitch in the dirt. The ball bounced up and landed in plate umpire Gerry Davis' front shirt pocket while catcher Brad Ausmus scrambled around looking for the ball. Durham raced home before Ausmus finally located the ball. "I was yelling 'It's in his pocket, it's in his pocket," Henry said. "Then I stopped yelling because I figured it was a dead ball. But when the crowd started booing I knew it wasn't a dead ball." Davis said he didn't see the ball at first but under the rules, if a ball gets caught in his equipment the runner is awarded one base. "He made the right call," Ausmus said. "I guess had I known where the ball was I could have grabbed it and tagged him but I didn't see it. I've never seen anything like that." Neither had the Astros. "No one in the dugout had seen anything like that before," manager Larry Dierker said. QUOTE TO NOTE: "I said to (plate umpire Gerry Davis) what was I supposed to do, grab you and tag the runner with you?" -- Astros catcher Brad Ausmus after a wild pitch bounced into Davis' pocket Wednesday night, allowing Chicago's Ray Durham to score from third. Fun times!
I was at the game where Larry Dierker had that stroke...You could hear a pin drop. That was also the same game I saw my first ever grand slam. Derek Bell hit one that baaaaaaarely went over the right field wall...maybe the shortest home run in major league history. I believe that was the only slammy of his career...
