Astros looking for ways to open roof during more games at MMP HOUSTON -- It was a Minute Maid Park tradition during the ballpark's early days. As soon as the summer sun would disappear below the horizon, the retractable roof would peel open, usually around the seventh inning, and fans would get to enjoy outdoor baseball on a muggy night. The Astros discontinued opening the roof during games in 2005, and no one is sure exactly why. All that president of business operations Reid Ryan knows now is that fans want the roof to be opened more -- and he's taking steps to make it happen. Ryan said he plans to talk to Major League Baseball officials at this month's quarterly Owners Meetings about the possibility of once again opening the roof during games. The Astros have surveyed fans heavily, and Ryan said having more games under the stars is a priority for them. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager Bo Porter have voiced their opinion, as well. "At this point, we're talking about it," Ryan said. "We haven't fully gotten to the bottom of why it [stopped], and we're not fully prepared to start to roll out what our recommendation will be. But we are thinking about it, and we're getting input." ... "In a nutshell, what I would personally like to see is us to be able to open the roof late in the game when the weather is appealing or was comfortable enough that fans would enjoy it," Ryan said. "The one thing we know from our research -- and we surveyed fans extensively this year -- is people want to see the roof open more. They like the feel of outdoor baseball. So what is that [optimum] temperature? What is the wind condition? What are the chances of rain? We're still digging into all that -- and once we get it, then we'll put it out there." During Games 3 and 4 of the 2005 World Series, the Astros wanted the roof to be closed to help with crowd noise, but MLB stepped in and said the weather was mild enough that the roof should be opened. The retractable roof at Minute Maid Park takes 13 minutes to open, but MLB rules say the roof can only be opened between innings -- which is less than three minutes. That's a sticking point. Ryan also said the opposing manager would have to agree to opening of the roof. "If the opposing manager thinks there's an advantage [for the Astros], he's able to protest," Ryan said. "The reality is, every other ballpark in the country -- minus the few that have retractable roofs -- you have wind coming in, wind going out. You have clouds coming in, you have sprinkles. "Baseball is a game that's played outside. Just look at the past couple of World Series and you could see that. So we don't want to do anything to take away from the pleasure of the fans. We don't want to make it harder on the players. What we want to do is take this wonderful asset we have in a retractable roof and be able to open it when the conditions present themselves -- so people can enjoy one of the most beautiful stadiums in baseball."
I was also curious as to why they stopped opening the roof during games... I figured it was the team's decision, as they didn't want to change the wind pattern for the Astros pitchers. The wind certainly blows out more often than it blows in, so it likely puts the "winning" team at a disadvantage in the later innings once the roof opens. But, in the end, there's no reason why they can't play night baseball outdoors in Houston. Its warm everywhere in the summer... and muggy in a lot of places too. Houston does have the ability to cool off at night, though (unlike Dallas which seems to always be hot, even at night, in the summer). Also, MMP is built as an open stadium which you have the option to close (as opposed to Skydome or Reliant, which were both built more as indoor stadiums with the option to open).
I thought they stopped opening the roof during the game was because it represented different conditions for each team. Since the roof couldn't open entirely between innings, the visiting team would be playing during the opening of the roof while the Astros would have an entirely open roof.
This doesn't strike me as something that's too difficult to figure out. Go ask the guy that makes the decision at MMP. If he was told by someone else, just go ask that guy. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to solve.
Yeah, but both teams can sign off and make it okay. I don't think this was a case of the opposing teams always refusing to allow it... I think it was the Astros deciding that it was either too much of a hassle, or the Astros themselves (who were having some decent success, esp. in home games, in 2005) just wanted to do away with the practice. Also, by then, the nuance of "opening and closing" the roof at MMP had largely worn off... it was certainly popular enough in 2000 and 2001 that they used to do it the majority of games (even if it was just for the 7th or 8th inning on). I've noticed Reliant started opened the roof consistently via the 50-80 rule from the Indy game on... something they didn't do for 15/16 games from 2011-2012 (the team had made it known they preferred keeping the roof shut). If the Astros just come up with a policy and stick with it, the fans will comply... I'd be fine with knowing that the roof would likely be open for nearly every home night game, and closed only due to rain. They can/should keep it shut for the Sunday 1pm game during the summer, however.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that. Astros management can't figure out why the Astros stopped opening the roof?
Seems reasonable that they wouldn't know why the decision was made. It has been over 8 years, and pretty much all of the guys from back then are gone.
It also seems reasonable that they could find that information out very quickly. Like one phone call quick.
Haha, all of these posts are cracking me up. It's embarrassing that they would even tell a journalist that they don't know why and allow that to be printed. The world's dumbest/easiest to solve mystery.
Or it isn't. Never tried to go back and find why a decision was made at work 8 years ago? Edit: Keep in mind that the new owner is suing the old owner, and didn't end things well with either of the previous 2 team presidents.
Well, there's no denying that it apparently is not easy for them to solve. It just seems ridiculous that it isn't. There's an enormous degree of idiocy involved at least somewhere in the chain. And this isn't really comparable to an average Joe's work decision from 8 years ago.
How do we know it isn't comparable? It might have been like making the decision for how you setup a filing system. It was an important decision at the time, but the reasoning forgotten about, because that wasn't the primary focus. I envision it as team being pissed at Selig, and it just being forgotten about. My guess is that Drayton and/or Tal Smith made the decision, and they aren't talking to Crane/Ryan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Astros promote Goldstein to Director Pro Scouting, Wilka to Specialist of Int'l Ops and Assc.Counsel & Putila to Coordinator of Baseball Ops</p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/statuses/419168608527216640">January 3, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Director of Pro Scouting? Who was in that position previously? Trying to remember... we had Mike Elias doing our draft, Goldstein doing amateur scouting, yes?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Astros&src=hash">#Astros</a> FanFest is on Sat., Jan. 25th at MMP! For full info & to get your FREE tickets to Astros FanFest, click here: <a href="http://t.co/0C9X6FRRtn">http://t.co/0C9X6FRRtn</a></p>— Houston Astros (@astros) <a href="https://twitter.com/astros/statuses/419256949268422656">January 4, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bo Porter & new pitching coach Brent Strom are taking a trip—to California, to spend a day with Astros C Jason Castro <a href="http://t.co/T9IxK1yVt6">http://t.co/T9IxK1yVt6</a></p>— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/statuses/419291861660884992">January 4, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mike Elias = Director of Amateur Scouting = June amateur draft. Kevin Goldstein was Coordinator of Pro Scouting, now promoted to Director. Pro scouting covers players in the major leagues, minor leagues, indy leagues, and pro players in other countries.
Howdy Mike Fast. Cool that you're on the board. A small group of the most dedicated Stros' fans in existence post on here, as I'm sure you have noticed.
