How many of you have read Roger Angell's 1972 book, The Summer Game? There's a chapter in it about the author's first trip to the Astrodome in the Dome's first year.

I decided to reread the chapter after the Pirates' final visit there. Basically, Angell said (I'm paraphrasing) that he not only thought that the Astrodome would be a miserable failure, but he was almost rooting for that to happen. His prediction was that the exploding scoreboard & other amenities would lead baseball into an era where the game became secondary to all of the entertainment around it & where the real fan was being shut out in favor of the movers & shakers. In an interview with the Judge himself in that same chapter, the Judge remarks that he doesn't want riff-raff at his games. Angell moved around the ball park during that game, & enjoyed it most high up above the scoreboard where the fans had to make their own fun, feeling that they were more into the game than the other attendees.

Seems that baseball did head into the direction that Angell predicted, but I'm not about to blame the Astrodome, myself. Just thought it was interesting & wondered what some of you thought about his comments?

BTW, I didn't vote in the poll, coz I've never been to Houston.