My Favorite Astrodome Memory

In this year of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Harris County Domed Stadium, aka, the Astrodome, the Larry Dierker Chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research is calling for memories about the place. This is my entry.

My family moved to Houston in the mid-70s, and I fell in love with the Astrodome. It was a magic place to me, where you could go see baseball and be comfortable. Our house did not have central air, and the Astrodome was a great place to get away from the heat.

1979 cemented my love of the Astros, although 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1986 taught me that baseball in pain.

I moved to the Bay Area in 1988. In 1994, I embarked on a stadium tour. That summer I saw 27 out of the 28 ballparks. But the game in the Astrodome was special.

It was July 18, 1994, a lazy Monday night in Houston. I had almost a dozen friends and family with me, as we sat in the second deck behind home plate.

St. Louis led 11-0 after three innings. Huh. Time for beer I guess.

And then, Houston showed signs of life. In the 4th, with one out, Luis Gonzalez doubled to center and advanced on a fly ball by Lyle Mouton.  Tony Eusebio batted Gonzalez in with a single to left. Andujar Cedeño doubled, and Eusebio stopped at 3rd. Mike Fielder singled to deep short, scoring Eusebio, and moving Cedeño third. Craig Biggio loaded the bases, but the Astros left them loaded. St. Louis 11, Houston 2.

In the fifth, Jeff Bagwell led off the inning with a home run (which I caught on video), and Cedeño batted in another run with a two-out double. St. Louis 11, Houston 4.

And then the fun started. Here is the sequence:

• Biggio walked.
• Kevin Bass pinch hit for reliever Mike Hampton, and doubled to left, scoring Biggio. (STL 11, HOU 5)
• Cardinals put in a new pitcher, Frank Cimorelli, replacing Allen Watson. Jeff Bagwell popped up. 1 out.
• Ken Caminiti walked; Bass stayed at second.
• Gonzalez singled to left, scoring Bass, Caminiti to 2nd (STL 11, HOU 6)
• Mouton hit by pitch; Caminiti to third; Gonzalez to second.
• Eusebio walked; Caminiti scored; Gonzalez to third; Mouton to 2nd. (STL 11, HOU 7)
• Bryan Eversgard replaced Cimorelli at pitcher, and Cedeño singled to center, scoring Gonzalez and Mouton. Eusebio advanced to third, and Cedeño went to second when left fielder Ray Lankford overran the ball and it went under his glove. (STL 11, HOU 9)
• Felder then tripled to center, clearing the bases. (HOU 11, STL 11)
• Biggio hit an infield single, and Felder had to stay at 3rd.
• Bass singled to right, scoring Felder, with Biggio moving to second (HOU 12, STL 11)
• Steve Dixon replaced pitcher Eversgard, and Biggio stole 3rd. Bagwell walked, reloading the bases.
• Caminiti singled to left, scoring Biggio, and Bass, with Bagwell stopping at second. (HOU 14, STL11).
• Gonzalez walked, moving Bagwell and Caminiti to second.
• Mouton plated Bagwell with a sacrifice fly to right, advancing Caminiti, (HOU 15, STL 11)
• Eusebio closed out this amazing inning hitting a ground ball fielder's choice.

In the inning, Astros had 11 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks, one stolen base, a hit batter, and one Cardinals error. What fun.

St. Louis hit a meaningless home run in the 9th, so the final score was 15-12.

It was a truly horrible birthday for St. Louis manager, Joe Torre. SABR has this article about it.

When I did this trip 31 years ago, I did a daily log on my very lame personal website, a web log, one might say, or one might shorten it to blog. During the Pandemic in 2020, I recreated this blog day-by-day, and I added what few pictures and videos I had to them. You can find that write-up here: https://sydneyrandall.blogspot.com/2020/07/baseball-trip-replay-day-56-july-18-1994.html.

Appendix

This is not the only time I saw a team blow an 11-run lead. In 2002, I saw a team blow an 11-run lead, only to win in the bottom of the 9th on a home run. That game is much more famous; the Oakland A's won their 20th in a row, and the game was immortalized in the Moneyball book and movie.

I am one lucky fan!