Dome sweet dome

Houston’s Astrodome opens for business 60 years ago today as the Astros host the New York Yankees in an exhibition game.

Historians note that future Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle is the game’s first batter and promptly picks up a single off Houston starter Turk Farrell in baseball’s newest ballpark and its first indoor stadium.

Mantle later hits the sport’s first indoor home run – a shot to center field off Farrell in the sixth inning.

Turk Farrell’s first pitch to Mickey Mantle

Mantle’s homer, though, accounts for the Yankees’ only run as the Astros eventually win the game 2-1 in extra innings before a Friday night crowd of 47,878.

The game ends on an RBI single by player-coach Nellie Fox, who is entering the 19th and final season of his Hall of Fame career.

Fox’s game-winning hit off Yankees reliever Pete Mikkelson barely eludes the glove of shortstop Tony Kubek before landing in left-center.

Trivia enthusiasts note that rookie catcher Ron Brand collects the Astros’ first hit in their new home with a third-inning triple to right-center off Yankees starter Mel Stottlemyre.

Bean counters note that the cost to build the Harris County Domed Stadium – the Astrodome’s original name – is $35 million. In today’s money that would be $354.5 million – roughly $100 million more than the cost of the Astros’ new ballpark that in 2000 replaces the Astrodome as their home.

“The opening night against the Yankees was one of the most electrifying nights I’ve spent in baseball,” Rusty Staub later tells the St. Petersburg Times.

“The excitement was everywhere,” Staub, then the Astros’ 21-year-old right fielder. “It was incredible to see that place filled. It was hard not to look up and be just as awed as any fan.”

Sharing the headlines 60 years ago today – or, perhaps, even stealing them – is the presence of President Lyndon Johnson, as well as 22 NASA astronauts throwing out ceremonial first pitches.

The first official game in the Astrodome comes three days later on April 12, 1965 in the season opener against the Philadelphia Phillies.

This game does not go as well for the Astros, though, as they lose 2-0 with future Hall of Famer Dick Allen accounting for both runs with a two-out, two-run homer to center in the third inning off Houston starter Bob Bruce.

The first hit on that day belongs to the Phillies’ Tony Taylor, who leads off the game with a double to left field.

Not everyone, though, is a fan of the sparkling, new Dome and the artificial turf that soon replaces its original, fading grass.

“If a horse can’t eat it,” Allen later says. “I don’t want to play on it.”