Houston Hardball at Minute Maid

Houston Astros

Specifics:

Minute Maid Park (now known as Daikin Park as of January 2025)

Chicago White Sox vs Houston Astros

Date of Game: Monday, May 20, 2019

Time of Game: 7:10PM CST

Final score: White Sox - 0, Astros – 3

Seat: Section 216, Row 8, Seat 1

Seeing the Houston Astros play at home was an overnight stop that I squeezed into a week-long road trip through some of the southern United States. Our only plan was to see the Astros play at Minute Maid Park the evening of our arrival. Then, bright and early the next morning, we’d be heading up to Little Rock, Arkansas. The detour down to Houston was an additional 10-hour drive (4 hours from Arlington, TX, and about 6 hours to Little Rock, AR.

It was late afternoon when we arrived in Houston. Just about 3 hours before game time. I was happy that the hotel I booked for the night was close to the stadium (approx. half a mile), but I also remember debating whether I wanted to book a historic hotel and spend very little time in it. I justified booking the one-night stay at The Sam Houston Hotel because it was walking distance from the stadium and it might be a good way to experience a little more Houston history.

As we approached Downtown Houston, I decided to drive past the stadium. This way my partner could familiarize himself with the streets and stadium parking and potentially change whether we check into the hotel before the game or after. Once we circled the stadium as best as we could, we stayed with our plan to check-in to the hotel first. Check-in took approximately 20 minutes. It wasn’t particularly crowded, but the reception desk was small, so we needed to wait our turn.

The late arrival worked to our benefit. It was 2 hours to game time by this point so no time to dillydally much. We freshened up a bit and chose to Uber instead of walking to the stadium. This was mostly due to the humidity. I have difficulty breathing when it’s too humid out. We left for the stadium about an hour before game time.

The Uber driver dropped us off across the street from the Left Field entrance. With extra time for a change, we spent a few minutes looking at the stadium and the surrounding area. We were even at our seats prior to the National Anthem being played. That’s a rarity!

I liked our seats; I had a pretty clear view of the entire stadium.  The roof was closed, which kept the humidity out and the air inside was comfortable. A window over left field gave a glimpse of the outside.There weren’t a lot of people in our section, although we did have an older couple sitting directly in front of us. Looking out at the stands, the stadium didn’t seem super crowded either. However, I know that a lot of ticket holders don’t get to their seats until after the first inning sometimes even later.

On the left field wall there is a model locomotive train that appears to be carrying oranges. On the side of the car it says, “Nolan Ryan”. I didn’t know if it was there as a display or if it moved, but I hoped it would do something fun.

The first inning went by quickly, the White Sox sent up 3 batters, and although they each made contact with the ball, no one made it to base. The Astros got on the board with a single, a walk, a fielding error, and ended the inning with a sacrifice fly which sent a runner home. The score was now 0 and 1.

In the second inning, the woman sitting in front of us turned around to chat. She asked where we were from and explained that she’s been attending baseball games since she was a little girl. Her dad used to take her. Then she met her husband, and it was a perfect match because he took her to a baseball game when they started dating. They’ve been going to games ever since.

I love listening to people talk while I am on vacation, their conversations with me are always so memorable. I like to remember that this is someone that I might not have ever met if I wasn’t at this exact place at this exact time, and vice versa.

While we chatted, another inning went by. Both teams were really keeping the runners off those bases!

A little later in the game the woman in front of us saw a young dad with a little girl leave their seats, she pointed the little family out to me and said she was going to talk to the dad when they came back down to their seats. She said it made her happy to see a dad and his little girl at the game.  When the man returned to the seats with his daughter, she caught his attention and went over to say she thought he was wonderful for taking his little girl to the baseball game. She also told us that she told him his daughter will appreciate these memories so much as she gets older. It was a nice exchange to hear. The dad smiled and appeared very appreciative of her.

In the top of the third, the third batter of the inning for the White Sox was hit by a pitch. So that put him (Yolmer Sanchez) on first base. Unfortunately, the batter after him struck out, so their turns at bat for the inning were over. In the bottom of the third inning, Jake Marisnick from the Astros hit a home run. We found out what the train does! It blows its whistle and chugs along the wall every time an Astro hits a home run. The score was now 0 and 2.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tyler White homered by sending a fly ball to left center field! We got to see the train do its tricks again! The score was 0 and 3.

The top of the fifth inning, White Sox player Tim Anderson was hit by a pitch, so he went to first base. Although he was pushed to second base by a teammate hitting a single, he was stranded at second. The Astros quickly got 3 outs at the bottom of the inning.

The pace of the game was super quick. The stands still didn’t seem crowded. By the time the 6^th inning rolled around when we realized we better get up to the concession area if we wanted to eat dinner and get our ice cream helmets. Nothing overly fancy, a hot dog for each of us with soda. We also grabbed our ice cream helmets while we were there. Blue Bell ice cream this time, made in Texas!

Luckily, there was a stand right near our seats that had a dining area with tables, chairs and television sets on the walls. We had the place to ourselves; we were the only people in there with about 11 empty tables. Since we had our choice of tables, we sat at one in between two televisions, so we each could continue to watch the game.

We returned to our seats towards the middle of the 7^th inning. Personally, I’d have stayed in the café area for the rest of the night, having it all to us was so cool. But they wanted to clean up. Back at our seats, we watched the final 3 innings. While not for lack of trying, the score remained the same through the final 3 innings.

At the end of the game, we heard and watched the train chug along the track one last time for the night.

Outside the stadium, as we waited on the curb for our Uber driver, I was surprised at how mobbed the street was. It was like everyone single person in the stadium was on this street waiting for a pickup.  Our Uber driver asked us to meet him on the corner across the street. We were back in the hotel lobby by 10:30PM.

Things I learned while researching information for this blog post:

⚾  The Houston Astros went to the World Series in 2019!

⚾ The animatronic train is tribute to Union Station, the old train station formerly where the stadium is.

⚾ It carries oranges because the park is sponsored by Minute Maid, the orange juice company.

⚾ Painted on the side of the train is the name, "Nolan Ryan" honoring the legendary Astros pitcher.

​Written December 1, 2025

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity. Blog title brainstorming too!

​©2025 Theri’s Travel Tales