RICHMOND, Va. -- I’ve been to a great many baseball games, and a great many ballparks, but I’ve never seen one in an indoor stadium, aside from a few innings in Seattle with the retractable roof in place.
I think some of the more modern buildings might make for a cool experience, much different than I’m used to … but relics like the Astrodome and Metrodome, so cutting edge and futuristic at the time they were built (The Astrodome was nicknamed the Eighth Wonder of the World, with no apparent hint of irony) seemed to host a version of baseball that was practically the antithesis of what you think of when you hear the word “ballgame,” with green carpet on solid concrete in a dimly lit, cavernous basement.
Sure, cold weather can be a drag, and untimely rain can play havoc with your best-laid plans, but I’ll take an open air ballpark over a dome any day … and, as one night in Houston in 1976 proved, even all the concrete in the world can't beat mother nature if she’s determined enough:
ROB ULLMAN / DKPS
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