The date was April 9, 1965.  The place was the Houston Astrodome (the proclaimed Eighth Wonder of the World).  47,876 excited fans jammed into the Astrodome to watch the fist indoor major league baseball game as the Houston Astros took on Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees.   Yankee manager Johnny Keane gave Mickey Mantle the honor of being the first batter in the game.  In addition to being the first batter, Mickey also had the first hit (single) and the first home run ever hit indoors in a game between two major league teams.  The Astros won the game 2-1 in 11 innings on a two out single by pinch hitter Nellie Fox.

Home Run Pitch	Touching Home	Signing before the game

Ticket Stub

Game Program

Scoreboard

The 'million dollar' Astrodome scoreboard errupted with sight and sound when an Astro homered.  When an opponent homered, such as Mickey, it displayed TILT!

Every few innings, the Astro grounds crew, dressed as spacemen, ran out onto the infield and dusted the bases and picked up trash.  The above cartoon is two frames from the animated cartoon, that ran on the centerfield scoreboard, depicting two such spacemen fencing over a stray piece of trash.

Whenever the Astros started a rally, Chester Charge would appear on the centerfield scoreboard riding an boat, rocket, motorcycle, buffalo or even an elephant as the bugle played and the crowd roared CHARGE!!!

The animated cartoon images above were scanned from THE original cels and/or drawings obtained from Ed Henderson, producer of these nostalgic cels.  My thanks to him for preserving these historic pieces for all these years.