June 15, 1976: A Rainout at the Astrodome

June 15, 1976: A baseball game scheduled for the Astrodome in Houston is rained out.

Seriously. And while it was the weirdest event in baseball that day, it was far from the most consequential.

Until then, only one game at the Astrodome had ever been not been played, and the reason had nothing to do with the weather. On April 7, 1968, 3 days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, an exhibition game was canceled, as part of a day of mourning. But no regular-season games at the Dome, from its April 9, 1965 opening until June 15, 1976, were postponed. It was thought that preventing rain from falling onto the field would prevent that.

The Houston Astros were supposed to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. But heavy rain hit South Texas, and massive flooding resulted in Houston. At most, it was 13 inches deep at the Ship Channel on the city's East Side. On South Main Street, on the Southwest Side, near the Astrodome, the water was 7 inches deep.

This prevented all but a few fans from reaching the stadium. The Pirates were staying at the Shamrock Hilton. In normal weather, from there to the Astrodome would have been a 10-minute drive on the team bus. The driver had to go so gingerly, it ended up taking 30 minutes.

Both teams had arrived early for practice, and, according to Tal Smith, then the Astros' general manager, the field was dry, and there was no reason for which the home team was responsible that the game could not be played.

About 15 minutes after the Pirates got in, Tom Gorman, the crew chief for the umpires -- also including John McSherry, Paul Pryor and Art Williams -- called Smith, and told him that their car had stalled out in high water, and they couldn't get to the game. Only a few concession and security workers made it in. The broadcast crews for KPRC, both radio (950 AM) and television (Channel 2), were unable to reach the Dome, meaning that, if the game had gone on, there would be no coverage.

At 5:00 PM Central Time that day, faced with a 7:35 PM start time, the teams agreed to call the game off. Refunds were offered for 20 fans who did show up. Tables were brought onto the field, and the teams ate dinner together. The 20 fans were served separately, but it was free.

"Buffet-type, if I recall," said Pirate outfielder Al Oliver. "The Astro organization really did a great job. I tip my cap to 'em." And the players didn't seat themselves Astros at one end, Pirates at the other, or one team on each side. They mixed and mingled. "Most of us knew each other," Oliver added.

The players still couldn't get home, due to the flooding. Both teams bedded down inside their clubhouses. Having the Astroworld Hotel on the Astrodome campus didn't help: They still would have had to wade their way through the flooding to get there.

Although the Astros still had a home series with Pittsburgh in August, this game was made up at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh in July. The Pirates swept, 8-6 and 3-0.

The Astros played 35 seasons in the Astrodome, 1965 to 1999. In 2000, they moved into what's now known as Minute Maid Park (UPDATE: Renamed Daikin Park in 2025), which has a retractable roof. This game remains their only regular-season home postponement.

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June 15, 1976 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Dock Ellis outpitched Pete Redfern. Thurman Munson went 4-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Rod Carew went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

This was the trading deadline -- it was moved from June 15 to July 31 in 1986 -- and the Yankees traded pitchers Rudy May, Scott McGregor, Felix "Tippy" Martinez and Dave Pagan, and catcher Rick Dempsey, to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Grant Jackson and Jimmy Freeman, and catcher Elrod Hendricks.

Although Holtzman, Alexander and Jackson turned out to be key for the Yankees winning their 1st American League Pennant in 12 years, and Holtzman would also feature in their winning the 1977 World Series, this trade hurt them in the long run.

May, McGregor and Martinez all became key parts of the Oriole rotation, and Dempsey became one of the game's top catchers. In 1979, Yankee catcher Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash, and Dempsey was no longer there to succeed him, helping the Orioles run away with the American League Eastern Division title, and eventually the Pennant. When the O's won the World Series in 1983, Dempsey was named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

Rick Dempsey at Yankee Stadium.

Right guy. Right position. Right ballpark. Wrong uniform.

The Yankees did reacquire May -- no relation to Lee May, who played for the Orioles, and his brother Carlos May, who played for the Yankees, in each case including in that 1976 season -- and he helped them win the 1980 Division title and the 1981 Pennant. Would having Dempsey as catcher, instead of Rick Cerone, and later Butch Wynegar and Don Slaught, have made a difference? Maybe not. The Yankees did need that 1976 Pennant, to help set up '77 and '78, and possibly also '81. Maybe it was a wash, but it sure felt like a bad trade after Munson's crash.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Shea Stadium. Jon Matlack outpitched Burt Hooton.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton won it. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-2 with 2 walks, and Garry Maddox hit a home run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose and Joe Morgan both went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 21-7 at Tiger Stadium. George Brett went 4-for-6 with an RBI. Amos Otis went 3-for-3 with a walk, a home run, and 5 RBIs. And Dave Nelson went 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rich "Goose" Gossage, a relief pitcher for most of his career, started this game and went the distance, but was outpitched by Jim Palmer, who pitched a 5-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-5.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Lou Brock did not play.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at San Diego Stadium. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan outpitched Jim Colborn. Hank Aaron, in his final season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Gene Tenace hit a home run off Fergie Jenkins in the bottom of the 9th inning to win it. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4. This was the day that A's owner Charlie Finley sold outfielder Joe Rudi and relief ace Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $1 million each, and pitcher Vida Blue to the Yankees for $1.5 million. But Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in, put the sales on hold, preventing the 3 players from playing for anyone, and, 3 days later -- I have an entry for this event -- canceling the sales entirely.