Astros Submit Uniform Design Changes, Might Change Ballpark

Rather than make all these drastic changes to the Astros, wouldn’t it have been easier to fold the team, and move the A’s to Houston?

There’s one more note from the very bottom of the link above that’s even more interesting than new uniforms:

He also said the Astros are soliciting fans’ opinions on the future of Tal’s Hill in center field and that fans have said “they don’t see a lot of sense in having that 436(-foot fence) in center. We’re looking at a design that would incorporate some other things out there. We could use that space for a lot of different things.”

Tal’s Hill was a design feature meant to echo the incline in the outfield grass at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. But Crosley’s incline was a natural feature of the terrain; Tal’s Hill was a contrived gimmick. Minute Maid Park—and I have been there—feels as if the people responsible for its design had a committee meeting, at which it was stated, “Everyone think of all thee ballpark quirks you can and we’ll put every single one of them in here!”

If the Astros remove the hill and shorten the center-field dimensions, Minute Maid Park will probably become a hitter’s park, not to mention taking away a “feature” that could someday be dangerous (there’s a flagpole, in play, at the top of the hill).