On April 12th, 1965, Richie Allen hit the first home run in the Houston Astrodome, off Bob Bruce, as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Astros 2-0.

I have a special place in my heart for the Astrodome, “The Eighth Wonder of the World.” Just as I have for the Metrodome and Wrigley Field.

20 years after Richie Allen hit the first home run in the Astrodome, I spent the summer of 1985 living in Houston, Texas, and going to Astros’ games.

The Astrodome was a pitchers park. And the 1985 Astros had four very fine starters:

• Nolan Ryan
• Mike Scott
• Bob Knepper
• Joe Niekro

All four of them pitched 4 complete games that season. Imagine that!

The 1985 Astros finished with an 83-79 record. But I don’t remember seeing them win a lot of games in the Astrodome.

What I remember is a Mets game where Darryl Strawberry hit a home run (off Niekro?) and the Houston fans giving a big hand to Rusty Staub. I also remember Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser throwing back-to-back complete game victories for the Dodgers.

I went to a lot of games that year. The Astrodome was air-conditioned and I had a friend at the hospital whose brother worked for the Astros and got me free tickets.

The Astros played their last season in the Astrodome in 1999. It is still standing but apparently is unused.