Sunday Night Lights

HOUSTON, TEXAS - The major leagues' first Sunday night baseball game was played on this date in 1963. The National League banned Sunday night baseball but gave the Houston Colt .45s (today's Houston Astros) an exception to the ban because of the oppressive Texas heat.

This, of course, was before the Astrodome was built, in fact the sweltering heat was an impetus for building it. At the time the Colt .45s were playing in open air Colt Stadium, which had virtually no shade for the fans. By the way, Houston beat the visiting San Francisco Giants 3-0 on June 9, 1963.

Of the cities with major league teams at the time, the heat was an issue in Houston more than any other:

Average highs (from www.myforecast.com)
............................June July August
Houston.................90   92    92
St. Louis.................85   89    87
Kansas City............84   90    87
Washington, D.C....84   88    86
Baltimore...............83   87    85
Philadelphia...........82   86    85
Cincinnati...............82   86    85
Detroit....................79   83    81
Chicago..................79   84    82
New York................79   84    83
Cleveland...............79   83    81
Minneapolis............79   84    84
Milwaukee..............76   80    79
Boston....................76   82    82
Los Angeles...........72   75    76
San Francisco........71   71    72

The Houston club had to deal with the heat until 1966 when the Harris County Domed Stadium opened. Soon after the stadium name was changed to the Astrodome and the team name changed to Astros.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Weather: Summer heat averages
Houston's Colt Stadium

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