Last week, on my business trip for ABF Freight to Houston, I had some time Wednesday morning to check out a new baseball stadium. Actually, let me rephrase that – it is a new name for a Houston professional baseball stadium once called Minute Maid Park. Daikin Park is the newly named stadium that will be the Houston Astros home field in downtown Houston. Same location, same field, different name. Here is what else I found out when I visited the site located on Crawford Street, Houston.

From my hotel, I could have walked, jogged, or taken a short bus ride. The 2 point something mile trek from start to finish was not something I planned ahead of traveling to Houston. But it was a nice surprise. The trip took literally 10 minutes from start to park. I found parking across the street from the ticket office and began my journey up to and then around the massive structure that is now known as Daikin Park. My first impressive – this ballpark is massive.

As I approached the front gate and ticket office location, I noticed a row of baseball sculptures and some Houston Astros replica World Series rings. On the bricks leading up to and away from the WS rings were names of former prominent Houston Astro players and coaches. Of course, I found my idol, Nolan Ryan, right there front and center in the bricks. Having seen his statue at Globe Life in Arlington in front of the Texas Rangers home field, I was psyched to see another Ryan tribute there in Houston. Texas baseball fans love their Nolan Ryan!!! And I just loved the quote from former President and Texas native George (HW) Bush about his first love (Barbara, his wife) and his second (baseball, he played at Yale).

Wednesday morning at Daikin, Astros Fan Fest was getting set up. Opening Day in the Major Leagues, except for the two teams playing in the Tokyo Series (Cubs and Dodgers), was slated for last Thursday. The Houston Astros were set to open the season against the NY Mets and christen their newly named Daikin Park. Staffers were setting up tables and concert stages and fan stuff on Wednesday morning when I arrived. I chatted with a park tour guide, who told me his daughter was strongly considering Providence’s Johnson & Wales University to continue her culinary education. We chatted about RI, Newport, and I thanked him for being a great representative of the Astros. He clued me into a cool monument display featuring Astro greats Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. It was one of a few displays on this back side of this gigantic baseball stadium, which I believe has a baseball field in there somewhere. Hard to believe with all that iron and steel that a pitcher’s mound, bases, and a baseball experience is on the other side of the brick walls.

As I walked the rectangle perimeter via the sidewalks of Downtown Houston, I could not help but be amazed by the architecture of Daikin Park. The retractable roof, perhaps open for Fan Fest, is still a marvel of modern engineering in my opinion. Even though several parks have retractable roofs, the concept never gets old for me. However, as a baseball purist, I will take an open stadium like Fenway or Citi Field any day, any night, any time.

At this point, I had made it 3/4 of the way around Daikin Park and was heading back to my rental car to end my visit. When out of the corner of my eye, what did I spy? A banner of Rhode Island High School great and current Houston Astros Shortstop – Jeremy Peña. Peña played at Providence’s Classical High School, then starred with the University of Maine before being drafted by the Astros. Peña has only played for one organization and has been a Houston Astros starter since his rookie year in 2022. He is an NLCS and World Series MVP and the 2022 World Series was a huge coming out party for Peña nationally. What a great talent and so psyched that I found yet another piece of Rhode Island there in Houston.

It was an exciting trip to Downtown Houston to visit the newly named Daikin Park, home of the Houston Astros. Daikin Park takes over naming rights to the park once known as Minute Maid Park. The sidewalk perimeter walk was actually really interesting with some cool Houston Astro monuments, World Series tributes, and views of the massive structure now known as Daikin Park. It was great chatting with the Houston Astro’s tour guide whose daughter may go to Providence for college. And to see Providence (Classical High School) native Jeremy Peña up on several banners at the park. The weather was fantastic for their Fan Fest, and I hope they had great numbers. Not a huge Astros fan, but I have to say I will make every effort to go back and check out more Astros stuff, time permitting, on my next trip to Houston. Overall, it was an awesome Houston baseball experience at Daikin Park, home of the Houston Astros.