Astros Top Mets in Slugfest

Apr. 28, 1965 - The Houston Astros, wiping out three-run deficits in the fourth and sixth innings, scored their seventh straight victory tonight by beating the New York Mets, 12-9.

This constituted a club record and the longest win streak of the season. It lifted the Astros to third place in the National League and made their record in their gaudy new Astrodome 6-1. They lost in Houston only on opening day, to Philadelphia.

Several other notable “firsts” were recorded. The crowd of 27,690 was the largest ever to see a Met-Houston game anywhere; the total score was the highest in the rivalry between the two expansion clubs; and it was the highest-scoring indoor game ever played.

And finally, Lindsey Nelson (pictured), the daredevil among the three Met broadcasters, became the first human to give a radio account of a major league game from directly overhead by working from the gondola right under the middle of the dome, 208 feet above second base.

The contraption, which looks like a flying saucer, is designed to house television cameras for football and other suitable events. It is a disc about 60 feet in diameter, suspended from cables. It is lowered to ground level for access.

Nelson and Joel Nixon, the executive producer, climbed aboard by ladder, carrying little white stools in their hands and their hearts in their mouths. The ascent took about four minutes but, they said, seemed like only a few years.

By the sixth inning, the $2 million scoreboard was flashing messages to Nelson.

“Hey up there, Lindsey,” it read. “Are you hungry?”

As the game wore on, the messages got more comical.

“Nelson is now in his third orbit,” one said, “breaking the world record for gondola sitting.”

Nelson and Nixon had moved ahead of Project Gemini for elapsed time — and when they landed, they hit the planned target area right on the nose.

Afterward, Nelson said that, from that height and vantage point, “You couldn’t tell a line drive from a pop fly.”

Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s