After 527 days, fans file into Minute Maid Park
Team’s faithful back in the stands for first time since 2019 World Series
As Kimberly and James Purpera headed back to Houston following an Astros spring training game in March 2020, they got a puzzling news update: Preseason baseball was canceled.
More puzzling were the other news messages they started seeing on their phones. The rodeo in Houston was canceled. All the toilet paper was gone.
“We had no idea what was going on,” Kimberly, 42, said. “We were coming home to everything closing. It was crazy.”
But on Thursday evening, the season ticket holders, who have been married about 11 years, were among the first fans to return to Minute Maid Park for the Astros home opener against the Oakland Athletics for the first game there with fans in 527 days.
Many fans said they had been missing their baseball family, the experience of being at the old ballpark that heralds the coming of spring.
The game was still played on the standard diamond — among the few unchanged things since the last time fans were present
to watch the national pastime.
COVID-19 was not around for Game 7 of the 2019 World Series when the team last hosted fans. There are now new expectations when watching a game amid a pandemic. They include masks covering faces, a few feet of separation between strangers, and health screenings at entrance gates.
Some things had not changed Thursday night: the enthusiasm in the fan base of Houston’s baseball team for the game, team and one another.
“We’ve been missing this place,” James said. “It’s been so long.”
The return of live baseball marked another milestone as the nation and world emerges from a pandemic that has killed nearly 50,000 Texans and more than half a million people in the United States since the last ballgame that fans could attend in Houston.
Different sports and different teams have taken different approaches to letting fans back into the stands.
The Astros took a contrasting approach to the Texas Rangers, who reportedly welcomed a crowd of 38,238 for their home opener at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.
In Houston, team officials said they planned to cap capacity at 50 percent and sell every available seat. On a balmy Thursday night, there were approximately 21,675 fans.
“This is home number two. These fans are my family,” said Chris Walton, wearing an Astros jersey, a necklace with an Astros license plate, Astros shorts, socks, hat and face mask. “I’m just happy. I understand there’s differences, there’s changes, I’ve got to wear a mask, but I get to be around my family.”
The changes at the stadium also include physical distancing while waiting in line, although not everyone followed the guidance Thursday night. Hand sanitizer dispensers were located throughout the park, which was often being sanitized and mopped.
Most fans wore face coverings — numerous displaying the team’s logo and name — but some flouted the requirement.
Regardless of the contrasts from the normal experience, fans said they were excited to be watching their favorite team in person once again alongside their favorite part of in-person games — each other.
“We watch every game on TV,” said Kelly Keyworth, a 60-yearold lifelong Houstonian who recalls the first years of the Astrodome. “But it’s nothing like coming to a live game.”
For Joshua Morrow, the last year was tough not being able to make any games. He looked down at his 3-year-old boy, JB, who loves baseball and was holding a hot dog in a plastic box.
“Are you happy?” Morrow asked JB.
“I am!” he responded, slightly muffled by his mask.
“Look at this atmosphere,” Morrow, 50, said. “You feel the love, you feel the energy. That’s what you miss.”
Some fans stopped in front of murals to take photos. Others flagged down Orbit, the team mascot, for a quick selfie. A few paused in front of random sections, their eyes wide, to look at the crowd as they headed to their seats.
And several, such as Kimberly Purpera, were already looking to returning after the home opener. She planned to attend the games on Friday and Saturday with her daughter.
“It’s a family thing for us,” she said.