Ranking the best in-game experiences for each MLB team

Houston Astros: Union Station

Minute Maid Park has drawn a ton of ridicule over the years for being a contrived mishmash of over-the-top retro design quirks. There’s retro like Camden Yards and then there’s retro for the sake of being retro like the Crawford Boxes and since-removed Tal’s Hill and flagpole in center field. The Astros also came in under budget (almost unheard of when it comes to massive construction projects like a stadium) in building their new stadium, so there is a lack of high-end amenities and features.

For all the criticism that Minute Maid Park has gotten over the years (much of it deserved, by the way), the Astros may have incorporated an existing urban feature better than any other team in the league. The ballpark backs right up onto Union Station in left field. Rather than demolish the old train station, the Astros turned it into the main lobby of their new ballpark.

The interior of Union Station is a glistening throwback to a different time when trains were the preferred means of travel for most Americans. The old station has been restored to its former glory and its soaring arches and columns were used as inspiration for the grand arches that support the retractable roof in left field.

The Astros leaned hard into the train theme with Union Station. The roof moves on tracks and a giant steam train chugs around left field after the Astros hit a home run. Outside of the Eutaw Street warehouse in Baltimore, Houston can claim the second-best use of an existing feature into its stadium.