Crawford Boxes

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The Crawford Boxes
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The Crawford Boxes

The Crawford Boxes are a special section of seating in Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros. The boxes are named for their being parallel to Crawford Street in Downtown Houston.

The Crawford Boxes are located in left field in Minute Maid Park with one of the shortest porches in baseball. The home plate to wall measurement of the boxes is only 315 feet (96 meters). The 19 foot wall that maintains the front of the elevated boxes houses the scoreboard for other games occurring the same day.

Due to their popularity, Crawford Box seats are among the most expensive of outfield seats in the major leagues (an individual ticket is $30).

Landry's Restaurants, Inc. have bought out the naming rights to the Crawford Boxes, lending the commercial moniker "Landry's Crawford Boxes" during radio and television broadcasts. In addition, promoters from restaurants owned by Landry's (such as Rainforest Cafe and Saltgrass Steakhouse) visit on random days and throw gifts such as T-shirts, keychains, frisbees, and stuffed animals to the fans in the boxes. Traditionally, any fan that catches a home run ball that lands in the Crawford Boxes wins a gift certificate to a Landry's Restaurant, making such a memorable moment even more rewarding.

When the park originally opened, it was named "Enron Field" for the now-infamous Enron Corporation. Due to the initial ease of hitting home runs to the Crawford Boxes (it was second only to the Colorado Rockies' Coors Field), the park was nicknamed "Ten-Run Field". With the arrival of star pitchers such as Roy Oswalt, Wade Miller, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and Brandon Backe to the Astros as well as the name change, the nickname is no longer used.