On April 9, 1965, the Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros and inaugurated indoor baseball in the Astrodome.

Houston Astros Logo, circa 1965-1974The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide for 1965 had this to say about why the team was renamed: "Late in the year 1964 the Harris County Domed Stadium was officially named the Astrodome after the Houston club changed its nickname, December 1, from Colt .45s to Astros. The move resulted from objections by the Colt Firearms Company to the club's sales of novelties bearing the old nickname."

Regardless of trade mark issues, "Astros" was a good fit for the futuristic ambiance of the revolutionary domed stadium and also since Houston was by then the home of NASA's astronaut program. The scoreboard retained subliminal references to the old nickname, as it featured electronically animated cowboys firing pistols, with the "bullets" ricocheting around the scoreboard, when an Astros player would hit a home run. Early on, the groundskeepers also wore astronaut spacesuits to promote that futuristic image.

As a condition of their entry in the National League, the Astros committed to building a new domed stadium, designed as a defense against the oppressive heat and humidity of the Houston summer. The result was the Astrodome. Buy Houston Astros Tickets.