Word: hofheinz
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Flamboyant Showman Roy Hofheinz already has his own personal steel and Lucite colosseum-the $38 million Houston Astrodome. But he figured that the old Colosseum in Rome was the only place for last week's occasion. Leading a flock of family, flacks and photographers, plus an unruly lion, Hofheinz and his partners, Washington, D.C. Impresarios Israel and Irvin Feld, met in the grand ruins to buy the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus from John Ringling North for $10 million. North, after all, has a home in Rome, so the Colosseum, said Irvin Feld, "was a natural. You could...
Cynics suggested that the Astros owed it all to the funhouse they call home. To be sure, Houston's two-year-old Astrodome is a chamber of horrors for rival ballplayers. Owner Roy Hofheinz's $31.6 million Xanadu has an outfield with the consistency of cobblestones; the infield is a bright green Chemstrand rug that ricochets grounders into the outfield like .30 cal. bullets...
...private club that offered everything from "king size roast prime eye of beef" ($5.50) to that old Texas standby, son-of-a-gun stew ($2.50). Almost all of them could go home later and boast that they were sitting "right behind the dugout": to ensure that they could, Hofheinz purposely built the Astrodome's dugouts 120 ft. long...
...Hofheinz's own penthouse, high above the rightfield stands, the carpet, chairs, telephones, even the toilets, are all gold-colored. Last week, tamping his cigar ash in a gold ashtray, shaped like a fielder' glove, Hofheinz peered anxiously out of his picture windows, awaiting his big moment...
...were a patient man, he'd still be waiting. After all, the Astros only hit 70 home runs last year, and in the new ballpark it was all they could do just to get the ball out of the infield. Finally, in the eighth inning, Hofheinz gave up, growled an order-and the giant Scoreboard did its home-run trick. Lights flashed, skyrockets soared, gongs sounded, whistles shrieked, bells rang. Two cowboys appeared on the huge screen, firing six-guns, followed by a steer with a U.S. flag on one horn and the Lone Star on the other. Hofheinz...