Rare pieces of Astrodome history being prepped for weekend 'yard sale'

Astrodome workers sort through items and prepare for a "yard sale" that will open to the public Saturday morning. Seats, turf and other Dome items will be up for sale. (Johnny Hanson/Houston Chronicle) Astrodome workers sort through items and prepare for a "yard sale" that will open to the public Saturday morning. Seats, turf and other Dome items will be up for sale. (Johnny Hanson/Houston Chronicle) Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close Rare pieces of Astrodome history being prepped for weekend 'yard sale' 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

Astrodome seats, turf, turnstiles, and other memorabilia are being pulled out of the iconic building Monday for a sale and auction to be held at Reliant Center Saturday.

Larger items are headed for auction, while smaller items will be sold at a fixed price. Registration for the auction begins at 7 a.m. The sale begins at 8 a.m.

Highlights of the sale include roughly 500 pairs of seats to be sold for $200 per pair. A 12 inch by 12 inch piece of turf will go for $20. There's a limit of four pairs of seats (eight seats total) per person and a limit of four squares of turf per person.

An auction for the higher-end items, like turnstiles, dugout benches, football benches, and on-deck circles from visiting National League teams will open at 9:30 am.

"There will be free parking until 10 a.m. and gates will open at 6 a.m.," said Leah Mastaglio, Reliant Park's director of events services.

Officials hope to close the event by 6 p.m. depending on how the sale goes and what is left.

Proceeds from the event go to the Astrodome renovation project.

On Nov. 5, Harris County voters will decide whether to approve a referendum authorizing up to $217 million in bonds to turn the stadium into a giant convention center and exhibition space.

"We are not sure how that money will be allotted," Mastaglio said of the proceeds of Saturday's event.

Crews on Monday were moving items out of the Astrodome and into Reliant Center's Hall E, where the event will be held. Anything you purchase must leave the day of the sale and there will be no online sales.

Mastaglio said Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame has been made aware of the auction and sale. One particularly large item -- the batting cage backstop -- may not fit in the back of your pickup truck. Reliant is waiting to see if the MLB wants that for themselves.

Reliant also found a few of the space helmets that the grounds crew wore when the Dome opened nearly 50 years ago. Those will be in the auction as well. Only the helmets though, the suits are long gone.

Old staff uniforms will be up for grabs on Saturday, too.

"We have six or seven different types, ranging from different eras. Some have the old Dome logo," Mastaglio said.

The seats that will be sold this weekend are the upper deck "rainbow gut" seats. Some of the seats still have peanut shells stuck on the sides from fans.

It hasn't been decided if and when the rest of the Dome seats will be sold. The consensus among staff was that those will be for a possible later sale.

Mastaglio said this could be just one of several sales of Dome memorabilia, but other sales have not been scheduled.

Pieces of furniture from the business suites will also be available Saturday. Some of this stuff ranges from funky thrift chic to staid gray cloth.

Mastaglio hinted that the sand from the pitching mound could also appear on Saturday morning.

There is also the possibility of a public preview at Reliant Center on Friday, but that depends on how much crews get moved out of the Dome this week.

"It would run noon until four depending on how much gets done," said Mastaglio.

If you are holding out for Houston Oilers items, you'll be out of luck. Most of that left with the team when they moved to Nashville in the '90s. The football turf has been water-damaged and Reliant is opting to not sell it.

The auction will be run by Reliant Park officials and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., which manages the county-owned Reliant Park.