Astros erase Enron Field name on Web site, airbrush references in brochure

HOUSTON (AP) _ The Houston Astros have airbrushed out the words ``Enron Field'' and blacked out the energy giant's logo ``E'' from a new brochure promoting the team's baseball stadium.

Wednesday, March 13th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ The Houston Astros have airbrushed out the words ``Enron Field'' and blacked out the energy giant's logo ``E'' from a new brochure promoting the team's baseball stadium.

On Feb. 27, the team paid $2.1 million to take back the naming rights to the stadium _ formerly known as Enron Field _ and temporarily dubbed it Astros Field until a new sponsor steps up. The Astros purged references to Enron from their Web site that same day.

In the 12-page spring insert that ran inside last Sunday's editions of the Houston Chronicle, a photo taken from behind home plate during a 2000 game shows the sweeping right field scoreboard. Everything is intact except for the giant ``ENRON FIELD'' sign and the ``E'' logo underneath it.

``It was done because word came down from the Astros after the piece was released to the printer,'' said Anna Holley, spokeswoman for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, which produced the brochure.

``They basically airbrushed it,'' Holley said.

A glossy Astros season-ticket brochure printed before the name-change announcement also makes no Enron references, using the generic ``Houston's downtown ballpark'' instead.

Internal discussions about how to handle the stadium name problem in publications and other materials began around the time of Enron's Dec. 2 bankruptcy filing, Astros spokesman Rob Matwick said

``Not knowing where we would be by April 2 (opening day),'' Matwick said, ``we just chose not to mention the field name specifically.''

The large Enron Field signs remain on display for now. Matwick said some other references will be kept including old letterheads and business cards, and the 2002 media guide, printed before the change was made.

The name is also immortalized in paint along the top of the third-base dugout _ a reference missed by those altering the brochure photo.