Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”  ~Rogers Hornsby

The first pitch, just as opening day, has come an gone. We are now roughly three weeks into this young season, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been any time for ballpark chasing. It maybe early but, but we (ballpark chasers) are an ambitious group. I can safely say I have already attended 3 baseball games, at 3 different stadiums, in 2 different states. Oh, and two of the three games where the home teams opener. On our most recent trip we had a few stowaways as we continued our journey through baseball’s cathedrals. I must say, nothing goes better with peanuts and a cold beer than good friends to share it with.

The newest ‘notch in the belt’ brought us to Arlington, Texas to The Rangers Ballpark. Opening in 1994, it replaced what was Arlington Stadium and gave the Texas Rangers a ‘baseball only’ facility. The Ballpark holds roughly 50,000 fans, but its capacity was tested last fall when the Rangers made a deep playoff run to their first ever World Series. 52,419 fans cheered their Rangers on to a 4-2 victory in Game 3 between the Rangers and Giants. Rangers Ballpark may have most recently played host to a World Series, but it has also hosted the 1995 MLB All-Star game, and the first ever regular season inter-league game (6/12/97). If you look close you will also notice that scenes from Disney’s – The Rookie were shot there.

As for my thoughts on the stadium… I must say ‘everything is bigger in Texas’. If you don’t believe me wait until you see baked potato at our next ballpark. Rangers Ballpark is located between Dallas and Fortworth in the city of Arlington.  And if Arlington has nothing else, (no public transit, no local watering holes for pregame festivities) it has plenty of space for stadiums. The stadium occupies 1.4 million square feet and the outer walls are 114 feet high. From the outer concourse of Rangers Stadium you can get great view of  its closest neighbor, Cowboy’s Stadium. If you haven’t seen Jerry Jones latest creation, I urge you to get yourself to Arlington as soon as possible. The group of us decided that aliens must have placed it here just to show us how powerful they really are. Honestly, Cowboy Stadium is huuuge, but that is another discussion, for another day.

For me Rangers Ballpark ranks roughly 21st out of 30, when compared to other ballparks. Coming in just behind Progressive and Target Field, but just before Chase and US Cellular Field.  Don’t get me wrong it is a beautiful ballpark with lots of character. Although, a major detractor for me is the fact that most of its character is borrowed. There was no one single caveat that screams ‘Rangers Stadium’ to me. One of the most distinct features of Rangers ballpark is its arched windows that of which are reminiscent of old Cominskey Park. My personal favorite piece of architecture in the ballpark is the roof over the right field seats. It is a nod to historic Tigers Stadium. I feel it’s a feature that you typically do not see. Most ballparks leave fans in the outfield exposed to mother nature’s elements. Not in Rangers Ballpark. If you have seat in right field you will enjoy shade and shelter from any would be precipitation (although I get the feeling there isn’t much in Texas). When paired with the white steel arches in the outfield and upper decks (think Yankee Stadium) it really dresses the place up. Until recently there was also a manually operated scoreboard embedded in the left field wall (Fenway style), it was replaced in 2009 with a more updated electronic scoreboard. The newest upgrade (2010 off-season) includes a 42 ft by 120 ft HD scoreboard atop of the right field roof I spoke of earlier. It replaced the existing scoreboard with the current one that is nearly 6 times larger.

Oh did I mention in Texas, Nolan Ryan is god? No, seriously. His presence is felt at both Rangers Ballpark and Minute Maid Park in Houston. You literally drive down Nolan Ryan Expressway to get to Rangers Stadium. I mean, honestly, who are we to argue. He did spend 13 major league seasons between the two clubs (1980-88 with Astros, 1989-93 with Rangers). During his time in Texas he recorded strikeout number 3,000; 4,000 and 5,000. He  threw his 5th, 6th, and 7th  no-hitter. He surpassed Walter Johnson to become All-Time MLB strikeout leader, with 5,714 strikeouts.  Oh, and who can forget, in his final season, when Robin Ventura charged the mound. The then 46 year old Ryan put the young lad (20 years younger than Nolan) into a head lock and began delivering blows to his head. Shortly there after injury ended his 27 year career where it began, in Texas. Number 34 is now retired in both Houston and Rangers Ballpark. In 1999 he was induced into the baseball HOF.  He is now the Part-owner, CEO and president of the Texas Rangers. Can you believe he never won a Cy Young?!?!?!

Game day itself was beautiful.  It was sunny, not too hot, not too cold, with a light breeze. Perfect baseball weather. There were no issues with parking as we took a cab to and from the game. Staying in downtown Dallas, gave us about a 25 minute cab ride. Although, it did look like parking was plentiful if you were to drive.We were early to the game, giving us plenty of time to check out the stadium and maybe throw back a cold one at one of the local bars. To our surprise, there was not one local watering hole. Heck, there wasn’t even a McDonald’s. Looks like we had no choice but to head straight to the game. Before the first pitch we did a quick loop on the outer concourse. It was lined with baseball shaped lights and provided an amazing view of Cowboy Stadium. If they ever do decide to develop the area surrounding the stadium, I hope they do not obstruct that view. It’s really something to see. We purchased our tickets for this game months in advance and boy did we reap the reward. Only 15 rows from the field, between home plate and first base….it just really does not get much better than that. We had a terrific view of all the action.  The Rangers were playing the Seattle Mariners that day. It was a good day for the home team. They ended up winning 7-3. Lucky enough, we did get to see Josh Hamilton play. Just one week later, sliding into home he fractured his humerus bone and is expected to be out for 6-8 weeks. The game we attended was only the 6th game of the season for the Rangers, but since it was a Wednesday, midday (1:05pm) game, there were still some empty seats. My guess, there were about 27,000 fans there that day.  I can imagine being defending AL champions that early in the season they typically draw a good crowd. In the 8th inning we decided it was time to take another loop of the stadium. This time we took the inner concourse. Most of the action is in the outfield in Ranger Stadium. They have a large area set up to entertain the kids just below the 4 story office building that incloses the center field of the stadium. The ground floor of the office building in center field is home to the Rangers Baseball Museum. A 17,000 sq ft museum dedicated to the history of the Texas Rangers baseball team. On that particular day most of the museum was closed, but it looked to be very nice. After a quick peek at the museum we decided it was time to head back to the hotel room for a dip in the pool. Yes! Swimming in April…it would never happen in Ohio. God Bless Texas.