Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
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Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It was constructed as a replacement for nearby Arlington Stadium. It was known until May 2004 as The Ballpark in Arlington. Prior to the 2004 season, the naming rights were sold to Ameriquest in a thirty year deal, and the park was known as Ameriquest Field in Arlington for the next three seasons. In March 2007, the Rangers and Ameriquest decided to end the agreement, resulting in the current name. For local residents and fans, it has been called simply "The Ballpark" throughout its history.
The stadium is home to the Major League Baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum.
[edit] Design
Funding was approved for a new home for the Texas Rangers in 1991 by the City of Arlington. Construction began on April 2, 1992 a short distance away from Arlington Stadium, the ballpark it would replace, and the new Ballpark in Arlington was opened on April 1, 1994 in an exhibition contest between the Texas Rangers and the New York Mets. The first official game was on April 11 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Rangers chose to build a retro-style ballpark, incorporating many features of baseball's Jewel Box parks. A roofed home-run porch in right field is reminiscent of Tiger Stadium, while the white steel frieze that surrounds the upper deck was copied from the pre-1973 Yankee Stadium. The out-of-town scoreboard is built into the left-field wall--a nod to Fenway Park, while the numerous nooks and crannies in the outfield fence are a reminder of Ebbets Field. The park's red brick and granite exterior was copied from Camden Yards, while the arched windows are a reminder of Comiskey Park. However, it has a few distinct features of its own. Several traditional Texas-style stone carvings are visible throughout the park. A four-story office building in center field encloses the park, with a white steel multilevel facade similar to the facade on the roof.
As the ballpark was built on one of the old Arlington Stadium parking lots, the irregular dimensions of the outfield were planned independently, rather than being forced by neighboring structures. The home plate, foul poles, and bleachers were originally at the old Arlington Stadium. The Home Plate was inserted into place by Richard Greene (then Mayor of Arlington), Elzie Odom (then USPS Postmaster General, Head of Arlington Home Run Committee and later Mayor of Arlington), and George W. Bush (former Rangers owner, then Texas Governor and later President of the United States).
Despite being hailed as a wonderful venue in its infant years, articles in the Dallas Morning News began to suggest that the ballpark would have been better served by having a dome or retractable roof - much like Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros - due to the sometimes-oppressive heat that can overtake Texas during baseball season. Many argue that the intense heat is a liability in attracting players, particularly starting pitchers.
That being said, it is questionable that retractable roof technology was a good candidate at the time the park was constructed, when modern mechanical retractable-roof ballparks like Chase Field, Safeco Field, Minute Maid Park, and Miller Park would not open until 4, 5, 6 and 7 years after the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, respectively. While retractable roof solutions did exist at the time, they had significant detractors. The Metrodome (not retractable), which opened in 1982, utilizes fiberglass fabric material for its roof, supported by air. This presents problems in switching between the two quickly and easily, and the Metrodome has been known to need repair periodically due to leaks in the roof. Furthermore, although subjective, many would argue that aesthetically, the Metrodome leaves much to be desired as a baseball facility, particularly when the Rangers were looking for a retro-style look. The Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) also uses retractable roof technology, and is motorized, and opened in 1989. However, it had a whopping $570 million pricetag, being partially funded by the federal and provincial governments, the city of Toronto, as well as a consortium of corporations (though the Blue Jays now own the stadium, by way of parent company Rogers Communications). One reason for the extra funding sources was that it was a multipurpose venue, being used for a wide variety of sports, as well as conventions. This technology therefore would have been cost prohibitive to the Rangers, who would not have had the benefit of those extra sources of funding, and where the price tag was well over 6 times the cost of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The field is one of the notoriously hitter-friendly parks in baseball, due to the high temperatures and low humidity, relatively short fences, and the design of the stadium which has allowed the area's high winds to swirl and lift balls that wouldn't normally make it out. In truth, the park would give up even more home runs if not for the office building in center and the field being 22 feet below street level.
With a combination of the park's design and the naturally good hitters who've played for the Rangers, the team has put up some rather high home run totals. In 1996, the Rangers hit 221 homers. They eclipsed 200 again in 1998 (201), 1999 (230), 2001 (241), 2002 (230), 2003 (239), 2004 (227), and 2005 (260, four short of the all-time record of 264 by the 1997 Seattle Mariners). Many great sluggers such as Juan González, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, Sammy Sosa, and Michael Young have taken advantage of the stadium. The longest home run hit was by Jose Canseco and was 512 ft, into the second deck in left field. Unfortunately, Rangers' pitching (a traditional franchise weakness) has also suffered from the design of the park.
Despite the field being 14 feet below street level, the park has a large number of obstructed-view seats. In some cases, the view is cut off by an overhang or underhang, and others are directly in front of the foul poles or support poles. Also, the design of the upper deck leaves it very far from the action. The view from the grandstand reserved sections in left is particularly obstructed.
[edit] Picture Gallery
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