Everything about Rangers Ballpark In Arlington totally explained
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is a
ballpark in
Arlington, Texas, located between
Dallas and
Fort Worth, Texas. It was known until
May 7,
2004, as
The Ballpark in Arlington when
Ameriquest bought the
naming rights to the ballpark and named it
Ameriquest Field in Arlington. Even with the changed name, many fans continued to refer to it as simply "The Ballpark" or "The Temple." On Monday,
March 19,
2007, the
Texas Rangers severed their relationship with Ameriquest and announced that the stadium would be named
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The stadium was constructed as a replacement for nearby
Arlington Stadium. It is home to the
American League's Texas Rangers, and the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum.
Previous names
From its opening until 2004, the Park was known as "The Ballpark in Arlington", but even today is colloquially referred to as "The Ballpark" or "The Temple."
On
May 7,
2004, Rangers owner
Tom Hicks announced that he'd negotiated a sale of the naming rights of the stadium to home mortgage company Ameriquest. The contract was worth
$75 million over 30 years. As part of this contract, Ameriquest placed a large
Liberty Bell (Ameriquest's corporate logo) in the ballpark, which rang for home runs and starts of games.
This bell
replaced what used to be Section 201, thereby reducing seating capacity slightly.
In March 2007, in an undisclosed agreement between the two entities, Ameriquest relinquished those rights, and the stadium was renamed to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The bell was thus removed from Section 201 and seats were returned to this section.
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 Ballpark was designed by David M. Schwarz Architectural Services of
Washington, D.C. 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).
The Ballpark's 810-foot-long facades are made of brick and Texas Sunset Red granite. Bas-relief friezes depict significant scenes from the history off both Texas and baseball. The calculus of seating arrangements represented a new economic model for the sport: a critical mass of high-dollar seats close to the infield boost ticket revenue. The stadium has three basic seating tiers: lower, club and upper deck. Two levels of luxury suites occupy spaces behind sliding glass doors above and below the club tier.
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's 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 wouldn't 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'd 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 wouldn't 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,
Iván Rodríguez,
Rafael Palmeiro,
Alex Rodriguez,
Mark Teixeira,
Alfonso Soriano,
Sammy Sosa, and
Michael Young have taken advantage of the stadium. Paul Sorrento hit the ballpark's longest home run (491 ft). Unfortunately, Rangers' pitching (a traditional franchise weakness) has also suffered from the design of the park.
Despite the field being 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.
Rangers Home Runs by Year
Events Hosted
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