Ballpark Review: Rangers

I’m nowhere near old enough to have been in some of the baseball parks of yesteryear like Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds. And I never got to see a game at old Tiger Stadium. But walking into the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington I immediately got the sense that this is what baseball was like in those expansive parks back in the days where men wore suits, ties, and fedoras to cheer for their favorite teams: roomy, airy, and pretty damn good looking.

The Ballpark in Arlington, built over two years and opening on April 1, 1994, was designed to be both a throwback and exciting for player and fan alike. Coming two years after Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Rangers new park capitalized on the massive land available to work with, and the result is a 49,000-seat love letter to those old stadiums. As ballparks.com notes, the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in is the only stadium that actually holds more fans than the stadium it replaced. By comparison, the current Rangers ballpark is 6,000 seats bigger than the old Arlington Stadium that was retired in 1993. But if you go back to the original seating plan for Arlington Stadium you’ll see it held fewer than 11,000 people in 1965. What you have today is an upgrade in more ways than just a couple of thousand seats.

Nowadays on your approach to the ballpark you are greeted by three massive sites that your eyes cannot miss. First is Six Flags over Texas, the giant amusement park with roller coasters screaming high into the heavens. Just to the east, looms the formidable Ballpark in Arlington, with the grand granite and brick façade. And the third eye-wonder (not sure what the opposite of eye-sore is) sits further back, the gargantuan billion dollar turtle shell that is Jerry Jones’ Playground, or rather, Cowboys Stadium. What I am trying to say is that the entire Arlington area is a wonderful play land for kids and adults alike. If in this stretch of acreage you can’t forget your troubles and escape to your childhood then there is no help for you.

When I get to a new ballpark for the first time I like to walk around the outside and see what most casual fans miss. The details are what make each park unique. The Rangers ballpark incorporates some down-home Texas attitude on the outside with oversized Long Horns and the big Texas Star which is plastered, sculpted, or hangs everywhere. Additionally, craftsmen spent hundreds of hours creating stone scenes reminiscent of those you’d find in a museum, or perhaps the Acropolis. The detailed art work captures baseball and Americana: Images that evoke a frontier spirit and the pride of our nation. This was as proprietary to the ambiance of the Ballpark in Arlington as fans chanting the line-up at Yankee Stadium.

Quickly, I’d also like to point out that the Rangers have built ,(like the Brewers have done outside Miller Park), a miniature youth baseball stadium in the shadow of their own, one where Little Leaguers can play and be inspired by the sights of the Big Leagues. This added touch made me envious of any kid who got to bring bat and glove to their little stadium each game day.

Like many stadiums seem to be doing these days, the focal point of the fan experience, and main entrance to the ballpark, is center field. As soon as we walked in we came face to face with a kid-friendly play zone, complete with Wiffle Ball stadium, bounce houses, and of course radar-reading pitching cages. Overlooking the center field kid area is a five story glass office building that holds the Rangers’ front office on the top two floors and other local businesses on the second and third floor. And at the base is a giant Rangers team store for all your Texas Rangers souvenir wants. This store is one of a few the park has, but is by far the biggest. One negative is that the team store is almost entirely Rangers-only. Though it isn’t that big a deal, I have seen a few team stores that offer some items from other teams, even minor league apparel, and I like that.

On the subject of team merchandise, I can honestly say that as a fan of the game and reviewer of stadiums (this was my 22 Big League park over all, but leaves me with 11 more current stadiums to visit), I have never seen more fan support for a team than I did in Arlington. Saying EVERYONE had a Texas Rangers hat or shirt on is an exaggeration, but not a big one. Thousands of Josh Hamilton #32 T-shirts and jerseys were everywhere you looked. Nolan Ryan, besides doffing his cap in a statue in center field, and physically sitting in his box seat next to the Rangers dugout, was on the back on hundreds of shirts. Red, Blue, White…as omnipresent as the American Flag in the other Arlington outside D.C. This was a home crowd that fully embraced their team, unlike going to Rays and Marlins games and seeing Cubs, Yankees, and Red Sox Fans bleeding over everywhere.

And the people couldn’t be nicer. Each employee I spoke with went out of his way to answer my questions or point out some things that many fans over look. The first usher I spoke with, Tim, explained how the right field overhanging porch was a tribute to old Tiger Stadium. “See those fans,” Tim said, pointing to several caged ceiling fans that hung down from the porch. “Those fans don’t even work. They won’t cool anyone. But Tiger Stadium had them so we put them in.” That is a touch I can’t read about on a website, but happily like to discover in person. I should point out that I did have one less than positive run-in with a Rangers employee. While trying to access the sky box suite concourse I could not talk my way past the women in charge of checking tickets. Although I explained I only wanted to take some pictures of the individual art or pictures that corresponded with each named-suite, I was flatly turned away. All of the suites are named after Hall of Famers and although I could only see a few, I was able to get an employee handbook from a medic, and all the names are stated. I was glad to see that the Rangers chose to honor the games greats on their suites rather than calling them the “Pepsi Suite” or “Doritos Box.”

What about the eats? Oh, you wanna know about the ballpark fare? Well, they say that everything is bigger in Texas and that includes the concession stands and specialty kiosks that surround the nearly 360 degree main concourse. Center field had plenty of fair type foods to go along with the atmosphere, to include Texas Waffles (waffles in the shape of what else, Texas) covered in powered sugar and strawberries. But among the common foods you find at most parks, the ballpark also offered jambalaya, gluten free beer (really!) and veggie hot dogs (first I have ever seen at a game), and plenty of slow-roasted Texas BBQ. There is also $35.00 all you can eat section atop of that right field porch, in case you want to weigh ten pounds more than you did when you arrived. In short, if you have the money, you are not going home hungry from a Rangers game. But for those of you, like my brother, who refuse to crack your wallet, have no fear. The Ballpark in Arlington is one of several parks that allow small, soft-sided coolers in the park so you can bring some drinks and snacks from home. The catch is all items must be sealed or packaged, and of course, no alcohol from the outside. Very reasonable conditions if you’re looking to save money.

When it comes time to watch the game there are few parks with better sight lines. The stadium itself is huge, and the playing surface from pole to pole is no slouch either. Yet, despite its size, the park retains an intimate feel because the nearest seats to the action are very close. You aren’t as on top of the players as Wrigley or Fenway, but of the newer parks it is pretty cozy. Walking around the upper decks I was able to see every inch of the field, and although very high up, my nose did not start bleeding. The view from the top is great, but I prefer to be down by the field so see the action up close.

As dimensions go, the center field fence is 400 feet straight-away, with a 407 mark slightly to right center. Down the lines you get 334 feet at the left field pole, but a 14 foot wall rises above the left fielder. In right field you need to hit the ball 325 feet, plus outreach the 8 foot wall and a skilled fielder to round the bases unimpeded. And, from what I can tell, the batters and fielders also have to contend with constant swirling winds that deceive the eye. The flags that line the entire top of the arched façade across the park were always blowing in towards home plate, but every fly ball danced this way and that, making fielders look like balancing clowns. And the wind may have said no balls were going out, but on this day the Rangers parked five beyond the fence, including back-to-back-to-back jacks; the fourth time in team history, and first since August 2010 by the Red Sox, here in Arlington against the Rangers. One of the things the Rangers tried to do to combat the prevailing winds at the ballpark was to set the field 22 feet below street level and erected a windscreen on top of the office building in center field. Apparently the batters had no issue with the wind on this particular day.

The audio and visual supplements to the game experience were top notch, too. In recent years the team has spent several million dollars on both scoreboard and sound system upgrades. I never once had to strain my ears to hear the PA announcer, but the setting sun obviously caused some fans some sight issues along the left field line and in the left field bleachers. From our seats behind home plate we were protected from the sun and were able to get a cool breeze that funneled back and forth. But as nice as it was I still sweat more at the Rangers Ballpark than any other park save for Sun Life Stadium in Miami. And the wind, it should be noted, produced one other new phenomenon for me: flying debris. Every few minutes wrappers of all kinds fell from the upper decks and floated around like Forrest Gump’s feather. It was a distraction in that it happened so often that we started guessing how many minutes until it happened again – never longer than four or five minutes.

Because of the ease in which it took to get in and out of the park and my overall experience, I declare the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington a Stand-Up Triple. The parking was terrific, close, and relatively cheap compared to many of the other ballparks I have been to. And the surrounding visuals, be it the theme park, Cowboys Stadium, or the open parks and wooded creeks, added to my experience. I definitely wouldn’t mind going back again someday, but I could never live there and go to a handful of games or more a year because of the incessant heat. Having sweat rings on my t-shirt after a game is not a souvenir I like taking home with me.