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R A N G E R S
B A L L P A R K
I N A R L I N G T O N
July 4, 2011
Baltimore Orioles v. Texas Rangers
7:05pm
Texas 13, Baltimore 4
WP: Lewis (8-7, 4.29 ERA)
LP: Jakubouskas (2-2, 6.75 ERA)
Attendance: 42,885
Time: 2:48
102 degrees, partly cloudy
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was one of the first of the new retro-style parks built. It’s a nice place to take in a ballgame, and probably easier to sit in during April or October. It was flat hot. The park features a four-story office building beyond centerfield. The ground floor is basically Rangers retail and the other floors are office space. Not a bad place to do business. For better or worse, the stadium sits not far from Jerry’s house.
The office building in centerfield.
Jones’ office just down the street.
I got to the park about 2-1/2 hours prior to game time. Parking was $10 and relatively close. There is nothing to look at around the outside of the park. The gates opened 2 hours prior to game time--they don’t for all games. I took in some batting practice, which felt almost exactly like being at Busch. People running around trying to get balls, and kids shouting at the players requesting a ball. The berm in centerfield is fair play when a ball ends up there, so fans can run out and fight for it. At Busch, you get ejected if you even touch the grass!
Pregame flyover.
4th of July. 200 new Air Force recruits took their oath.
The Atmosphere and The Crowd: Definitely a good crowd. They were into it the whole time. Scoring 13 runs obviously helped. The guy I sat next to kept score on a generic scorecard. There was an old lady down in the Lexus Club keeping score, too. I was decked out in my Cardinal gear, and the guy next to me also mentioned he went to all four of the ’82 series games at Busch. Everyone had either a Hamilton, Kinsler, or Young jersey. They were all there and ready to go at 7:05, although the Rangers didn’t even take the field until game time. They didn’t leave early, but they had fireworks after the game. I can’t tell you if people got up to pee during play, because I was on the first row of the Terrace. It was not a sale-out but a good size crowd none the less.
The Scorecard: $1. Listen up, Busch Stadium. $1. Pretty much the same layout as the Astro scorecard, except the scoring is spread over two pages. They wasted real estate by using 1/3 of the card to show you how to keep score. The guy selling programs and scorecards was perfect! “Prooooooooooogram, here. It’s got Hamilton on the cover and your wife will want to stare at it...get your proooooooooogram here!”
The Hot Dog: Again, there was a choice to make. Not as many different kinds to choose from as Minute Maid, though. I got my dog from one of concessions that only does hot dogs. It wasn’t a cart. I was hesitate at first, but you can see them grilling them right there so it was a fairly easy decision. You can get a regular dog, a jumbo dog, or a footlong. Then, you can get it Coney or Chicago-style. I went with a plain dog and smothered it in ketchup. It was $7.75 and came with chips and a pickle spear. I’d just assume pay the usual $6.25 and forget the sides. I had no intention of finishing the hot dog, but I somehow did. Honestly, I felt nauseated afterwards. Not because of the dog, but because it was so hot and humid! From a taste standpoint, nothing jumped out. Again, not strong in the spice category. But, it was nice and hot. The bun stuck out as cold, so it was fresh out of the package and not grilled or warmed. There is a cart or two around that sales hot dogs. I’m not sure why I didn’t choose them, but I think they were the same hot dogs.
The Broadcasters: They advertise the game as being on 103.3. I tuned in when I got there and all you got was static. Just before the game, they announced you could listen on 90.5. Clear as a bell. They had 2 broadcasters but really one guy ran the show. Again, not as entertaining as the hometown folks but I thought they did better than their Astro counterparts.
They were just more informative.
Entertainment: There really wasn’t much between innings. An 11-year old “stole third base” after one inning. They do some sort of ho-down after singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. There is a small field behind centerfield where there are games and such. After one inning, they give a kid a chance to hit a homerun. When he did knock one out, they shot off fireworks. They have a good place for kids to play a number of games in the centerfield area.
The Scorecard.
The Dog.
The rightfield scoreboard. New this year.
All you need to know is there.
They do have an authentics store but they have virtually nothing from the current season. They have random balls from the last few years, along with jerseys and bats. The only items they had from this year were the jerseys from “Jackie Robinson Day”, where all the jerseys had the #42 and no name.
Views from Around the Park:
Batting Practice.
View from the Homerun Porch in Left Field.
Perfect fixture.
Other words: Houston’s park beats out Texas’ in terms of it’s uniqueness and location. There’s really no atmosphere outside the stadium because there is nothing there. No restaurants. No bars. But, the Rangers definitely get the nod in the overall atmosphere inside the park. The Hot Dog nod would go to Houston. The Scorecard goes to Texas, but only because of the “Prooooooooogram” call. The entertainment nod goes to the Astros, and the better broadcasters were with the Rangers.
Gripes: I really don’t have any. The only complaint I had was when an usher yelled at me for walking down the escalator. I got up to go take pictures and to get some souvenirs, got on the escalator going down, and thought to myself, “Well, it’s empty, might as well walk down.” Seemed like a natural thought to have. Before you knew it, the lady at the bottom wanted to take my head off. I couldn’t hear her because I was listening to the game. Apparently, there is a tiny sign before you get on that says do not walk or run. I had a smart comment ready to go but kept it to myself.
Overall, the Rangers Park was a winner, despite the annoying usher. The “Prooooooogram” made up for that. The crowd was great. It was hot, but it is Dallas. It’d be nice if you could take the park and throw it downtown somewhere.
As I said before, I can’t start my rankings until after several parks, but I kind of already started as you read above.
S T A T I S T I C S U P D A T E
MLB Games Seen
2 of 31
Days
3 of 85
Driving Miles
855.7 of an estimated 18,735
Estimated Gallons of Gas
43.9 of an estimated 1,102
Hot Dogs Eaten
2 of 30
Nights Under the Stars
0 of 14
States
2 of 35
Border Crossings
0 of 2
P R E D I C T I O N S U P D A T E
(AFTER 2 OF 30 GAMES)
Runs
20 of 249
Hits
36 of 512
Errors
3 of 36
Home Runs
5 of 65
Doubles
9 of 101
Triples
1 of 10
Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)
3 of 31
Strikeouts
28 of 415
Walks
14 of 189
Home Team Wins
1 of 17
Complete Games
0 of 1
Shutouts
0 of 2
Saves
1 of 15
Blown Saves
0 of 7
Balks
0 of 2
Wild Pitches
0 of 19
Hit Batters
2 of 18
Walk-offs
0 of 2
Stolen Bases
4 of 40
Caught Stealing
0 of 15
Ejections
0 of 4
Smallest Crowd
38,035
Minute Maid Park, Houston
July 3rd, Boston v. Houston
Largest Crowd
42,885
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
July 4th, Baltimore v. Texas
B A L L P A R K R A N K I N G S
Atmosphere/Crowd (Overall)
1. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
2. Minute Maid Park, Houston
The Scorecard
1. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
2. Minute Maid Park, Houston
The Hot Dog
1. Minute Maid Park, Houston
2. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
Entertainment
1. Minute Maid Park, Houston
2. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
R A N G E R S B A L L P A R K I N A R L I N G T O N
A R L I N G T O N , T E X A S
H O M E O F T H E R A N G E R S
The game itself had a lot of action with 17 runs being scored. They use ballgirls in left and right field. What’s cool about their job is that they actually warmup with the outfielders between innings. The overhead announcer gets kudos. He sounds just like the PA announcer at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. There were no hog calls. The Orioles’ starting pitcher missed most of last year because he got beaned in the head by a Lance Berkman line drive. You can see the video by clicking here. It’s pretty impressive.
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