Ballpark: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

On Tuesday night, my friend KB and I went to the Rangers vs. Mariners game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Arlington is an interesting location for a ballpark because it directly between Dallas and Forth Worth. This make the ballpark accessible for residents and workers in both of those cities but it lacks the downtown feel of some of my favorite ballparks. Rangers Ballpark shares parking lots with the more well-known stadium in the city of Arlington: Cowboys Stadium (aka Jerry's World).

Rangers Ballpark has many subtle features that makes it unique among other stadiums I have been to. First, Rangers Ballpark is completely enclosed by an office building in center field. The office building has several balconies with an unmistakeable white facade looking out onto the field. A popular theory is that the office building creates an updraft making Rangers Ballpark one of the most hitter friendly stadiums in the big leagues. The white facade continues around the ballpark and is reminiscent of Yankee Stadium. Below the office building and closer to the field is a grassy hill that makes up the batter's eye. Fans frequently run out onto this hill to retrieve home run balls hit to center field. There are two decks of stands in right field with a few long pillars running up from the lower deck through the upper deck and holding up a large canopy. This feature is often compare to Tiger Stadium, the old home of the Detroit Tigers. A large scoreboard above the canopy provides all the essential baseball information. In left field (where we sat), the stands are elevated above the large out-of-town scoreboard. The view from these seats were similar to the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park but a little lower and further away.

The concourses at Rangers Ballpark were wide, had plenty of natural light, and decorated with big iron  stars. The food selection was pretty extension. In addition to the tradition ballpark food fare, there were plenty of steak, barbeque, and sausage stands. The most notorious and iconic food item is the boomstick. Since the boomstick costs $26, I opted for a sundae - a sausage sundae. Instead of ice cream there were scoops of chopped brisket, mac-n-cheese, and mashed potatoes and instead of the banana was a sausage.

My take-away from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is that it has many subtle features that draw on past iconic ballparks but has many unique features to render it distinct as an entire ballpark. Even though former Ranger star Josh Hamilton claimed that Dallas/Fort Worth is not a baseball town, I was impressed with the number of the 39,000+ at the game who wore Rangers gear. All told, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington provided a good atmosphere for baseball.

Update: The game was something the Rangers would have liked to forget. The Raul Ibanez and Kendrys Morales hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first to give the Mariners and early 2-0 lead. The Rangers got on the board with a run in the bottom of the third inning but the Mariners immediately answered with a run of their own in the next half inning. Kendrys Morales hit his second home run of the game in the top of the 5th to give the Mariners and insurmountable lead. The final score was 9-2. Morales was the unquestioned star of the game with 6 RBIs on the night.