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Field Trip of
Dreams
Around the Major
Leagues in 49 Days
Ballpark in Arlington
Arlington, TX
Kansas City Royals at Texas
Rangers
July 11, 2003
By Ken Schlapp
I was originally supposed to
drive all the way from Denver, Colorado to Fort Worth, Texas on July
10th, but I decided to shave 3-4 hours off my trip by staying in
Oklahoma City, instead. Therefore, I was able to see the Amateur
Softball Museum on July 11th instead of trying to see 3 museums in
three different cities on July 14th. To start off, it was a pretty
tough drive from Denver to Oklahoma City, because there may be only
1 or 2 hills and 5 trees to see during that whole drive from I-70 to
I-35! I guess the only benefit was that the speed limit was 75 MPH,
and I kept somewhat close to that speed, but I won't say whether it
was under or over.
The Softball Museum was pretty interesting. It is located on 2801
NE 50thStreet in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which is in the same
complex as the softball stadium where the NCAA Women's championships
are played each year. The museum is dedicated to both men and women
that played either fast pitch or slow pitch softball as amateurs and
not professionals. The main displays are set up similar to the
Negro League Baseball Museum where you walk through a display room
that is presented in chronological order from 1887 to the present.
The significance of 1887 is that softball was first played in
Chicago, Illinois in that year. They have dedicated one entire room
to the exploits of the 1996 and 2000 USA Women's Olympic gold medal
winners. But what probably stands out most about this museum is the
statistics of the players enshrined. The fast-pitch players have an
unbelievable number of no-hitters and the slow-pitch players have an
unbelievable number of home runs. In fact I noticed that Rick "The
Crusher" Scheer hit 451 home runs in 1985 alone!
Off to Arlington.
I'd have to admit that the entire setting of the Ballpark at
Arlington was nicer than I thought it would be. There is an
enormous amount of parking space available considering that the
stadium is next to a Six-Flags amusement park. In fact the parking
lots are so big that they offer a shuttle service to take fans to
and from certain lots to the ballpark. I parked in one of those
"far away" lots, but I chose to walk to the stadium to take pictures
and get the views of the ballpark as I got closer. I was glad I did
so, because from the lot I parked in, I had to walk past the Mark
Holtz Lake to get to the ballpark. This is an incredible view of
this beautiful redbrick ballpark. Also, on that walk, you have to
pass the Dr. Pepper Youth Ballpark (which is located where Arlington
Stadium used to be), which was designed for children ages 12 and
under. This is a replica Ballpark at Arlington field and is
equipped with clubhouses and even stadium seating and an electronic
scoreboard. From there, I took my customary walk around the outside
of the stadium, which wasn't so easy considering that it was almost
100 degrees with about 90% humidity to go with the sunny sky. It
was still worth it, because I was able to see the Walk of Fame,
which lists each year that the Rangers were in Texas and displays
each of the teams award winners (MVP, Cy Young, Silver Slugger, Gold
Glove, etc.) on a year-by-year basis.
On the inside of the stadium there is plenty to do and to see. I
was glad I got inside just as the gates opened up (two hours before
game time), because that gave me enough time to walk through the
Legends of the Game Museum in right field. There is an additional
$5 entrance fee for this museum, but that fee also gets you a ticket
for one of the regular tours of the ballpark. This 3-level museum
highlights baseball history in general on the first floor, the
Rangers Hall of Fame and history on the second floor and, a learning
center for children on the third floor. Being the stat geek that I
am, I absolutely loved the section on the first floor that displays
the all-time hitting and pitching leaders on a single-season,
career, and active basis. But what really caught my attention was
that these leaders are presented both before and after 1900. Since
I play vintage Baseball (meaning by older rules with old-style
uniforms) for the 1864 New York Gothams, and I am an avid
Strat-O-Matic player (currently replaying the 1905 season), these
pre-1900 players almost seem contemporary to me. Overall, this
museum presents an excellent display of Baseball history (with many
items on loan from Cooperstown) and the learning center helps
children learn the science and math behind Baseball as well as its'
history. Basically, what I'm saying is that you have to stop here
when you go to this ballpark.
In continuing with the things to do section of the ballpark, the
Coco-Cola Sports Park in center field is a great place for kids to
have a good time. There is a wiffle-ball park and several other
activities like tee-ball cages for them to not pay attention to the
game and still have fun. This is clearly a theme in the new parks,
which is good for both parent and children's entertainment purposes,
but I'm not sure I like it. I think it would be great if the
children were able to focus on the great game of baseball instead of
all of the extremities. This way they may grow up into real
Baseball fans and not just fans of entertainment at the ballpark.
At least there is some history in front of the play area with the
large statue of Nolan Ryan.
Enough of the extras! From a pure Baseball point of view, the
ballpark is beautiful and a good place to watch a Baseball game.
The seats are all situated in a way that you can see well from
anywhere. The field level seats are pitched around so that you
don't have to watch the game sitting sideways and end up with a soar
neck (see Shea Stadium in a future article). There is very little
foul territory, so the fans are pretty close to the field, which is
great for the fans, but lousy for the
 pitcher because many foul flyouts are lost. The two levels of seating in right field are
exactly like Tiger Stadium, including the steel pillars blocking the
view of some fans. Coors field had a similar setup except for the
pillars, which was better for the fans, but not quite as classic as
the seats here in Arlington. The in-play manual out of town
scoreboard on the left field wall also adds a nice quality to it.
There is even an historic look from Yankee Stadium with the 3-tiered
suite section in center field that has the white-arch look like in
New York. Another interesting facet of the suites is that they are
internally marked by hall of fame players and there pictures in
front of the suite entrances. Also, like many of the newer stadiums
the seats are all green to complete the classic look.
As nice as the field that the Rangers get to play on is, is as bad
as the Rangers have been playing of late. This game was no
different as the Royals pummeled them by a score of 13-3 on the
strength of an 8-run 8th inning. I must be a lucky-charm for the
Royals considering they are now 3-0 on the games they played during
my trip, and this was the second time they scored 8 or more runs in
one inning. The Royals took the lead with a 4-run 3rd inning
highlighted by Raul Ibanez 2-run homer. The Rangers scored 3 runs
in the fourth on an error, an RBI single by Gonzalez and an RBI
groundout by Lance Nix to make it a 1-run game. Unfortunately for
the Rangers, they only mustered one other hit during the entire
game, while the Royals poured it on with their 2 big innings. The
Rangers didn't even hit a Home Run to let me know what happens when
the home team hits one out, but during an in-game promotion a
10-year-old kid hit a home in the wiffle-ball park to set off the
homer fireworks. Carlos Beltran had a 2-run homer and Angel Berroa
had a 2-run double to highlight the big inning. Ken Harvey, the
hero of my first two Royal games went 3-5 with 2 doubles this game,
but wasn't the big star he was the last two times. RA Dickey took
the lost, while Kris Wilson has won for the 2nd time in my presence.
As far as the fans are concerned, I have to say that I was
disappointed again. From the start, what worried me the most about
the fans here was that they appeared to be excited over the Thunder
Sticks that were given out prior to the game. I hate those things
as much as I hate "The Wave" as they completely take you out and
away from the game. From there, they only appeared to be truly
excited during the electronic dot race, in which the blue dot was
the winner over red and green. They also got excited whenever Alex
Rodriguez was at bat or involved in the play in any way, but he had
a relatively quiet day; He went 1-3 with a single, a walk, and a
run. The fans showed some sign of paying attention in the 8th
inning when the Rangers finally got the Royals out the fans gave a
mock cheer. Other than that the stadium was mostly quiet. Maybe
the fans are just shell-shocked from the home team's poor play or
just more interested in the extras at the game instead of the game.
The most excited fans were the many Royal fans in attendance that
stayed to the end to cheer for their team. The Rangers fans were
gone after Rodriguez last at bat in the 8th. To be fair, most home
team fans leave early under these circumstances.
Although all the electronic stats in stadiums are always helpful, I
liked the fact that not everything was electronic in this ballpark.
The Rangers used an interesting non-electronic in-game promotion
with a world scramble in the center field grass "batter's eye",
where a fan had to manually unscramble letters to spell out
"shortstop Alex Rodriguez". They also included LOB along with runs,
hits, and errors, which I haven't ever seen (or noticed) before.
Bottom line - This is a good place to see a Baseball game and again
if you don't watch the game you will not have a problem keeping
yourself interested with all the extra amenities available.
Overall, I'm beginning to question just how much I like these new
ballparks. I like that each of them had added unique features to
the playing field, but all these extras take away from the game.
Basic trip facts:
* Stadium # 18
* Old Stadium Sites visited - None (Total - 9)
* Under construction Stadium Sites visited - None (Total - 1)
* Miles traveled - 938 via Car (Totals: Driving - 10,620, Subway -
20, Air - 3,196, Total - 13,856)
* States, provinces and/or commonwealths passed through - Colorado,
Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (Totals: States - 31, Provinces - 0,
Commonwealths - 1)
* Seats - Section 25, Row 17, Seat 5 - Field Level in Left Field *
Prices: Parking - $8.00, Beer - $5.25, Hot Dogs - $3.75, Program
(including pencil) - $5.75, Souvenir Soda Cup - $4.25
* Credit Card giveaway - Rangers towel or T-shirt
* First Pitch - 7:06 PM
* Attendance - 33,536
* Results - Royals 13, Rangers 3, W - Kris Wilson, L - R.A. Dickey,
S - None
* Home team record to date - 10 wins, 11 losses
* Record of "team I was routing for" to date - 8 wins, 13 losses
* Lodging - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (7/10), and Fort Worth, Texas
(7/11)
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