Arlington Stadium

Last updated
Arlington Stadium
Arlington Stadium 1988.jpg
Arlington Stadium
Former namesTurnpike Stadium (1965–1971)
Location1500 South Copeland Rd.
Arlington, Texas 76011
Coordinates 32°45′23″N97°5′5″W / 32.75639°N 97.08472°W / 32.75639; -97.08472
Owner The City of Arlington
OperatorThe City of Arlington
Capacity 10,600 (1965–1969)
20,500 (1970–1971)
35,185 (1972)
35,698 (1973–1977)
41,097 (1978–1980)
41,284 (1981–1984)
43,508 (1985–1990)
43,521 (1991–1993)
Field sizeLeft Field – 330 ft
Left-Center – 380 ft
Center Field – 400 ft
Right-Center – 380 ft
Right Field – 330 ft
Backstop – 60 ft
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke groundApril 15, 1964
OpenedApril 23, 1965
ClosedOctober 3, 1993
Demolished1994
Construction costUS$1.9 million
Architect Preston M. Geren Architects & Engineers [1]
General contractorWalker Construction Co. [2]
Tenants
Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs (TL) (1965–1971)
UT Arlington Mavericks (NCAA) (1970–1976)
Texas Rangers (MLB) (1972–1993)

Arlington Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, United States, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It served as the home for the Texas Rangers (MLB) from 1972 until 1993, after which the team moved into The Ballpark in Arlington (now Choctaw Stadium).

Contents

History

Early years as a minor league stadium

The stadium was built in 1965 as Turnpike Stadium, a minor league ballpark seating 10,000 people named for the nearby Dallas–Fort Worth Turnpike (now part of Interstate 30, and known as the Tom Landry Highway). The Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League moved there as the Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs, and played there for the next seven years, setting many Texas League attendance records during their tenure at the stadium, especially after it expanded to 20,500 seats in 1970.

However, the stadium's real purpose was to attract a major league team to the Metroplex. [3] It had been built to be upgraded to Major League standards of the era, and was designed to be expandable to up to 50,000 seats (although its final actual capacity was 7,000 seats below that). Due to its location in a natural bowl, only minimal excavations (such as connecting dugouts directly to the clubhouses) would be necessary for it to be ready for a big-league team. Although it was built primarily with baseball in mind, its general shape was very similar to the major league multi-purpose stadiums that were beginning to emerge in the mid-1960s. In fact, the stadium was designed to accommodate football, but the Dallas Cowboys were never interested in playing in the stadium. [4] The Metroplex had been mentioned as a possible expansion site since the 1950s, and Arlington Mayor Tom Vandergriff figured that Arlington, halfway between the two cities, would be the best site for a prospective major league team.

1970s–1980s

In 1971, the struggling second incarnation of the Washington Senators announced their intentions to move to the Metroplex under the banner of the Texas Rangers. The stadium was expanded to seat over 35,700 people, and was renamed Arlington Stadium. The stadium played host to its first major league game on April 21, 1972, when the Rangers inaugurated the stadium by defeating the California Angels, 7–6; MLB's first-ever strike had disrupted the start of the 1972 season, hence the later than anticipated opening day. [5]

Arlington Stadium had no roof, and thus virtually no protection from the oppressive Texas heat. For nearly all of its existence, it was the hottest stadium in the majors. It was not unusual for game-time temperatures to be well above 100 °F (38 °C). Combined with the Rangers' mediocre performance, this held down attendance considerably during the 1970s. Due in part to the heat, the Rangers scheduled nearly all of their games from May through September at night to get around it. Other than nearby amusement park Six Flags Over Texas, there was no neighborhood around the park. In his book Storied Stadiums, Curt Smith described it as "small, (but) not intimate".

The scoreboard in the Rangers' early days was a long, horizontal rectangle with a panel shaped like the state of Texas. It was replaced after the 1984 season with a new scoreboard and series of billboards that ran from both foul poles. [6] "Cotton-Eyed Joe" was played during the seventh-inning stretch for fans to dance to instead of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". Arlington Stadium was also the first major league ballpark to sell nachos (in 1974). [7]

Nolan Ryan pitching at Arlington Stadium in 1992. Arlington Stadium 1992 - 2.jpg
Nolan Ryan pitching at Arlington Stadium in 1992.

1990s

A large portion of the stadium's site is now occupied by an empty field, pictured in 2012. Choctaw Stadium and AT&T Stadium are visible in the background. Arlington Stadium site 2012.JPG
A large portion of the stadium's site is now occupied by an empty field, pictured in 2012. Choctaw Stadium and AT&T Stadium are visible in the background.

The stadium eventually began to show its age and inadequacy, and the City of Arlington approved the construction of a new stadium for the Rangers. The last game was played in Arlington Stadium on October 3, 1993, resulting in a 4–1 win by the visiting Kansas City Royals, witnessed by 41,039 fans (it was also the final game in the career of Hall-of-Famer George Brett, who recorded the last hit in the stadium with a ninth-inning single). [8] Following the 1993 season, the Rangers moved to The Ballpark in Arlington, which was built nearby, and Arlington Stadium was demolished in 1994. The foul poles and home plate from Arlington Stadium were moved to the new ballpark, along with some of the bleachers. The bleachers were painted green, but their original blue color is occasionally visible in spots where the green paint has chipped. Home plate was inserted into place at the Ballpark in Arlington by Tom Schieffer (Texas Rangers then president), Richard Greene (then mayor of Arlington), Tom Vandergriff (former mayor responsible for bringing the team to Arlington), and George W. Bush (then team part-owner; later Governor of Texas and President of the United States).

The site of the old stadium is just west of the Arlington Convention Center and north of the youth ballpark. It was partially paved in 2001 to provide parking for the Convention Center, and Legends Way was built through the center of the site in 2007 to provide an access road to the new Cowboys Stadium. The road was renamed AT&T Way in 2013 along with the corporate renaming of Cowboys Stadium. About a quarter of the former stadium site remains unpaved and undeveloped as of 2019.

Prior to the 2016 season, the original foul poles from Arlington Stadium were replaced at then-Globe Life Park in Arlington.

As of 2022, part of the site has been redeveloped as part of the National Medal of Honor Museum.

Notable moments

Arlington Stadium never saw a playoff game or an All-Star Game, but was host to several of Nolan Ryan's greatest moments, including his 5,000th strikeout [9] and his seventh (and final) no-hitter. [10] Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. and Rangers outfielder Oddibe McDowell, were the only two players to hit for the cycle in Arlington Stadium. It was also the site of the 11th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, when Mike Witt of the California Angels defeated the Rangers on September 30, 1984, 1–0. [11]

A memorable brawl happened on August 4, 1993, when the Rangers hosted the Chicago White Sox. Ryan, the starter for that game, hit Robin Ventura with a pitch. Ventura decided to charge the mound, which emptied both benches. As Ventura reached the mound, Ryan immediately caught him in a head lock and punched him on the top of his head six times. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Rangers (baseball)</span> Major League Baseball franchise in Arlington, Texas

The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in Texas, alongside the Houston Astros of the same league. The team was founded as the Washington Senators in 1961, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after its previous team became the Minnesota Twins. The new Senators relocated to Arlington, Texas after the 1971 season and debuted as the Rangers the following spring. In 2020, the Rangers moved to the new Globe Life Field after having played at Globe Life Park from 1994 to 2019. The team's name is derived from a historic law enforcement agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. The city had a population of 394,266 in 2020, making it the second-largest city in the county after Fort Worth and the third-largest city in the metropolitan area, after Dallas and Fort Worth. Arlington is the 50th-most populous city in the United States, the seventh-most populous city in the state of Texas, and the largest city in the state that is not a county seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choctaw Stadium</span> Stadium in Arlington, Texas, US

Choctaw Stadium, formerly Globe Life Park, is an American multi-purpose stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. The venue opened in April 1994 as a baseball stadium with the name The Ballpark in Arlington, serving as the home for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball from 1994 through 2019. It replaced the nearby Arlington Stadium, and was succeeded by Globe Life Field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Griffith Stadium</span> Stadium in Washington D.C

Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lone Star Series</span> Major League Baseball rivalry

The Lone Star Series is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry featuring Texas' two major league franchises, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. It is an outgrowth of the "natural rivalry" established by MLB as part of interleague play as the Rangers are a member of the American League (AL) and the Astros were a member of the National League (NL) until 2012. During interleague play, the winner of the six-game series was awarded the Silver Boot, a 30-inch (760 mm) tall display of a size 15 cowboy boot cast in silver, complete with a custom, handmade spur. If each team had won three games each for a tie, the declared winner was the team that scored the most runs over the course of the series. In 2013, the Astros joined the American League West with the Rangers and changed their rivalry from an interleague to an intradivision contest. The rivalry, which was once dormant, has become far more heated in recent seasons. From 2013 to 2022, 19 games were played each season. Beginning in 2023, the teams play each other 13 times a year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Vandergriff</span> American politician

Tommy Joe Vandergriff was a politician from Texas. He served as Mayor of Arlington from 1951 to 1977, as a U.S. Representative from Texas's 26th congressional district from 1983 to 1985, and as County Judge of Tarrant County from 1991 to 2007. For the greater part of his life, Vandergriff was a Democrat, but he became a Republican around 1990.

Burnett Field, in Dallas, Texas, was home to several minor league baseball clubs from 1924 to 1964. The ballpark sat 10,500 fans. It was located at 1500 East Jefferson Boulevard, Brazos Street ; Colorado Boulevard ; and the Trinity River.

The Dallas Rangers were a high-level minor league baseball team located in Dallas, Texas, from 1958 to 1964. The team was known by the Dallas Rangers name in 1958, 1959, and 1964 and as the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960 to 1963. It played in the Double-A Texas League in 1958, the Triple-A American Association from 1959 to 1962 and the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1963 and 1964. Its home stadium was Burnett Field.

The Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs were an American minor league baseball team in the Texas League from 1965–1971. The team played in Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Major League Baseball All-Star Game</span> 1995 American baseball competition

The 1995 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 66th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 11, 1995, at The Ballpark in Arlington in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Texas Rangers of the American League. It was the third All-Star Game held in the state of Texas and the first All-Star Game held in the area of Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In this All-Star Game, American League pitchers held National League batters to just three base hits, but all three were home runs as the National League defeated the American League 3–2. This is also the most recent All-Star Game to be televised by the ABC television network.

The Texas Rangers finished the 2004 season, third in the American League West. Five Rangers were All Stars, Francisco Cordero, Kenny Rogers, Hank Blalock, Michael Young and All-Star Game MVP Alfonso Soriano.

The Texas Rangers1993 season involved the Rangers finishing second in the American League West with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses. Before the 1993 season, Nolan Ryan announced his retirement, effective at the end of that season. It would also be the team's final year at Arlington Stadium before moving to The Ballpark in Arlington.

In the 1990 season, the Texas Rangers finished third in the American League West, with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses.

The 1971 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing fifth in the American League East with a record of 63 wins and 96 losses (.396). This was the Senators' 11th and last season in Washington, D.C.; they moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers in 1972. The previous Senators were in Washington from 1901 through 1960.

Texas is home of several national sports league franchises among other professional sports, being the second most populated U.S. state. Since the state is located in the South Central United States, most teams are part of the Central / South or West league divisions, with the notable exception of the NFL Dallas Cowboys, which is an NFC East franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Texas Rangers (baseball)</span>

The Texas Rangers Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise was established in 1961 as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after the old Washington Senators team of the American League moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. The new Senators remained in Washington through 1971 playing at Griffith Stadium in their first season and at RFK Stadium for the next 10 years. In 1972, the team moved to Arlington, Texas, where it became the Texas Rangers. The Rangers played at Arlington Stadium from 1972 to 1993. Arlington Stadium was demolished, and the new Ballpark at Arlington was built, opening in 1994. The Ballpark at Arlington was renamed Globe Life Park in Arlington in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Witt's perfect game</span> MLB perfect game

On September 30, 1984, Mike Witt of the California Angels threw a perfect game against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium. It was the 11th perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. Witt threw 94 pitches, struck out 10 of the 27 batters he faced, and had a game score of 97.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Dallas</span>

The city of Dallas and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area are home to teams in six major sports: the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, FC Dallas, and Dallas Wings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globe Life Field</span> Baseball park in Arlington, Texas

Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of the Rangers' former home ballpark, Globe Life Park.

References

  1. ↑ "Plans OK'd for Stadium at Arlington" (Archive). The Dallas Morning News . September 4, 1964. p. 18.
  2. ↑ "Firm Awarded Pact on Stadium at Arlington". The Dallas Morning News . September 24, 1964.
  3. ↑ "Hunts Buys Interest in Dallas, Fort Worth Clubs". The Nevada Daily Mail . Associated Press. January 28, 1964. p. 4. Retrieved October 15, 2012. One of the first efforts of the new owners probably will be to undertake the construction of some sort of stadium midway between Dallas and Fort Worth, the Dallas News said.
  4. ↑ "Clem's Baseball ~ Arlington Stadium". www.andrewclem.com.
  5. ↑ "April 21, 1972: Rangers fans celebrate arrival of major-league baseball in North Texas – Society for American Baseball Research".
  6. ↑ "Arlington Stadium". Clem's Baseball.
  7. ↑ "Arlington Stadium". Ballparks.com. Munsey & Suppes.
  8. ↑ "Seamheads.com Ballparks Database". www.seamheads.com. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  9. ↑ "Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, August 22, 1989 at Arlington Stadium". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Nolan Ryan No-Hitter #7". Baseball Almanac. May 1, 1991. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Box Score of Game played on Saturday, September 30, 1984 at Arlington Stadium". Baseball Almanac. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  12. ↑ Neumann, Thomas (August 4, 2015). "Happy anniversary: Nolan Ryan, Robin Ventura". ESPN. Retrieved October 12, 2020.


Preceded by Home of the
Texas Rangers
1972–1993		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.