Me, My Dad and My Son at the Ballpark in Arlington in 2014, watching Texas play the visiting Royals. It would be the last game we got to see together before my Dad died of cancer.
The last days of The Ballpark in Arlington are upon us. I refuse to provide free advertisement for the insurance company that currently has naming rights for the Texas Ranger's baseball stadium.
I'm a Royals fan so my best memories of baseball are in Kauffman Stadium. But I've lived in the DFW area for over twenty years now and made annual trips to the Ranger's ballpark. Usually I was going to see the Rangers play the visiting Royals whenever they swung by town.
Even though I'm not a Rangers fan, I'm still ticked off that they are moving across the parking lot to a new stadium at the end of this season. The Ballpark in Arlington is only 26 years old. It's in great shape. It has all the modern conveniences and luxury boxes. Location is not an issue especially since the new stadium is literally right across the street.
So what's the problem? Climate control. The new stadium will have a retractable roof. It gets hot in Texas in July and August. Really hot. There were always a lot of empty seats during day games in the middle of the summer. Casual fans didn't like the heat. Ranger owners are convinced that attendance will grow if the casual fans are more comfortable during the hot summer months.
Whatever.
The reason for empty seats? Crappy baseball year in and year out. When the Rangers went to back to back World Series in '10 and '11 the place was full, even in the unbearable heat of August. Another problem? They made the old stadium too big. The new place will be much more intimate. They are cutting the seats by 10,000. Creates demand, supposedly.
Sure the Ballpark can get hot. I almost got heat stroke in the place multiple times. But we found ways to stay cool and we always had a great time.
Not only is this environmentally irresponsible, abandoning a recent construction, it's a theft of memories.
Baseball, more than any other game, is about generational bonds. Statistics in baseball are more scrutinized than any other sport because you can make cross-generational comparisons in a much more consistent way than most sports. Yes, the sport has changed dramatically over the years. But still, Babe Ruth's 60 home runs is an impressive feat today, even with the steroid era messing things up. Baseball is about long term connections over a very long time.
And the Texas Rangers are taking away a place where many memories were made, simply for the convenience of the casual fan. The original Arlington Stadium needed to be replaced. It wasn't originally built for major league baseball. It was obsolete and in bad shape. This Ballpark is still beautiful and in great shape. It has all the modern amenities. It is a modern ballpark that they are tearing down (well, not completely...apparently they are transforming it into a smaller venue for XFL games and concerts) after only 26 years.
This was the place I brought my son to see his very first Major League Baseball game. It was the place where my son and I got to watch a baseball game with my Dad for the last time before he died of cancer in 2014. Those are the two most poignant memories but there are dozens of wonderful memories that the Rangers are desecrating in the name of the almighty dollar. I will no longer be able to enjoy a game with my family at this stadium where so many memories happened because Ranger ownership thought they could squeeze their fans for more dollars.
If they cared about the fans, they would build a winning team. You have a winning team, the crowds will come. That's how it works. Don't let the rich white billionaires convince you otherwise. They just want to make money. Winning is incidental. Fans are incidental. Generational memories are incidental.
