Arlington Stadium

**sflnyc** · 10-04-2007, 02:21 PM

Couldn't find any old threads dedicated to Arlington Stadium, so I figured I would start one with the photos that I have.

First photo is of the original Turnpike Stadium in 1969, capacity of 10,000.

They were trying to watch costs so much when the stadium was expanded for the 1972 arrival of the Rangers that they built a massive bleacher section with 16,000 seats, almost half of the stadium's 35,000 capacity. As a result, the stadium looked very disjointed to me whenever I watched Yankees - Rangers games on TV. Upper Deck was added later in 1978 bringing capacity up to 41,097. Many publications and sites say the Upper Deck expansion was in 1979, but the Rangers drew crowds of 37-40,000 in 1978 including 40,078 against the Yankees on Opening Day.

First photo is of the original Turnpike Stadium in 1969, capacity of 10,000. You can see the seating set-up was like the cookie cutters (Shea, Busch II, etc.) with the circular second level surrounding the field level seats. Stadium was expanded in 1970 to seat 20,000.

Second photo is during 1971 when the stadium was under construction for the expansion.

Third photo is a packed house during the 1970's before the 1978 Upper Deck. Notice the signature left field scoreboard with the Texas silhouette on it.

Fourth photo is from April 25, 1982 against the Brewers in front of a crowd of 36,866. Charlie Moore is about to step to the plate in the top of the 8th against Danny Darwin with the Brewers leading 7-6.

Enjoy!

**Gary Dunaier** · 10-04-2007, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by sflnyc

Couldn't find any old threads dedicated to Arlington Stadium . . .

I've already posted these in the "my ballpark photos" thread, but it's good to have separate threads devoted to individual ballparks, so I'll re-post them here.

**Gary Dunaier** · 10-04-2007, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by sflnyc

First photo is of the original Turnpike Stadium in 1969, capacity of 10,000.

What's interesting about Turnpike Stadium, as shown in the photo, is the grassy areas beyond first and third. It looks to me that you could have just gone there and watched the game for free! In fact, I notice scattered groups of fans doing just that.

**Mario Mendoza...HOF Lock** · 10-04-2007, 07:21 PM

Here's another old pic courtesy of Digital Ballparks

http://www.digitalballparks.com/Arlington8.html

**stlfan** · 10-04-2007, 08:50 PM

I find this blurb about Arlington Stadium from Andrew Clem's site very interesting.

"only the third base side of the grandstand was moveable, meaning that the football gridiron was supposed to lie at an angle of about ten degrees from the right field foul line. (Just like Riverfront Stadium.) By the way, the front edge of the huge bleachers was 11 feet above the ground, whereas the highest part of the back edge of the swivelable lower portion of the main grandstand was about twice that high, just as in all stadiums of this "PSCSLD" design. Whenever the lower portions of the grandstand were swiveled around for football games, a large number of seats in the bleachers would be obstructed."

That is very odd and in my opinion poor design, planning and construction. Are there any photos out there showing Arlington Stadium in this football configuration? I have never seen any and I am highly interested in seeing some.

Another odd thing is that it was originally built as a minor league park and built in a way that partially followed the cookie-cutter design. The strangest part of the design being that half of each "PSCSLD" was constructed as seen in the 1969 Turnpike Stadium photo. I guess they built it with the intention of being able to be fully built to a major league facility using the cookie-cutter design.

**Danielh41** · 10-05-2007, 04:19 AM

I must have been to at least a hundred games at Arlington Stadium, but I never saw it in its football configuration.

I was watching Black Hawk Down not too long ago, and at the beginning of the movie, they flashed the date October 3, 1993 on the screen. That was the date of the very last game ever played at Arlington Stadium (which I attended). I watched that movie, thinking that I was enjoying a baseball game while these soldiers were going through hell in Somalia...

**PeteU** · 10-05-2007, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

What's interesting about Turnpike Stadium, as shown in the photo, is the grassy areas beyond first and third. It looks to me that you could have just gone there and watched the game for free! In fact, I notice scattered groups of fans doing just that.

I'd say they probably had an outer gate to protect against freeloaders. They might have just sold grassy berm seating, as is popular in some minor league parks these days.

**PeteU** · 10-05-2007, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by stlfan

I find this blurb about Arlington Stadium from Andrew Clem's site very interesting.

"only the third base side of the grandstand was moveable, meaning that the football gridiron was supposed to lie at an angle of about ten degrees from the right field foul line. (Just like Riverfront Stadium.) By the way, the front edge of the huge bleachers was 11 feet above the ground, whereas the highest part of the back edge of the swivelable lower portion of the main grandstand was about twice that high, just as in all stadiums of this "PSCSLD" design. Whenever the lower portions of the grandstand were swiveled around for football games, a large number of seats in the bleachers would be obstructed."

That is very odd and in my opinion poor design, planning and construction. Are there any photos out there showing Arlington Stadium in this football configuration? I have never seen any and I am highly interested in seeing some.

It is odd, but you'd think the view from the new swiveled sideline seating for football would have been better and much closer than if the baseball bleachers had been used as the sideline seating instead, so I guess you could say it was a fair trade-off in the end.

I notice there's a similar issue of a blind sport for football configurations at Candlestick Park, too. The seats where the old right field corner was near the foul poul are obscured when the lower deck stands are brought out for the sideline seats in football. I don't think they even sell them for football. One of the uncommon circumstances in modern era stadiums where seats were sold for baseball but not for football--usually it was the other way around.

**machinehead11** · 10-05-2007, 07:05 AM

These pics bring back great memories. I went to dozens of games when I lived in Grand Prairie, and was sad to see the stadium demolished. Although their current ballpark is awesome, I still miss the original a lot.

**sflnyc** · 10-05-2007, 01:20 PM

This color postcard was taken the same day as the packed house B&W photo above. You can tell by the Presentation of the Flag? ceremony behind second base and the shadows on the field.

Also, looked in my 1983 Sporting News Dope Book (off topic, there's a book title that's not P.C. anymore) and the General Admission Bleachers were even bigger than I thought (18,838 seats)

17,425 Field & Mezzanine
5,021 Plaza Level (Upper Deck)
18,838 General Admission
41,284 Total Capacity

**bnbusser** · 10-05-2007, 05:40 PM

I just uploaded about 180 photos of old arlington stadium to my site. Most photos show the demolition of the park. Clubhouses, luxury boxes, concourse shots etc. The park was a mess in 94 just a mere 8 months after the Rangers left.

http://ballparks.phanfare.com/album/438320

click on slideshow for a tour and music

**Danielh41** · 10-05-2007, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by bnbusser

I just uploaded about 180 photos of old arlington stadium to my site. Most photos show the demolition of the park. Clubhouses, luxury boxes, concourse shots etc. The park was a mess in 94 just a mere 8 months after the Rangers left.

http://ballparks.phanfare.com/album/438320

click on slideshow for a tour and music

Great slideshow. It made me sad to see the stadium in its demolition stages. Once the last season ended, I had thoughts about trying to get the seat where I had been for Nolan Ryan's 7th no-hitter, but I never followed through with it...

**bnbusser** · 10-05-2007, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Danielh41

Great slideshow. It made me sad to see the stadium in its demolition stages. Once the last season ended, I had thoughts about trying to get the seat where I had been for Nolan Ryan's 7th no-hitter, but I never followed through with it...

I actually was back in Dallas on business when I took those photos. I drove to Texas from So. Cal where I lived. I loaded up my truck for the drive back. 4 stadium seats, a concession stand sign, a turnstile from the old park, a case of 1993 media guides and a ton of programs. Plus all the photos.

**Jaybird** · 10-07-2007, 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by PeteU

It is odd, but you'd think the view from the new swiveled sideline seating for football would have been better and much closer than if the baseball bleachers had been used as the sideline seating instead, so I guess you could say it was a fair trade-off in the end.

I notice there's a similar issue of a blind sport for football configurations at Candlestick Park, too. The seats where the old right field corner was near the foul poul are obscured when the lower deck stands are brought out for the sideline seats in football. I don't think they even sell them for football. One of the uncommon circumstances in modern era stadiums where seats were sold for baseball but not for football--usually it was the other way around.

I noticed that Andrew Clem also stated that, for football, Arlington Stadium would lay out the football field where the bleachers were the sideline seats. Eventually, the football tenants, the University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks, would move back to campus for their games. UTA dropped football in the 1980's.

**Jaybird** · 10-07-2007, 06:48 AM

Does anyone have a closeup picture of the Arlington Stadium scoreboard that had the map of Texas on it? The map on the scoreboard was used to batting orders, balls, strikes, and outs. If you do, thanks.

**bnbusser** · 10-09-2007, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Does anyone have a closeup picture of the Arlington Stadium scoreboard that had the map of Texas on it? The map on the scoreboard was used to batting orders, balls, strikes, and outs. If you do, thanks.

This is as close a pic of the scoreboard as I could find....

**sflnyc** · 10-09-2007, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Does anyone have a closeup picture of the Arlington Stadium scoreboard that had the map of Texas on it? The map on the scoreboard was used to batting orders, balls, strikes, and outs. If you do, thanks.

Sorry, but the best I have is what I posted in Post #1. I like the picture in Post #16. Must look like it's from the 1970's.

**burroughsmvp** · 08-01-2009, 09:09 AM

**marlins739** · 08-20-2009, 07:36 AM

I wish they hadn't built Jerryworld right next to the ballpark. It would be a much nicer setting without the giant white spaceship right next to the place. Texas Stadium and the new Cowboys Stadium both look like giant white lumps from far away.

I think a much bigger video board in the same spot, or maybe lower down on the upper deck roof, would do wonders for this place. Most new minor league stadiums have more impressive scoreboards than Arlington. Maybe they could borrow some of the 60 yard long twin video boards across the street from Jerry Jones

**bnbusser** · 08-20-2009, 07:46 AM

Marlins...

The old ballpark was northeast of the current park. It was directly west of the hotel. (which used to be a Sheraton). Here is a pic of the demolition of the old stadium and its proximity to the new park. This photo was taken in December of 1994.

**bnbusser** · 08-20-2009, 07:56 AM

If you want to see old Arlington stadium and the demolition, go to my site. I was there in 1994 when they demolished it.

http://ballparks.phanfare.com/2414246#imageID=38716928

**Seattle1** · 08-20-2009, 09:50 AM

By the way, there is a new book out called "Family of Secrets" by investigative journalist Russ Baker about the Bush family dynasty. Most of it has to do with political intrigue so I will not get into it on this forum of course.

However, Chapter 17, titled "Playing Hardball" is all about the sketchy business deals that George W. Bush was involved in to buy a stake of the Rangers, and the hardball, underhanded tactics he employed to acquire the property for Arlington Stadium and get it built. I figure some of you might be interested in that one chapter, which is fully relevant to baseball content.

**tiscipa165** · 08-27-2009, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by bnbusser

If you want to see old Arlington stadium and the demolition, go to my site. I was there in 1994 when they demolished it.

http://ballparks.phanfare.com/2414246#imageID=38716928

Bnbusser, did you have special access when you took those shots or were you able to walk right in? Great stuff. Wish I can go in the old Yankee Stadium right now.

**Arlington Stadium Child** · 09-06-2009, 09:50 PM

I grew up at the Old Arlington Stadium, just check out the Screen Name.

Though not considered one of the prettier stadiums, it was home to me and it was MLB.

Had a lot of great times out there and I miss it a ton.

The traditions,the fans, the characters, non of which were really carried over to The Ballpark in Arlington.

Had a ton of bandwagon fans that first year and many people that go to games today never set foot into Arlington Stadium. These people, to a very limited extent, don't really know what Texas Rangers baseball and going to games is all about.

For the 7th inning stretch, there were no announcements to tell you to get up and join in and sing Take Me out to the Ballgame. They just got up and started dancing to the Cotton Eyed Joe.

The atmosphere at Arlington Stadium was always festive, fun and affordable. Today, there are so many bells and whistles and corporate sponsors.

The Dot Race used to be on the screen only for all three laps. Now it is only 2 laps on the screen and no matter which color is leading, they all start at the same time out of the left field gate.

Anyways, before digital stitching with digital cameras, I took several myself with my old 35mm Pentax K1000.