On April 11, 1994, the Texas Rangers hosted the Milwaukee Brewers in the first Major League game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The city of Arlington lies about 20 miles west of Dallas, and has a population of about 365,000. The ballpark seats 49,170, and its exterior consists of granite and brick. View the Rangers Ballpark seating chart for a detailed seat map.
There are a series of very distinctive granite archways at street level. It’s easy to see Texas pride showing up in the architecture of the ballpark because the Lone Star, symbol of the state of Texas, decorates each aisle seat and it also appears on the exterior facade and interior concourses. The Rangers have chosen Zoysiagrass for the infield and a type of Bermudagrass for the outfield.
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is a closed structure, and it has a four-floor office building that stretches from left-center field to right-center field. The office building has a white steel facade, and the top three floors have a balcony that commands a view of the playing field. Businesses can rent out office space on the second and third floors, and part of their rental fee goes to pay for the balcony with its view of the game. Many of the tenants entertain prospective clients in their ballpark office, and this can be a way to grow the business. So, the Rangers get rental income, and the tenants get a unique office space that helps to generate more business.
The home run porch in right field adjacent to the office building is a quaint feature of the ballpark. It’s a two-level section of seats that has an A-shaped roof over it. Some of the seats have a view of the field that is partially blocked by the steel pillars that support the roof. At the top of the second level, there is an air-conditioned restaurant that has all-you-can-eat seats. Grilled chicken sandwiches, peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs, nachos and beverages in unlimited amounts are included in the price of a ticket to the seats in the cool and comfortable restaurant atop the home run porch. It’s a great way to escape the summertime heat in Arlington, Texas.
The new, main scoreboard sits on the roof of the home run porch, and the Rangers completed the installation in time for the 2011 season. It employs LED technology in a high-definition display that measures 5,040 square feet. The video board on top of the office building is also a high-definition, LED display that replaced the old matrix board before the 2011 season.
Just before the start of the 2003 season, the Rangers introduced their new mascot, a Palomino horse named Rangers Captain. The name comes from the Texas Rangers Law Enforcement Agency in which Captains are group leaders. Rangers Captain is at the ballpark for every Rangers home game, and he keeps the fans entertained with dance routines and comedy sketches. For each game, he picks a place in the ballpark to spend some time mingling with the fans and signing autographs.
