Arlington Stadium

Arlington Stadium was a baseball park located in the city of Arlington, Texas. The venue was home to the Texas Rangers, a local MLB team, starting from 1972 to 1993. This particular stadium was constructed back in 1965. It was originally known as Turnpike Stadium, and it was a humble minor league park, which could barely accommodate about 10.000 people, nowhere near the numbers that you would expect from a MLB game, even in those days. The stadium was expanded progressively and pretty much like many other stadiums constructed in the 60s, it was meant to be multi-purpose facility, and it was designed to actually be expandable in the future. The expansion eventually took place in the 70s for the first time, and more works followed in later decades. What made this stadium quite distinctive is the fact that the audience could actually still perceive the park’s former minor league background. As opposed to what was common in most stadiums built during this time, seating here was actually quite excellent and there were really not that many bad seats. This happened because the stadium was built in a very beneficial location, giving it a typical “bowl” type of shape, which was especially suited when it comes to the creation of a great experience for viewers. By the 1990s, the stadium was starting to show its first signs of age. It suddenly felt that the facility was no longer adequate for the team, and the city had already approved a brand new facility, which was meant to serve the Texas Rangers. Ultimately, the very last game would be played there on October 3rd, 1993. The visiting team, Kansas City Royals, would win 4-1 against the Rangers, who unfortunately did not get to actually win on their last game in their former home!

Eventually, the site where the Arlington Stadium once stood became ground for a parking lot at the Arlington Convention Center, which was located nearby. Some of the space was actually used to create an access road that would serve Cowboys Stadium. Throughout its many decades, curiously the Arlington Stadium was never actually used for a playoff or an all-star game at hole. However, it was actually the setting to some great moments in the history of baseball. For instance, this is where Nolan Ryan actually had some of his greatest achievements and personal records, including achieving his 5000th strikeout of his career, as well as his seventh no-hitter, which would also go on to become his very last. This was also the place where Cal Ripken JR of the Baltimore Orioles hit for the cycle, along with Oddibe Mc Dowell. To this day, the two remained the only players to achieve that! This particular stadium was also home to the 11th recorded “perfect game” in the history of MLB. The California Angels defeated the Texas Ranger 1-0 on September 30th, 1984. The stadium is still quite well-known for a brawl that happened there in 1993. Nolan Ryan hit Robin Ventura with a pitch, and the two ended up in a headlock, punching each other!