In the end, this was all about a roof.
A roof over the Rangers’ heads. A roof to keep out the torrid inferno of a Texas summer.
And for that roof and the climate-controlled cocoon it will provide, we are bidding a temple of memories goodbye this week. You can now count the Rangers’ remaining games at The Ballpark in Arlington on one hand.
The reaction has been predictably nostalgic. The place, even after 25 years, is still the handsomest sports venue in DFW.
Noble and red-brick. Both classic and quirky. The Ballpark has been a jewel in the sun, aging gracefully and never pretentious.
If anything kept you away from going out to see the Texas Rangers in person in recent seasons, let me strongly suggest that it wasn’t The Ballpark.
And yet . . . .
When the great Colosseum opened its portals during the first century, anno domini, Roman prefects are said to have soon noticed that sitting in the Italian sun, baking like a lasagna while watching gladiators, could make for a warm and uncomfortable afternoon.
Thus, history’s first retractable roof – the Velarium, a system of tapered fabric lots tethered to ropes and anchored to 240 wooden masts that ringed the top of the Colosseum. Sailors from the Roman navy, experts in the rigging of sails, were enlisted to furl and unfurl the giant awning.
There is nothing noble, in other words, about sweating restlessly in the heat for four hours whilst insisting that baseball needs to be played outdoors.
No, it doesn’t.
If a proprietor can make his establishment more inviting to customers, why shouldn’t he?
Daytime baseball can be grand . . . when it’s played at Wrigley Field.
Otherwise, let’s not confuse mild-weather day baseball with outdoor baseball in which seven innings of each game are played under LED lighting.
If the center field backdrop in Arlington was soaring skyscrapers or, say, a river with a Santiago Calatrava-designed bridge, night ball would be a spectacle all its own. But there is no organic backdrop in Arlington. Nighttime baseball is going to look the same indoors and out.
Remember, Tom Schieffer and the gang who designed The Ballpark say they never planned for daytime baseball to be played here. Major League Baseball had even granted the franchise an exemption, so it could schedule games on Sunday nights, concurrent with the ESPN national TV game.
Then-manager Buck Showalter complained, however, about the late-night getaways at the end of homestands. MLB complied, and the Rangers have been playing on 98-degree Sunday afternoons ever since.
Thanks a lot, Buck.
Some of us are old enough to remember when World Series games were all daytime affairs. The first night World Series game was in 1971, the Orioles at Pittsburgh.
To me, that was the beginning of the end of baseball’s romance with day baseball. Houston had already moved into the air-conditioned Astrodome. Major league baseball had not yet come to the warm climes of Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Miami and St. Petersburg.
So, you’re feeling all weepy about . . . a roof?
Rangers officials shrug and say, “We’ll see,” when asked how often they foresee games being played with the retractable roof open at the new ballpark. Lone Star history, however, suggests that you not stock up on sunscreen.
The Astros opened the roof at Minute Maid Park for a mere 14 home games in 2017. The Houston Texans played all eight 2018 home games with the retractable NRG Stadium roof closed.
The Cowboys’ stadium, opened in 2009, has a unique and spectacular roof, with its twin 300-foot arches spanning the dome. But history has shown that even during the favorable autumn months, the Cowboys prefer to keep the roof closed.
The team’s media guide says that the roof has been open for 22 games in 11 seasons. A check of the official stats books puts the number as closer to eight.
So why did Jerry Jones need a retractable roof? It’s a question he’s probably asked himself more than once.
A Houston publication reported that the roof at NRG Stadium costs $48 million. Calculating the Harris County taxpayers’ contribution to the stadium project at 43%, the county paid $20.6 million for a roof that the Texans never open.
You could make a better argument, therefore, for the Rangers building a permanent roof than not having a roof at all.
Air conditioning is a necessity in these parts, not a luxury. Seattle gets away with a moveable roof that serves as an umbrella over the grandstands and playing field, leaving the rest of the park open. But that’s Seattle.
Domed stadiums in Toronto and Milwaukee, meanwhile, were designed to protect against winter and snow.
Down here, we need air conditioning. Rangers fans are just going to have to adjust. Standard ballgame attire may no longer be a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Frankly, this is not a bad thing.
It’s going to be 72 degrees inside Globe Life Field. And you’ll know that in February, when you make plans for a family summer baseball vacation. And before they ever leave home, parents will know they won’t have to worry about sweating urchins, whining in the August heat.
We all will cherish memories of The Ballpark in Arlington. Maybe you lined up and ran the bases after one of those Sunday afternoon games. Maybe you and your bride-to-be had your first date on one of those Fireworks Friday Nights.
And maybe you were fortunate enough to be there on the night Neftali Feliz struck out A-Rod and the Rangers won their first pennant.
Those memories will last forever. Buy an XFL season ticket if you miss the building that much.
We live in a world where technology has lavished us with conveniences. Robot vacuum cleaners. Cameras inside of our phones. The entire planet, reachable via the internet.
So why be a baseball Luddite, insisting the game should only be played outdoors in the heat?
Myself, I’ll save you a seat under the new roof, indoors, where the Texas Rangers will be playing baseball in air-conditioned comfort for, oh, the next 35 or so years.
