With a little more than a month until the start of the 2025 baseball season, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we look at the Texas Rangers, a team you would think I would have visited more often due to its proximity to my father. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with the building originally named as the Ballpark in Arlington, the now former home of the Rangers.
Stadium Name: The Ballpark In Arlington/Ameriquest Field/Rangers Ballpark in Arlington/Globe Life Park
Years in Service: 1994 – 2019
Visits: 7
After spending their entire history at nearby Arlington Stadium, the Texas Rangers broke ground on their new stadium on April 2, 1992, and held their first game there nearly two years later, on April 11, 1994, against the Brewers. The stadium was known by the somewhat clunky moniker of The Ballpark in Arlington until May of 2004, when Ameriquest bought the naming rights. That deal ended in March of 2007, and the stadium was renamed again, this time to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Corporate money came calling again in 2014, when Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company purchased the naming rights. The stadium also features a Rangers Hall of Fame, which includes historical artifacts from the team along with visiting collections from Cooperstown.
I made my first trip to the Ballpark on May 22, 1998, to see the Rangers defeat the Royals during a visit to the Dallas area to see my dad. I returned in 2001 for two games, against the Tigers and two days later against the White Sox. In 2005, on my last trip to the area to date, I took in the entire four game series between the Rangers and the eventual World Series champion White Sox.
With Michael attending college in Texas, I should be able to add their new stadium, which opened in 2020, to my collection sooner rather than later.
The White Sox extended their franchise-record losing streak to 19 games last night, losing to the Twins 6-2. They are now tied for the 12th-longest losing streak in MLB history and have tied the 2005 Royals and the 2021 Orioles for the longest losing streak in the Wild Card era. They are two games away from tying the American League record, set by the 1988 Orioles, and four from the modern record, owned by the 1961 Phillies.
April 10, 2023 was the last time the White Sox won a game at Target Field, going 0 for their last 9 against the Twins on the road. So, as the White Sox returned to Minnesota last night, it seemed an inopportune place for them to try and break their 17-game losing streak. They have now lost ten in a row and Target Field and have extended their franchise-worst losing streak to 18 games.
Things were looking good for the White Sox as they tried to snap their franchise-record fourteen game losing streak last night, as they carried a 5-2 lead into the 8th inning. Two solo shots and a grand slam later, the Royals led 8-5 and, for the second time this season, the White Sox had set a new franchise record for futility with their fifteenth consecutive loss in a single season. They also tied the overall franchise record, set across the 1967 and 1968 seasons.