Monday, August 30, 1999
Ballpark in Arlington looks better from the outfield
Double-deck porch in right stands out
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
From the second floor of the three-story Legends of the Gamemuseum beyond right-center field, the Ballpark in Arlington is appealing to the eye.
But it's hard to like what you see from behind home plate.
A white gingerbread, four-story office complex that is part of the ballpark (complete with big picture windows and balconies for people to watch the game) dominates the centerfield landscape. The building closes off what would have been the open end of the stadium.
Arlington might be the only major-league ballpark in America that looks better from the outfield looking in than vice versa.
The best view of a ball field should be from the infield looking out. No other view defines a ballpark as much. Think of Wrigley Field, pre-1961 Crosley Field, Camden Yards. They all “pull” the city into their ballparks from beyond the outfield walls.
And that is the lesson to be learned from Texas: treat that view from the grandstand to beyond the outfield walls as sacred. Are the Reds doing so by opening their park to the foothills of northern Kentucky? The more intimate view — the one that would pull the city into the ballpark — is Cincinnati's dramatic skyline.
Yes, there are considerations that go beyond baseball — such as the desire to spotlight the Ohio River as “Main Street” of the new riverfront development on both shores — but it is a serious, sensitive point.
In Texas, the office building has to be there to block the wind. And besides, the view beyond it would just be parking lots and flat, boring landscape. But its presence diminishes an otherwise great ballpark.
The double-decked right-field porch in Arlington is the single-best design feature in any of the six new ballparks visited by The Enquirer. Some modernists might not like to hear that. They think any design element borrowed from another ballpark should be scorned. But the fact is, cool is cool, whether it's in Tiger Stadium or the Ballpark in Arlington.
And The Ballpark's double-deck porch is cool ... even without the top-deck overhang in Detroit that can “reach out” and turn a fly ball into a home run in old Tiger Stadium.
If the Tigers don't have enough sense to retain this look of the double-decked porch in their new stadium (and it doesn't appear they do), then thanks to Washington, D.C., architect David Schwarz for keeping it alive here in Texas.
“We wanted to quote from baseball, and say it's inherently nostalgic,” Mr. Schwarz said. “We wanted to create good seats everywhere. We feel those are an exceptional series of seats in the outfield.”
Another thing that's neat about the porch, is that the construction of it along with the outfield bullpens required having bends and angles in the outfield wall so that everything would fit.
It's a modern-day version of the old street-grid construction that required squeezing ballparks into established neighborhoods, with the result being asymmetrical outfield dimensions that so distinguished the old parks.
As good as the porch in Arlington looks on ESPN Sports Center highlights when home runs are being jacked into it — and this has to be a consideration for any new ballpark being built — it looks even better in person.
“(The columns) are an architectural illusion from a distance,” said Gabriel Johnson, 34, of Garland, Texas.
“The columns aren't set far enough up front to make a difference in bringing the upper deck forward and closer. But they're good seats up there. I know, I've sat in 'em. And that's the great thing about this park. There's different little features all over the place. Every time you come to a game, you notice something different. To me, that's what makes a great ballpark.”
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