After long year with no Texas Rangers games in person, fans revel in Globe Life Field
The first thought that occurred to Teresa Marteny when she walked inside Globe Life Field for the first time Monday afternoon, wasn’t even really a thought.
It was more like a sound. A sound of angels singing.
The Texas Rangers’ $1.2 billion, retractable-roof stadium finally hosted hometown fans for an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers. The announced paid attendance of 12,911, which did not include area first responders who attended the game as guest of the Rangers. The Rangers lost 4-0.
The teams play a final exhibition game at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday before the Rangers open the season against the Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium at 3:10 p.m. Thursday. The Rangers’ home opener is at 3:05 p.m. Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Marteny, of Arlington, snatched up four tickets offered by her mom. She quickly alerted three friends.
“They all texted back in record time,” Marteny said. “I was super excited about the roof being open. I’m definitely anti-roof, so I’m glad.”
Most Rangers fans have been forced to wait for their first glimpse of the new ballpark, which sits just to the south of Globe Life Park, the team’s home from 1994 to 2019. COVID-19 pandemic restrictions wiped out all of the pomp and circumstance of the new park’s 2020 opening with fans prohibited from attending any regular-season games.
A limited number of tickets were available for the playoffs, including the World Series, which enabled some dedicated baseball fans a chance to experience the new park. There were about 1,500 more fans at Monday’s game than was officially announced for Game 1 of the World Series, which was 11,388.
While Marteny is admittedly anti-roof, she’s also admittedly looking forward to a closed roof on those 95-degree days when the heat used to circulate like a rotisserie inside the old ballpark.
Little kids and elderly fans, especially, are looking forward to climate-controlled August day games when a Boomstick could be cooked on top of the dugout.
Long-time season ticket holder Terry Long and son, Andrew, were two of those diehard Rangers fans who couldn’t resist attending playoff baseball last October. Even though Monday was a rough one for 9-year-old Andrew with his second-favorite Rangers player Rougned Odor being released earlier in the day. It was another blow for Andrew after his favorite all-time Ranger Elvis Andrus was traded to Oakland in February.
“It’s a rough day today [for him],” Terry Long said. “I think we’ve both lowered our expectations for what the season is going to be like, but we’re just happy to see baseball after a year of not getting to.”
“It’s really nice,” said Andrew, who was getting to see the roof opened during the day for the first time. The roof was open for a playoff game the Longs attended last October but it was already dark outside.
Jessica Custance, one of Marteny’s friends who quickly texted back that she was up for Monday’s game, had taken a tour of the stadium in December.
“It’s really impressive,” she said. “The tour I took gave me a little glimpse of everything the stadium has to offer. Not being able to go to a game last year was rough.”
Marteny’s other friend Cynthia Gutierrez described Globe Life field as beautiful. “When we didn’t get to go to a Rangers game last year it was a bummer,” she said. “We go every season, four or five times at least.”
Any lingering pandemic worries were starting to fade for the foursome. “As long as we’re all safe and washing our hands and wearing our masks, we should be fine,” Gutierrez said.
“It was nice to see them out there,” said Rangers manager Chris Woodward, whose team was held to three singles. “I wish we gave them a little more to cheer for.”
David Inman of Arlington brought his 5-year-old granddaughter Emma, who was wearing one of the Joey Gallo powder blue T-shirts given to the first 14,000 fans in attendance Monday. Inman was happy the roof was open Monday night.
“We wanted to see this place,” said Inman, who attended two closed roof World Series games in October. “ We only live about two miles from here. I just love baseball and the Texas Rangers. I wanted to see a different atmosphere for a baseball game.”
Colleyville resident Cyndi Magee was hosting her cousin’s family from Wisconsin, who made the trip to see their Brewers.
“It’s gorgeous, especially the retractable roof,” Magee said. “Of course, I like tradition so it was really hard going from the old stadium to here, but it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a lot bigger than I expected.”
Magee’s son Zane Crumpton, 11, gave the new park a thumbs up. “I love this place. I love that there’s actually air conditioning,” he said.
Arlington resident Liz Tackett’s 11-year-old son Abel agreed. The younger Tackett is looking forward to coming back to the park again and again. Especially with the roof for the dog days of summer. “100 percent,” he said.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 7:51 PM.
