Tragedy also played a part in the history of Globe Life Park

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Texas Rangers play their final game at Globe Life Park this Sunday, and it’s understandable to feel a little nostalgic.

Rangers fans have witnessed some of the club’s greatest moments in the oft-maligned roofless stadium; Kenny Rogers’ perfect game, the club’s first postseason win, and two World Series appearances, to name a few.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows in Arlington. In fact, the Metroplex’s favorite ballpark has been the site of some dirty deeds and tragic accidents. Today, The Dallas Morning News Archives takes a look at Globe Life Park’s worst moments.

Record-setting from the start

The day after voters approved a tax hike in order to build the Ballpark in Arlington — later renamed Globe Life Park — things were looking good.

By the time polls closed on January 19, 1991, 30 percent of the city’s registered voters had participated and ultimately approved a half-cent raise in sales tax to back $135 million in city bonds by a measure of two-to-one.

The campaign to build the new stadium had also set a city record as the most expensive in Arlington’s history, with the advocacy group Home Run Arlington spending upwards of $70,000 on consultants and public relations. Nine months later, 750 residents gathered to watch Texas Ranger officials — George W. Bush among them — break ground on the new site.

Traffic tie-ups

It wasn’t until construction on the stadium was nearly complete that the picture began to cloud. An exhibition matchup against the New York Mets on April 1, 1994 quickly escalated into what The Dallas Morning News’ Eric Garcia described as a “traffic nightmare” as the near capacity crowd rushed to fill 11,000 parking spaces.

Major roads surrounding the stadium slowed to a crawl as officials watched their months-long traffic plan disintegrate into chaos. “They ought to call this place The Parking Lot in Arlington,” said John Davis from Dallas, who was just one of many fans who was forced to arrive after the first pitch — in some cases upwards of an hour late. Texas Rangers officials told The News that 2,500 spaces would be added as soon as the old Arlington Stadium was torn down.

Land grabs

Parking may have been the least of the ballclub’s concerns at the time. The Arlington Sports Facility Development Authority was under fire for maneuvers to take possession of property surrounding the stadium, and landowners of about 42 acres surrounding the ballpark ended up in court with the city.

In one case involving the relatives of late television magnate Curtis Mathes, the city paid out more than $800,000 for 13 acres in eminent domain proceedings. The family claimed they had been vastly underpaid for the property and filed a civil suit against the sports authority for as much as $6 million. After a lengthy trial and and one appeal, the city and ball club agreed to pay out more than $7 million on March 4, 1997.

Opening day

When the Ballpark in Arlington officially opened on April 11, 1994, the Rangers had sold out all of the stadiums 49,292 seats. Sisters Maggie Hession and Frances Evans were the first fans to officially enter the stadium. “I hope 20 years from now, people will remember this day as the date that two Catholic nuns baptized the Ballpark in Arlington,” Evans said. Baptism was an apt description — Hession and Evans had spent all morning praying the rain clouds that hovered over Arlington would dissipate. Despite their efforts, the game started 45 minutes late.

The game itself went smoothly enough. Arlington mayor Richard Greene threw the first pitch, pianist Van Cliburn of Fort Worth took the stage for the National Anthem, and the Rangers suffered a 3-4 loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers.

After the final inning, however, 26-year-old Plano resident Hollye Minter fell 35 feet from a stadium balcony onto seating below. She was transported by helicopter to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas where she was treated for fractured vertebrae, teeth, and ribs.

Texas Rangers officials said Minter had been posing for a photo on the railing at the time of the fall. “The rails are all up to code,” Rangers president Tom Schieffer told The News. “Obviously, this is a terrible thing. I just hope that she’s going to be okay.”

Despite Schieffer’s assurances, the height of the railing — below waist-level at the time — was raised shortly after the incident.

Tragedy strikes

Minter’s fall would not be the only one of its kind. There have been 4 recorded falls at the stadium, with the most recent in 2011. During the Rangers’ July 7 outing against the Oakland A’s, fans watched in horror as firefighter Shannon Stone fell 20 feet from the railing at Globe Life Park onto the concrete below. Stone was trying to catch a foul ball thrown to him by Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton. Stone, who had been attending the game with his 6-year-old son Cooper, died on the way to the hospital due to blunt force trauma.

On April 5 2012, Cooper helped unveil the Rangers Fans statue memorializing his father before the team’s season opener in Arlington. The statue itself would later become the site of another ugly moment when fans used it as a makeshift garbage can in 2014.

New Beginnings

The Texas Rangers play their final game at Globe Life Park against the New York Yankees on Sunday. Attending fans will get a collectible T-shirt and the chance to bid farewell to a stadium that has seen a lot moments many of us would like to forget. First pitch is at 2:05 PM CDT.

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