I have mentioned this in posts before, but the original idea that I gave to Tom Schieffer and others during planning and design meetings for the ballpark, had the main scoreboard system right behind the leftfield bleachers, which would have been visible by the majority of the ballpark, including home run porch. Similar in design to old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, to fit the retro design of the ballpark, but with a video board right in the middle…..but when it was decided to add stories on to the office building……the scoreboard was sent to the top of home run porch, and made a little smalller due to the weight on the roof…….at one time, I had a heard a rumor that the architect didn’t want any electronic scoreboards in the ballpark, including any video board….imagine if we were left with that today……I love the ballpark, but I know more than anybody that we need some changes…I have to deal with the complaints, comments, etc. everyday about the scoreboard situation at the ballpark…..we have a tough ballpark to get the crowd into the game…..1/3 of some of the best seats can’t see a replay or the main scoreboard…seats that are covered from the sun, but can’t see a replay…….the few replays that we get to show………..so I know what needs to be done. In some cases we have 1992 scoreboards being driven by 2008 technology, doesn’t always work right, especially when you are trying to automatically count pitches.

For the one season that I was in Kansas City, I was involved in the designs and renovation discussions of Kauffman Stadium. They were trying to get voters approval in Jackson County, Missouri, to approve money to renovate not only Kauffman Stadium, but also Arrowhead Stadium right next door. When the discussion came around to scoreboards, my reponse was to do something where fans would say “WOW! Look what the Royals did.”…….they did that with the largest scoreboard in baseball. But they did that and are doing some other things to update Kauffman Stadium…with some money from the owner, but the majority is coming out of the tax dollars of Jackson County….the sports authority up there rents the stadium to the teams and they have a situation where if one stadium gets something, the contract calls for the other stadium to get the same treatment.

Each year since I came back from Kansas City, I have given upper management proposals to change the scoreboard system, all of the proposals include everything that everyone here has suggested….HD screens, ribbons panels, up to date out of town scores…color video everywhere……I have one right now that is proposed that would absolutely blow everybody away in pro sports…..but these types of systems do not come cheap…..thats why I said in an earlier post, that most clubs that get new scoreboards either get a new ballpark or a city or county is required to make some upgrades…that is not the case here…….in our situation, the money has to come out of the owner’s pocket.

We go to other ballparks…..we know what we need to do……may not happen all at once, but we will get something that I think all of you will be very happy with and will improve your trip to the ballpark. I hope y’all know that this something that is very important to me…..

On where the ballpark is….Dallas had a chance in the early 1990’s…..there were 2 different groups pushing for a Farmer’s Market location or a Loop 12/I-30 location…..but in the end Arlington came up with the best deal for ownership at the time….I am sure that somewhere down the road, Dallas will get another chance…..but who knows how things will change in the next 15 years in the sports world….but it will probably again be who gives ownership the best deal for the location.

By the way, speaking of scoreboards….those of you expecting to see replays in the ballpark of a play being reviewed by the umpiring crew…..We still have to operate under the rules that at no time can we show a replay of any close play on the ballpark video boards….so, you have the possibility of a play being overturned by the umpires that our fans in the ballpark will not get to see….

As always, feel free to send me an email or call me at any time.

I appreciate all of you and your support of Texas Rangers Baseball.

Chuck Morgan

DJ,

We want people to come to the ballparks to watch the games, but if Josh Hamilton makes a great catch, there is a possibility that we might not be able to show it, if it was a close play. And what is amazing, most of the time the umpire made the right call.
We showed a play recently that I felt like #1 was a play our fans should get to see, #2 was not a close play. I was turned into the league for showing a close play on the video board…ended up in my favor, but my opinion of what a close play is and what the umpire’s opinion of a close play are different.
As sports fans today, we are use to seeing replays…..I just wish we could show more replays, especially if a guy makes a great play.

Thanks

Chuck