FanPost

The Ballpark in Arlington/Ameriquest Field/Rangers Ballpark/Globe Life Park and…Houston

Only because Ashley requested. I’ve only made a couple of posts here over many years of following. But here goes…

As a DFW Cubs’ Fan, I’ve been to every single Cubs’ game in Arlington. A Cubs fan from birth, my friends always asked what I would do if the Rangers ever played the Cubs (which could only be a World Series at that time). I always said it would never happen anyway. Spring of 1995, an exhibition game was set. Cubs versus Rangers. Strike was still in place and the exhibition was still played in anticipation of the season beginning with the Replacement Players. I paid for my ticket anyway. It was a once in a lifetime situation even though I was a paying money to see the "scabs". The Cubs in their 90’s "Cuba" Road Grays played the Rangers Jerseys in a still brand new Ballpark in Arlington. As a High School kid at the time that only loved Cubs and baseball, I enjoyed the sunny, warm day as an opportunity to experience what I could only dream of prior. No idea who won. Didn’t matter. It was shirts versus shirts and the strike finally ended a few weeks later.

My grandfather followed Ernie in the Dallas days. There was no team here back then, so he followed the Cubs. My father was in college during the ’69 run and became a huge fan. That was passed to me and my first baseball game was in ’83 in Wrigley. We took a family road trip to the Astrodome every year to see the Cubs. ’84 & WGN sealed it along with a room full of baseball cards that were supposed to make me rich forever. In 2007 the Cubs came to Arlington for real for the first time ever. I bought tickets to all three. I took my parents to Game 2 and inadvertently saw Sosa hit HR #600. I’m in the blurry picture on the front page of the Dallas Morning News as we were sitting just behind 3rd base Dugout.

In 2010, the Cubs returned and I took my newborn child for his first game. It was "Fireworks" night and I remember holding his ears closed as he wore his Cubs onesie.

This year came my first Opening Day of any sort. It has never been worth the money, especially here as it is one of a very few sell outs in Arlington, but it was the Cubs.

I feel like the Cubs lost every game I ever went to in Houston (although I know that’s not true – I’ve been to 25 + over the two stadiums). I went to college in East Texas and it was only a couple of hours to Houston so I would go to one game every series, even if it was a school night. This is the mid to late 90s, so the Astros were pretty good. I was in almost full Cubs Uniform and full excitement one night sitting just behind first base. It was Umbrella give away night. I thought the Cubs would finally pull one out and the Astros scored a run in the bottom of the 9th to tie it. In the last inning (no idea if it was 10th or 11th, but felt like the 17th with my emotions) the Astros had a man on 3rd and were surely going to win. Every Astros fan on their feet. A ball was hit straight to pitcher Terry Mulholland. The Astros fans gasped and started to sit. I stood and screamed in joy. Then Mulholland threw it 10 feet over Mark Grace’s glove and the game was over with a walk off error. I then fell to my seat while the Astros fans from all around me started patting my head. Those that couldn’t reach me used their brand new umbrellas. A lone Cubs fan in a sea of Astro-ecstasy.

Due to my string of bad luck, I bought tickets to all 3 games of the final series of ’98 in the Astrodome, thinking surely I could finally see a win in one of them. This is long before I knew there would be a Home Run chase or that the Cubs would possibly make the playoffs. I finally witnessed a win on the Saturday. They stopped the game every time Mark McGwire came to the plate (wherever the Cardinals were playing) and showed it on their video board. That was surreal. All of the Astros fans cheered Sosa when he came to the plate even though it was getting remote that he would catch him. By Sunday, if the Cubs won, they were in. If they lost and SF lost there was a one game playoff. The Astros won. Game over and every Astros fan left the Astrodome quickly. I did not leave and I looked around the stadium and found no other Cub fan left either. We all sat in our seats and watched the Outfield Wall Scoreboard until the end of the Giants game. No smart phones, no video board. A manually operated scoreboard in an outfield wall was how we would find out if we would play another game that year. Giants lost 10 or 15 mins later. Every remaining person in the stadium stood to leave in joy. On the concourse every fan shook hands with every other Cub fan on the way out. One More Day! Still Alive! No Astro fan in sight. I walked out on cloud nine even though we lost. Everyone else did the same. It was truly a special Cub moment for me and the first time I felt like I was part of a community of fans instead of a weird fan a long way from where they call home.

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