I’m not going to do too much on this because my company is already covering it, but the Texas Rangers announced last week that they’re selling the naming rights to their stadium. Called The Ballpark in Arlington for the past ten years, the park will henceforth be known as Ameriquest Field in Arlington.
Now the “Spider-man” deal was bad enough, but this may be even worse. Because the Ballpark in Arlington has played host to SO MUCH baseball history over the years- from all those first-round playoff losses to the Yankees, to the historic filming of Rafeal Palmeiro’s Viagra commercials, to the Rangers’ three straight last-place finishes that followed their signing of the best player in the game. Call The Ballpark “The House That Dubya Built,” as it was built with public funds during Our Fearless Leader’s time as Rangers owner; also let it be known as the first Bush II business venture that didn’t go belly up (and some would also call it the last).
Almost enough to make you lose your faith in the integrity of the game- but at least, unlike Houston’s park, The Ballpark was never known as Enron Field.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 13, 2004 06:34 PM