In case you didn't know, back around 1990 the City of Dallas was actively bidding to lure the Texas Rangers Ball Club to move from Arlington to a proposed new ballpark location in downtown Dallas.
Confirmation of this came years later from a Dallas official during a bus tour of urban Dallas redevelopment. He pointed out the site that Dallas had purchased during its bid attempt, near the Farmer's Market, to me and the entire bus full of Arlington officials.
(We have since more than paid 'em back. And, that official, who later interviewed with us for the Arlington City Manager position...well, he didn't get the job.)
When news got out, the threat of losing the team spurred a massive effort to build a new ballpark to keep the Rangers in Arlington. A campaign to help finance the new ballpark was commenced. The election was hughly successful with more than 65% of voters in favor. I had the honor of being a co-chair of the Home Run Arlington campaign committee.
During and after the campaign, I had the opportunity to receive some very important personal momentos of that historic event. I would like to share my photos of these priceless treasures with you.
The first is a personalized bat given to all those involved in the campaign to commemorate the Ballpark Groundbreaking on October 30, 1991. On April 1, 1994, I had my bat USPS cancelled at Rangers Station, the day of the first game in the new ballpark. And, yes, that is Nolan Ryan's signature. I am certain that there is no other bat like it.
The next is the campaign yard sign. Again, there is no other like it. On the evening we celebrated 
the campaign victory, I had all those who were on the committee and the team owners to sign my yard sign. There are many notable, outstanding signatures. But, two certainly deserve mentioning - Nolan Ryan, later to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and George W. Bush, later to become Govenor of Texas, and President of the United States. What a treasure this sign is to me.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these items and reading this brief account of a turning point in Arlington's history.
If you are interested, I have a momento of this event - the Home Run Arlington campaign brochure - available in my eBay store. It is a really nice, four-color depiction of everything going on at the time. And, it includes many photos, including two full-color ones of Nolan Ryan. It is the second image pictured above.
If you plan to visit the Ballpark, check out my Everything - Texas Rangers page for lots of useful links, plans, maps and information. And, this page, Everything - Entertainment District, for all the fun places around the Ballpark.
R. Steve McCollum, Arlington Texas Attractions.com
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