About scoreboards, which have become giant TV screens with amazing clarity, one after the other beckoning your attention with bright colors and gaudy animations, it seems almost an insult to laud the new board at Globe Life Field as informational.
Oh, the 58′ X 150′ foot board hanging over right field has all the bells, whistles – and a little artificially-aided concussive noise following post-homer fireworks – you would imagine for a $3 million price tag.
But it’s also, well, very usable.
And, unlike some other boards in Arlington, it’s designed not to draw attention away from the field, but rather to allow fans to more quickly return to what’s going on down there.
“One thing we really wanted to do was to put everything in one place,” said executive vice president of ballpark entertainment and production Chuck Morgan. “In the old park, you used to have to look in different places around the stadium to find it. Here, it’s all in one glance in the same place.”
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For example: In one glance, in addition to the count and the number of outs, a fan can scan the current defensive alignment, see the pitch speed, the exit velocity and distance of the last ball in play. Good thing it takes pitchers more time than ever between pitches.
The Rangers had pitch velocity on a board when Globe Life Park opened back in 1994 and it was quite the innovation at the time. It’s just that you had to search to find it. While the main board sat perched atop the home run porch, set farther back from fans than the current board, there was no room for pitch velocity, which also had to be entered manually after every pitch. It was displayed on a small ribbon board in left field. Exit velocity wasn’t even a figment of imagination.
Now all is possible – and immediate – thanks to manufacturer Daktronics’ ability to integrate MLB’s StatCast system into its database. The scoreboard can do more, too. Spin rates for pitches are sexy these days. The board can display that, along with vertical and horizontal movement, though, for now, Morgan and his staff have decided not to overwhelm fans.
So, too, have even the most basic stats on the board been updated. The static lineup now features a player’s OPS rather than batting average. Batting average is still available when a player’s bio comes up in the center panel, but the OPS is more permanent and prominent.
Also prominent on both players’ and pitchers’ bios: Strikeout and walk percentages. Those were suggestions from the Rangers’ baseball operations staff, because, as Morgan said, it’s one of the ways the Rangers look at the value of players.
“I’m as old school as the next guy,” Morgan said. “You still get the numbers that we were raised on, but the more I’ve looked into it and educated myself, the more I’ve come to understand that maybe batting average doesn’t do the best job of measuring a players performance. Honestly, OPS is almost a classic metric now.
“I find myself fascinated by exit velo,” he added. “We used to see a ball smashed and wonder how hard it was hit. Now, we can present that right away.”
Between each play, the full board turns into a video screen to replay the previous play. All the better to allow fans to express their sentiment over close plays. And, of course, between innings, it becomes a sponsorship engine.
Even the home run fireworks, which launch from the area of the board, are updated. The Rangers were able to get a different product, something that dissipates a little more quickly and is more friendly for indoor arenas. The pyrotechnics crew loads the eight fireworks salvos based on whether the roof will be opened or closed that night. Open: The fireworks feature a more vertical, um, launch angle. Closed: It’s more horizontal.
And, just in case, the concussion sound has been, shall we say, enhanced.
“Hopefully, visiting pitchers not only hear them, but feel some of it, too,” Morgan said.
An interactive look at Globe Life Field’s scoreboard
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May 15, 2021 at 12:33AM
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The more fans know: An interactive look at the Rangers' info-filled scoreboard at Globe Life Field - The Dallas Morning News
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