Seat Selector

Want to see what it looks like from any section in the ballpark? This is the page for you. This feature has been on my site since mid 1999, it’s one of the more unique features I’ve done for this site.  Over the years the pictures have been updated a few times, as digital cameras have improved, and enough changes have taken place at the ballpark.  The latest update of this page was done on April 2016.

You can click on any section in the layout below, and you’ll see a picture of what’s it looks like. For the most part, the pictures were taken in the middle of the specific section – I tried to get an “average” photo. Your precise view will change slightly depending on what row you happen to be in – this is more prevalent in the upper deck, as the upper deck photos were generally taken on Row 7-10 or so (and the highest row is 23).

A technical note: This feature requires that Javascript be turned on in your browser. If you don’t know what that is, it likely is turned on, because it has to be manually turned off in your browser.   Additionally, it doesn’t seem to work from tablets or phones.  You need to use this from a real web browser on a computer/laptop.

Enjoy, and if you like this feature, or find it useful, please let me know via the comments below.  Or you can send me an email.  Thanks!

Some history and background

Back in 1999, I was looking around the Dallas Stars site and saw that they had a feature where you could click on the seating chart and it would show you what the ice looked like from that section. I thought it was a cool feature, so I looked at the Texas Rangers site, figuring they’d have it (at the time, they were both run by the same Internet firm). The Rangers didn’t – I was surprised by that, so I wrote a couple of people at the Rangers. I offered my time, my equipment, my work (for free, no less), and was told they weren’t interested. OK, fine, I decided I’d do it myself. On Thursday July 22, 1999 I went to the Ballpark early with a digital camera and took pictures in all the sections. I started in Section 3 (the lowest numbered section), and worked my way around section by section. I’d take a picture, move to the next one, take another picture, etc. This progressed until I circled all four levels of the ballpark. It took me about an hour and a half to visit all the sections and get pictures from all of them (including a few minute break between levels ). It was hard work (especially in 100 degree weather), and I was quite tired at the end of it, but I managed to pull it off. At the time, there was 177 sections in the Ballpark. In 2000 it went to 178 with the addition of the Commissioner’s Box, and then in mid 2004 it went back to 177 when Section 201 was removed to put in the “Ameriquest Bell”.

Since the original publication of this back in 1999, I’ve updated it a few times. I first updated it in January of 2003 with bigger and better quality photos. On September 28, 2002 I took a much better quality digital camera with me to a game, and retook all of the pictures. When I put this newer group of photos online, I created three different sizes of photos geared towards folks who have larger screen resolutions. The original 1999 photos comprise the smaller edition, and the 2003 update comprises the two larger ones. Also over time, I’ve added several “non seating” areas. Things like the visitor’s bullpen, Green’s Hill and several other hidden surprises. You’ll find them all if you hover your mouse around areas of the seating chart below that do not have any seat section on them.

This was updated again in July/August of 2007. The site itself got a major overhaul due to a new version of the blog software used to drive the site. Due to that, I changed the method used to display the images. The images themselves are unchanged since my last overhaul in 2003, but now they’re shown on the same page. The old method had a popup, which meant I had to have a separate page for each version. This new method implemented in the summer of 2007 means I can drop about 600 HTML pages from the site – a nice thing on my end.

In June 2009, I replaced the pictures again, as it had been about six years, but still retained the previous seating image and image map work.

A new update in April 2012 was a complete redo from scratch (several of the previous updates reused bits from older versions).  I retook all the photos on April 9th, and coded the new version on April 10th.   This time also including the underlying seating chart map.  This was mostly necessitated by the total overhaul the Rangers did in Vandergriff Plaza after the 2011 season.

The latest update (April 2016) exists given the changes to the park since the last time I took these pics (Apr 2012).  That includes the revamping of the visitor’s bullpen, the new structure behind Greene’s Hill, as well as the new scoreboard in left field for 2016.

Hopefully this will stick for a few seasons, but if they change enough, I’ll update again as need be.  I’ll be bummed when they go to the new park, as I’ll have to redo this all over again.  I’ll probably always keep this on the site even when they replace the park, given the amount of work I put into it.

UPDATE March 2020: We will be opening a new park this year (sometime – #covid19).  I do NOT intend on removing this and all the pictures.  It will remain once the new version gets up.  I will be doing that one once I can get inside the park and take the pictures, and with the season indefinitely delayed, it’s unknown when I’ll be able to do that.  But I will.