Whether the game is played by a group of youngsters in a vacant field or by a big league team in their home ballpark, baseball has always been the most popular sport in the United States and one that Americans can take credit for inventing. Today, baseball is international, and the cry of "play ball" never fails to bring enthusiastic crowds to stadiums, school playing fields, and sandlots all over the world.

Major league baseball as fans know it nowadays evolved gradually with its early origins in the 19^th century, specifically around 1869. The modern era of the sport really started at the turn of the 20th century. By 1903, the rules of the game were established, professional baseball leagues had formed, and a system of team scheduling and contracts for players had developed. The World Series competition began around that time as well.

Nevertheless, life in general was very different in the early years of the 20th century than it is now as we anticipate the start of a new millennium. Then, Orville Wright had just made his first air flight. Automobiles had arrived on the American scene but were considered a new-fangled invention that would never replace the horse. Major highways (and road maps) did not exist, and travel was slow and often unpleasant. The "mass media" bringing instantaneous news and entertainment around the world had not yet developed into the international force it is today. For amusement, folks listened to music on wind-up victrolas or went out to the silent movies where black and white were the only colors on the screen. In those "good old days," baseball fans sat outdoors in the bleachers, watched the score on a manually-updated scoreboard, and ate peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jacks. The explosion in high technology that characterizes this century was barely visible at that time, but once underway, it would radically change our society and also dramatically affect how baseball is played, reported, and watched by spectators.

Today, major baseball teams compete in modern arenas built on a scale equal to the ancient coliseums. Spectators can choose their seating locations ranging from luxury boxes to basic benches. They check the hits, runs and outs on an electronically-updated scoreboard, and nibble or dine on Epicurean delights in all ethnic varieties. Moreover, sports fans can listen to a blow-by-blow account of the action on radio without leaving their homes, cars or offices, or they can watch the game on television in an air-conditioned home or restaurant lounge. For those who can’t follow the competition first hand, after-game reporting in the media keeps them up-to-date. And, games at night are a regular feature of the baseball season now that modern, innovative metal halide lighting systems simulate natural daylight conditions.

Yes, baseball has kept pace with society’s love affair with technology, and citizens enthralled with the sport are building more and more elaborate stadiums. In fact, many cities consider their ballparks to be major tourist attractions as well as an essential strategy for revitalizing the central city as a hub of commerce and entertainment. Baseball played in a dazzling new, well-lighted arena is expected to bring people downtown at night where they will rediscover other attractions, generating increased revenues and stimulating new business development.

This was precisely the plan that inspired the developers for the Bank One Ballpark recently completed close to the towering skyscrapers in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. This new arena represents the epitome of the trend toward high technology in stadium design. In fact it has been described as one of the modern wonders of the world, and according to its developers, "incorporates the highest established standards for major league sports arenas and represents state-of-the-art technology in all facets of its operation."

To light up nighttime games, the stadium developers naturally chose metal halide lighting, one of the most innovative and technologically advanced light forms and one that is the closest to natural sunlight. Because this light source produces high levels of illuminance without creating glare and can reproduce colors with great accuracy, metal halide lights are used for most sports lighting today, particularly baseball, a sport that requires a large playing area. The compact size of metal halide lamps allows light to be easily directed where it's needed and also produces more dramatic lighting effects. These characteristics are not only important to provide comfortable, clear viewing for spectators but also to create the right conditions for television broadcasting. In addition, metal halide lamps drastically reduce heat generation and are well suited for both indoor and outdoor applications without being affected by high ambient temperatures. Other forms of lighting all have specific limitations for applications in sports. Incandescent or tungsten halogen lamps provide lower light levels than metal halide, and incandescent lamps are noted for their high heat generation. Fluorescent lamps are not only low brightness light sources but are adversely affected by changes in ambient temperatures. As a result they are normally used for indoor sports. In addition, fluorescents tend to be large and hard to direct so they are usually applied where the lamp can be placed less than 20 ft. from the lighted area. Standard high pressure sodium lamps produce light with an unpleasant yellow cast and are only used where precise color rendering is not important.

The metal halide lamps selected for the Bank One Stadium were supplied by Venture Lighting International, located in Cleveland, Ohio, a metal halide lighting manufacturer recognized internationally as the world leader in advanced metal halide technology. Venture is the only company in the world focused exclusively on metal halide lighting and has introduced 90% of the metal halide lamp types currently used today.

The total cost of building this showcase arena was $354 million, and was partially funded (68%) by a quarter-cent sales tax in Maricopa County and the remainder funded privately (32%) with $111 million from the Arizona Diamondback team owners. The Bank One Ballpark is the home playing field for the Diamondback team that is a member of the National League West.

Ground was broken for the ballpark on November 16, 1995, and construction was completed on March 6, 1998, a span of about 3.5 years. It opened on schedule for the Diamondback team’s first exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox on March 29, 1998. The season home opener took place on March 31, 1998 against the Colorado Rockies.

The location of the ballpark in the downtown Phoenix area was intentionally selected to create a pedestrian/vehicular gateway to the city of Phoenix in conjunction with the much smaller size America West arena that offers concerts and other cultural events and is home to professional basketball and hockey teams. A seven-level garage provides ample parking within a 15 minute walk, and Venture’s metal halide lamps light the concourse walkways to the stadium. The structure encompasses approximately 1,300,000 square feet, including the playing field, and has seating for 48,000 ticket holders. Seats are configured so that each visitor sitting beyond the dugouts is angled toward the diamond. This feature coupled with the individual angle of each seat (11° ) provides every fan with the best possible view of the action on the field.

The Bank One Ballpark is designed especially for sports enthusiasts with museums, shops and restaurants on the main and upper concourses. It includes 10 zones arranged around the main concourse, each zone funded by a corporate sponsor. The different zones depict a timeline of baseball themes, and the exhibits include audio and video displays. Organized tours of the concourse exhibits are conducted at scheduled times daily. For fans who prefer the outdoors, the stadium offers a picnic area with tiered seating, capacity 600, in front of centerfield. A pool and party pavilion are located near home plate in right field.

One of the most unique architectural features of the ballpark design is the retractable dome roof that makes the facility usable year round in spite of the hot desert climate. This roof, when fully closed, allows the stadium to be air conditioned, and also permits other events to take place there, such as concerts, motored events, and trade shows. Each side of the dome can move independently of the other, and it closes completely in 4-5 minutes. The six large, movable panels, when fully open, create approximately 5.5 acres of open sky. The dome was designed to open at various positions so that the right amount of sunlight hits the natural, specially-developed Zoysia grass turf of the playing field without heating the concrete and metal. The roof is closed four hours before game time to allow air conditioning to cool down the stadium in summer when the temperature in Phoenix can reach a scorching 100 degrees. At night the dome is opened to allow the daytime heat to dispel.

The high technology lighting for night games is created using more than 850 1500 watt metal halide sports lamps from Venture. Bank One Ballpark developers selected Venture’s Sport 60 line MS 1500W/H/SP60 lamps on the playing field and the Venture® Instant Restart MH 1500W/HBU/IS lamps along the concourse to light the way for fans. The Sport 60^TM 1500 watt metal halide lamp has been designed to operate more efficiently over an entire range of horizontal burning positions up to ±60 degrees. The higher lumen output of these lamps allowed the Bank One Ballpark to be designed more cost effectively with fewer fixtures needed to achieve the high design light levels baseball requires. Venture’s Instant Restart metal halide lamps include a special high voltage ignitor that operates as an add-on to a standard ballast so that the lamps restart instantaneously in a hot mode after any power interruption.

Hubbell Lighting Inc., Christiansburg, VA, specialists in sports lighting solutions, supplied the luminaires for Venture’s lamps. For the Sport 60 lamps, Hubbell specified the SLS series 1500H-128-PH3C6HO, and for the Instant Restrike lamps, they supplied the ballpark with their SLH-1500H-125HR luminaires. Hubbell’s SL system of luminaires is designed specifically for metal halide lamps, and its unique design provides spill light and glare control for the stadium. These fixtures, along with the high output and efficiency of Venture’s metal halide lamps, result in lower installation, maintenance and energy costs for the Bank One Ballpark. Moreover, the SL fixture ballast housing is rated to operate effectively in 100° F ambient temperatures, making these fixtures ideally suited to Phoenix baseball weather.

With the addition of this uniquely-designed ballpark to the many other attractions the city offers, downtown Phoenix is bound to remain a center of business, entertainment, and culture for its growing population. And, metal halide lighting from Venture makes it safe and attractive as well. The Bank One Ballpark is well worth seeing. So next time you are in Phoenix, be sure to stop by.