It's batter up for first time in the Alamodome

The final note from rapper Lil Jon's performance had scarcely finished echoing through the Alamodome girders late Saturday night when work crews spilled onto the arena floor.

For the first time in the facility's history, Major League Baseball was coming, and time was short.

There was dirt and thick rolls of AstroTurf to put down, long stretches of portable fencing to erect, netting and foul lines to hang from ceiling trusses, hundreds of pads to install on walls and railings.

“This is one of those things that at the end of the day, we're going to be the smartest guys in the room or we're going to be the idiots that tried it,” J.J. Gottsch, executive vice president of Ryan Sanders Baseball, said recently.

That determination will come Friday night and Saturday afternoon when the company, co-owned by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, brings the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres into the Alamodome for what has been billed “Big League Weekend.”

The Alamodome, made specifically for football, has been undergoing a temporary facelift with MLB coming to town this week. The Alamodome, made specifically for football, has been undergoing a temporary facelift with MLB coming to town this week. Photo: Tom Reel / San Antonio Express-News Photo: Tom Reel / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 59 Caption Close It's batter up for first time in the Alamodome 1 / 59 Back to Gallery

The two-game exhibition series will be shoe-horned into a facility constructed specifically for football.

With home plate tucked into the northeast corner of the Alamodome, the right-field fence, 16 feet high, will loom only 285 feet away. From that short porch, however, the wall angles quickly toward a deep center-field point more than 400 feet from the hitter.

“Only 285 feet? I'm going to go straight pull, then,” Rangers outfielder David Murphy, a left-handed batter, said last month. “I'm going to get on the plate and yank everything.”

Like Murphy, most players seem more intrigued than concerned about the unusual setup inside the dome. Rangers designated hitter Lance Berkman likened the cozy configuration to Pesky's Pole, the right-field foul pole 302 feet deep at Boston's Fenway Park, and the 314-foot, right-field porch at Yankee Stadium.

“Heck, if we played a full season there, then it might be a concern,” said the New Braunfels Canyon High product, a former Houston Astros star in his first season with Texas.

For Alamodome crews and the companies hired to construct the ballpark, all of it was unprecedented.

The five-day job, which won't be fully completed until sometime Thursday, is being fully financed by Ryan Sanders Baseball. Ryan, now president of the Rangers, sees the investment as an opportunity to tap into a fertile South Texas baseball market.

After this year's games, there is the possibility of two additional two-year extensions to the deal with the city.

“We feel like coming to San Antonio, giving fans the opportunity to see us here on their home turf, is a real plus for us,” Ryan said.

He's putting his money — and muscular reputation — behind it. While Ryan Sanders officials won't put a number on it, a source close to the event said putting it all together will cost the group about $2 million. More than $1 million of that will go toward the installation of the ballfield itself.

“Ryan Sanders Baseball is taking all the risk here,” Gottsch said of the company, which also owns and operates the Round Rock Express and Corpus Christi Hooks minor-league franchises.

Additionally, as its rental fee, the organization is covering all expenses for the Alamodome over both days. The company will keep profits from concessions, parking and most ticket sales, with the city getting progressive bonuses if certain attendance markers are hit.

Crews began work just after midnight Saturday to dismantle the bleachers, concert stage and playing surface from the Talons' earlier Arena Football League contest.

Beginning Sunday midday, a 133,000-square-foot field of AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D52 Diamond was gradually installed.

In total, about four dump trucks full of dirt were used.

Sand and crumb-rubber pellets are being scattered into the turf, in various densities throughout the ballpark, to provide more solid traction and protection for players.

In the outfield, Sportsfield Specialties project manager Nate Rockefeller said 450 feet of portable, custom-made fencing has been put up, with posts supporting it all inserted into 75-pound plates that rest under the grass.

Additionally, hanging from 100-foot cables suspended from the ceiling, 30-foot-high nets will be draped in front of the stands — seats are located unusually close to the field — from the third-base bag all the way around to the right-field wall. Nearly 300 squares of padding, from 4 feet to 7 feet wide, will be installed throughout the playing area.

“They've got multimillion-dollar players in there, so they're padding every inch of it,” Rockefeller said.

By Wednesday, Reid Ryan, Nolan's son and an executive with Ryan Sanders Baseball, surveyed a mostly completed ballpark.

“Today is kind of the quiet before the storm,” he said. “And the storm is getting ready to come.”

roliver@express-news.net

Twitter: @RichardCOliver