I grew up in Cowtown; Fort Worth, TX. My parents made the decision to stay there because of the opportunities for my siblings and I had to expand our knowledge through great magnet schools, a lot of "culture" there, and a reasonable closeness to both my parent's families (they really wanted to live in the country). There was also an opportunity for me in another way...professional sports.
My Dad was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you view it) to work for Texas American Bank through the Great Texas Bank Crash of the late 80's. One of the things that the bank foreclosed on before the great crash was a box at the old Arlington Stadium where the Texas Rangers played. There were times when customers would come into town and the bank would take them to a ballgame and I was able to tag along at times. This was my introduction to Major League Baseball.
SO many fond memories were formed when my Dad and I would go to those games. He and his co-workers introduced me to the tasty goodness and fun of cleaning chilled shrimp at the pre-game buffet. I was able to sit behind the Rangers dugout and get (notice, I didn't say catch) my first MLB foul ball when one of Dad's co-workers caught it and gave it to me (hey, I was probably around 6-8 at the time). The box seats provided some relief from the oppressive summer heat and a location so that a foul ball could land in the box. At that time, it wasn't about the intricacies of the game, keeping stats, or hand scoring a game. It was spending time with my Dad and watching these men slam (Juan Gonzales anyone) a ball out of the park with the wide eyes of a young boy. Then there was the game we went to for my birthday (not in the box seats but purchased in the outfield), the Rangers had the lead going into the top of the 9th, and thunderstorms started to roll in from the west. Nolan Ryan came in to close the game on 9 straight pitches, all strkies, and all his fastballs were over 95 MPH.
After the failure of Texas American Bank and my Dad's subsequent layoff, he and I would get the cheap outfield bleachers seats, walk into the stadium for batting practice, and listen to the theme of the Greatest American Hero play over the loudspeakers. And how could I forget all the racket we would make banging our feet on those old aluminum bleachers. As I started to get older, I began to understand the intricacies of deciding what pitch needs to be presented to the batter, shading the outfield to left or right field because of how a batter hits, and what a 6-4-3 double play is. Both he and I would take our gloves to the game in hopes of catching a home run or a ball tossed into the bleachers after the inning throw-around was done. We were jubilant when the Rangers won and sighed when they lost. Which happened a lot.
Then there were the times we didn't get to go to Arlington Stadium but would listen to the games on WBAP 820 with Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel making the calls. It could be sitting on the back porch after Dad had finished mowing the lawn on a rare pleasant summer evening in the Metromess. Countless times were spent driving to grandparents in the late summer afternoon and evenings passing the time listening to the Rangers play. And how can I forget spending August 22, 1989 on vacation in Pagosa Springs, CO, driving back to where we were staying, and managing to catch the right atmospherics to hear WBAP as Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson for his 5,000 career strikeout only to have the signal fade immediately after the strikeout was made and Holtz shouted "He did it! Strikeout number 5,000!".
But the Rangers languished in mediocrity (Thanks, R.E.). Lineups changed, Bobby V. was always the coach, and there rarely was a season where the Rangers were in contention for anything other than a sub-average year. Then came the mid/late 90s. The Ballpark in Arlington (as I will always remember it) was built and the Dollar Decker Hot Dog nights continued. The All-Star Game came and went. And the Rangers started to win. Gone were Steve Buchele, Rubén Sierra, and Pete Incaviglia. A new crop of players came in; Mickey Tettleton, Pudge Rodriguez (although he had been there a while before), Will Clark, and my personal favorite of that era - Rusty Greer. New owners were in place and Johnny Oates was the new manager. And the Rangers started to win. Not only win but win the American League West in 3 out of the last 5 years of the last century. And then lose to the evil empire of the NY Yankees. And then it was back to mediocrity once again with a bad owner (whom admitted that he cut corners like he did with the Dallas Stars), a loosey-goosey with his integrity A-dud, and a couple of managers and general managers that couldn't do much.
Why did I share all of that with you? Because I am not a "fair-weather" or "jumping on the bandwagon" or "late arrival to the party" fan. I have been and always will be a Texas Rangers fan. Part of this is due to the fond memories made with my friends and especially with my Dad, but the other part is that I have some pride in stating I suffered through the lean years now that the Rangers may have turned the corner and will move up away from mediocrity. Even if they don't, I won't jump ship to the hottest team or one of the "old vanguards" like the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox. The Rangers this year exemplified what teamwork and heart (The Claw and antlers!) can do when the rest of MLB teams try to buy their way to the top (not that this is bad, but it hampers the weaker/smaller teams a LOT). This team has faced adversity in so many ways and in so many different years, but they manage to pull through it (just look at the history of Josh Hamilton or Ron Washington's issues in the pre-season this year). However, I will also admit that I am a skeptic when it comes to new seasons; too many promises had been made that "this will be the year we go all the way" and then the team falls apart in the last month of play. But they proved me wrong this year and I'm delighted! Not only did they win the American League West, but they did it convincingly and by a BIG margin. And now we are on our way to the
And now here I sit after the series looking back at what has been an amazing year for the Rangers. I would argue that the umpires wanted San Fran to win the series based on some of the wacky strike zones they were calling in the games at the Ballpark in Arlington, but regardless the Rangers were out-pitched and our bats went cold at the wrong time. It is easy to lose sight that we are in fact, the American League Champions for the first time in team history and that isn't anything to forget. We faced down the Rays and yankees and made it through two of the best teams in the AL. I am optimistic that the new ownership will indeed do what it has promised and try to keep the Rangers payroll in the top quarter of MLB in order to attract and keep their best players. It also helps to hear one of the owners state that they will make sure to take care of Josh Hamilton after all he did for the team this year (sorry, I can't find the article on the Star-Telegram webpage). In a short five months, we will find out where the Rangers will go from here.
Thank you to the Texas Rangers for a heckuva ride this year, from a lifelong fan.
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