Sports- Texas Rangers World Series Champions

November 3, 2023- Friday

I started following the Texas Rangers closely in 1973.  Yes, 50 years ago.  I was fresh out of high school and a close friend invited me to Dallas for a weekend.  I wanted to come because I wanted to see the Oakland A’s play.  I had never been to a Major League Baseball game and I had been a fan of the A’s for quite some time.  Those were the days of Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Joe Rudi.  Those guys had championships in their past and I was a fan.  

The Rangers were losers.  They came from Washington D.C. as the Senators in 1972 and they came to Texas with a history of losing.  

As the game wore on that August night, the Rangers were fighting to stay alive.  The fans, what few of them were there, were really excited as the game went into the bottom of the ninth inning.  I was starting to get caught up in the excitement of a losing team.  The game was tied and the Rangers had a man on base.  The batter for the Rangers hit a hard line drive to left field.  Joe Rudi for the A’s was in hot pursuit.  Joe Rudi layer out parallel to the ground for the line drive.  Joe Rudi missed the ball.  The ball flew past him all the way to the fence in left field.  The Ranger on base scored.  The Rangers won the game.  The Rangers had a new fan.  

I’ve been to many Ranger games over the past 50 years.  I was in the stadium the night Richard Nixon resigned from office and many in the crowd had brought their transistor radios to listen to his resignation speech.  I brought my radio.  There were so many radios in the stands that night, you didn’t need a radio to hear the speech.  That’s all that could be heard in the stadium.  

I was there the night Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox lost his mind and decided to charge the mound after being hit by a pitch by Nolan Ryan.  Ventura ended up getting hit by more than a baseball.  

I have listen to many games on the radio before games were so plentiful on television.  During spring breaks in college and in the summers, I would go to visit my grandparents and my grandfather and I would listen to the Rangers in the evenings.  Grandpa’s favorite was Gaylord Perry.  Grandpa called him MyLord Perry primarily because of the rumored spitball Perry could have possibly been throwing. 

My wife and I have even traveled to see the Rangers play in Houston, Seattle, and Los Angeles.  

We watched them lose two World Series.

We have also now watched them win their first World Series.  I certainly hope it’s not their last World Series but if it’s the last one in my lifetime, I’ll rest a little easier.