100 Things Rangers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (100 Things Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die) - Softcover

Burson, Rusty

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1600786421 ISBN 13: 9781600786426

Verlag: Triumph Books, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Being a Rangers fan is about more than watching the team win the big game, and this book helps fans get the most out of it. Taking 40 years of Rangers history, the book distills it to the absolute best and most compelling moments, identifying the personalities, events, and facts every Rangers fan should know without hesitation. Numbers with huge import, such as 8, 34, and 1972; nicknames such as Pudge, Juan Gone, and Ryan Express; plus memorable moments, singular achievements, and signature calls all highlight the list. Experiences are another important part of the fabric of being a fan, so the book also includes things Rangers fans should actually see and do before they join Billy Martin and others at the Pearly Gates. From having a brew at the best Rangers bars in Texas to discovering the boyhood home of Nolan Ryan and finding the best food at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, this book contains numerous tips and suggestions for enjoying all aspects of Rangers fandom.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Rusty Burson is a former newspaper reporter and feature writer and is the current associate editor of 12th Man Magazine as well as the senior development officer for the 12th Man Foundation at Texas A&M University. He is the author of What It Means to Be an Aggie. He lives in College Station, Texas.

Rusty Burson is a former newspaper reporter and feature writer and is the current associate editor of 12th Man Magazine as well as the senior development officer for the 12th Man Foundation at Texas A&M University. He is the author of What It Means to Be an Aggie. He lives in College Station, Texas.

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100 Things Rangers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

By Rusty Burson

Triumph Books

Copyright © 2012 Rusty Burson
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60078-642-6

CHAPTER 1

Salute Tom Vandergriff Whenever Possible

Any list that documents, celebrates, or otherwise pays homage to the history of the Texas Rangers would be woefully incomplete and erroneously deficient without Tommy Joe Vandergriff's name on top of it.

The Rangers would have never relocated from Washington, D.C., and settled in Arlington without Vandergriff's tireless efforts. For that matter, Arlington wouldn't be Arlington — at least not as it is known today — without the leadership and vision of Vandergriff, who died December 30, 2010, at the age of 84.

Vandergriff not only brought big-time baseball to North Texas; he also played major roles in attracting Six Flags Over Texas and a General Motors assembly plant to the city, where he served as mayor for 26 years. His name is synonymous with Arlington's development as a major sports market and with its expansion as one of the 50 most populous cities in the country.

So, younger Rangers fans — and those who boarded the bandwagon following the 2010 and '11 runs to the World Series — could conceivably consider purchasing a vehicle from one of the five Vandergriff automotive dealerships in Arlington as a tribute to the late city ambassador.

Not a bad idea, but, quite frankly, that's probably not necessary. Simply saluting his statue in Vandergriff Plaza at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is probably sufficient. After all, the Arlington dealerships that bear the family's name are now operated under the umbrella of the largest privately owned automobile-dealer company in the country. Besides, Tom Vandergriff never really possessed a great deal of passion for selling cars.

It was Tom's grandfather, a blacksmith named J.T. Vandergriff, who first entered the auto industry in 1912 by repairing "horseless carriages." And it was Tom's father, W.T. (Hooker) Vandergriff, who first opened his Chevrolet dealership on the corner of Division and Center Streets in Arlington in 1937 and later added a Buick dealership in town.

Dutifully, Tom Vandergriff returned to Arlington after earning his bachelor's degree at the University of Southern California in 1947 and working in radio in Chicago and Southern California. He briefly worked in his father's dealerships in the late 1940s. But automotive sales never drove Tom. He had bigger visions in mind.

In 1950, for example, he received a tip that General Motors was looking to build a new assembly plant in the middle of the country. But he didn't think GM would take a phone call from the 24-year-old president of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. He then decided to run for mayor in 1951 ... and won. At the time of his election, Arlington had a population of less than 8,000, but a record number of voters (999) cast their ballots for Vandergriff.

Shortly thereafter, General Motors took a phone call from Mayor Vandergriff. He then secured an agreement for the state to build a road, now State Highway 360, to lead to the new assembly plant. The $33 million facility opened in 1953.

Successes like that one, along with the $6 million bond issue he pushed through to form Lake Arlington in 1957, raised Vandergriff's confidence to pursue a personal passion: luring big-league baseball to town.

On October 7, 1959, Arlington voters approved a $9.5 million bond issue to build a stadium, and construction on the original 10,000-seat Turnpike Stadium began in September 1964. But the major league vision was still a long way from coming to fruition. Numerous roadblocks were constantly thrown in Vandergriff's path in the 13 years he actively pursued a team.

Vandergriff was once tossed from a cab because the driver in Washington, D.C., learned who he was and that he intended to meet with Senators majority owner Bob Short to discuss relocation to Texas. Judge Roy Hofheinz, owner of the Houston Astros, also attempted to block the move of a second team to Texas. Even President Richard Nixon once tried to stop the move.

While Vandergriff visited with Short in Washington, D.C., Nixon allegedly sent his son-in-law to Short's offices to encourage the Senators' owner to stay in the nation's capital. During the brief meeting between Short and Nixon's son-in-law, Vandergriff hid in an office closet.

Persistence paid off when, on September 20, 1971, Short received approval from American League owners to move the franchise from Washington, D.C., to Arlington for the 1972 season.

"Simply put, he may have been the greatest man I've ever known," former Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jim Reeves wrote on ESPNDallas.com on the day Vandergriff died. "Without Vandergriff, it's hard to conceive what Arlington would be today. There would no General Motors or Six Flags. The Texas Rangers would never have left the nation's capital for a little-known 'hyphen' between Dallas and Fort Worth. And without the Rangers, it's pretty safe to say that the Dallas Cowboys wouldn't have given the city a second glance. Vandergriff made it all happen, sometimes seemingly almost single-handedly.

"He lived long enough to see his beloved Rangers clinch a World Series berth against the hated New York Yankees, and those who saw him there — he watched every home game of the ALDS and American League Championship Series from the city of Arlington's suite at The Ballpark — say the smile never left his face."

Fittingly, the Rangers presented the first American League championship rings in franchise history to the Vandergriff family on March 31, 2011, at the welcome home luncheon — two days before the Texas players, coaches, and support staff received their rings. The Rangers also honored Vandergriff throughout the 2011 season with his picture prominently displayed on the outfield wall in left field.

CHAPTER 2

Bringing Nolan Ryan (the Player) to Arlington

In American history, December 7 is a day that will live in infamy. In Texas Rangers history, it's commemorated far more joyfully.

Exactly 47 years after the Japanese sent shockwaves around the globe by bombing Pearl Harbor — the event that triggered the United States' official involvement in World War II — the Rangers dropped a bombshell of their own in an effort to finally join the World Series foray. On December 7, 1988, the Rangers announced the free-agent signing of pitcher and native Texan Nolan Ryan. The headlines from that announcement didn't jolt the globe, but they rocked the baseball world.

Because of the continuing impact Ryan has had on the organization as a player, fan attraction, president, and CEO, that December day in '88 could be considered the most momentous in Rangers history.

"Huge," said Tom Grieve, the Rangers' general manager when Ryan signed with Texas. "Nolan brought credibility to our franchise. With Nolan Ryan in a Rangers uniform, the Rangers had arrived as a respected major league franchise. It boosted our exposure in Texas and across the country. The five years he spent as a player for us were invaluable."

While Ryan may have been the most important personnel acquisition in Rangers history, the signing of the strikeout king came as at least somewhat of a surprise nationally because no one initially expected him to leave the Houston Astros, where he'd spent nine exceptional years and was particularly close to his family's hometown in Alvin.

But in what was probably the most regrettable decision in his career as the owner of the Astros, the late John McMullen...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Triumph Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1600786421
• ISBN 13: 9781600786426
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 352
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar