Texas Rangers

It is real cool that the Rangers have made the World Series. I am willing to admit that my level of fandom with the Rangers is not even close to my emotional commitment with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, but I have followed the Rangers since July 29, 1989.

That date sticks out in my mind quite clearly. I grew up being an Atlanta Braves fan. We I first started paying attention to Major League Baseball, my father was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Ted Turner was just start to broadcast the games state wide on Superstation 17, the precursor to TBS that we know on cable/satellite. We moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and the family continued to follow the Braves on Cable. I continued to track the Braves in the Stars and Stripes when we moved to Heidelberg Germany.

So when I went to Tech, I had no affiliation with the Rangers, so I continued to follow the Braves. However, being a broke graduate student, I dropped cable in the summer of 1989. I still wanted to follow baseball and the Rangers were the local team. So on July 29, 1989 I decided that the Rangers were now my baseball team.

I remember lying in bed listening to Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel announcing the Harold Baines trade that night. It is perceived to be the worst trade in Rangers baseball history today. Of course, this is right before the Braves made their big run in the 90s. I switched my allegiance at the worst possible time.

I have probably been to about a 100 Ranger games over the years since I moved to DFW. I made it to the first playoff game in 1996 and the first playoff game this year. Back in the day in old Arlington Stadium, you could get in the outfield seats for $2 on Tom Thumb half price night. That is when I saw most of my games. I even saw Nolan Ryan pitch from those seats.

There are far more passionate Ranger fans they have sufferer much more than I have. I am also happy the Rangers made it!