McCollum's Column: Rangers’ history characterized by nachos and frustration
Several friends in Texas are still pinching themselves that the Rangers are in the World Series.
When the franchise first transformed from the Washington Senators and moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth Area, it was most known and loved for its concessions.
At the old Turnpike Stadium, home of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs of the Texas League, officials deviated from the familiar hot dog and popcorn fare and began serving nachos. The Rangers may not have invented nachos as a staple of the concession stand, but they certainly popularized the snack at ballgames.
No kidding, people actually went to Texas Rangers games to eat nachos. When nachos and a beverage or two were consumed, they usually left the game because what was on the field wasn’t usually worth watching by then.
Often, the lines to the concession stands to get the nachos were long.
“Doesn’t matter,” one friend, living in the Dallas area at the time, once told me during a night at Turnpike Stadium. “Thinking about those nachos is better than thinking about the game.”
For most of the history, the Texas Rangers franchise gave its fans more indigestion than the nachos.
The Rangers began as the second-generation Washington Senators, which in the modern baseball era were known by the phrase, “Washington. First in war, first in peace and last in the American League.” Those Senators, icons of futility, moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The baseball hierarchy, thinking that the nation’s capital should never be without a Major League team, created the new Senators as an expansion team and they became the new symbols of futility, averaging 90 losses a season.
The franchise was moved to the rapidly developing Dallas Metroplex, hungry for a Major League franchise for years, at the end for the 1972 season. Those trying to bring Major League Baseball to Dallas made sure the old Turnpike Stadium in Arlington was built to MLB specifications.
The Rangers became more famous for their owners and managers than their teams, which made only three postseason appearances before this season, winning only one game.
Among the managers, who directed so-so to awful teams, were Ted Williams, Whitey Herzog and Billy Martin. George W. Bush was part-owner — becoming infamous by trading Sammy Sosa — was part-owner until he became governor of Texas, a political path that eventually led to the Presidency.
But futility continued. Less than a year ago, they were facing bankruptcy.
Texas legend and former Major League pitching great Nolan Ryan headed a group that outbid Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for the team. The Rangers acquired pitcher Cliff Lee, manager Ron Washington changed the mindset, and Texas is in the World Series.
Rangers vs. Giants is not the dream Series for television.
But it’s an interesting matchup because it is so different — a World Series with teams that have roots in historic baseball franchises (Washington Senators and New York Giants) but with little hardware to show for it. The Giants have not won the World Series since 1954, when the Series’ icon moment was Willie Mays robbing the Indians Vic Wertz in what is considered one of the greatest catches in history.
The Series has a special appeal in Arkansas because of Lee, who not that long ago was pitching for Benton High School, then the Razorbacks and whose biggest regret right now is the Series could run into the start of deer season.
But he represents the transformation. These Rangers are delicious on their merits and “nacho” old-school symbol of futility.
(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net)
