Don’t mess with Texas. Dare I say it, will the Rangers’ repeat run to the World Series allow them to overtake the Dallas Cowboys in popularity in the Dallas-Forth Worth area?
Um, probably not for long in a football-crazy state, but maybe for the short term.
The Rangers having continued success is something so new in Texas (except for those original Rangers who packed six-guns and wore glittering stars on their chests) the fan base probably doesn’t know quite how to digest this. Back-to-back World Series appearances classify as something special. Now imagine how warmly embraced those guys will be if they actually take the Series. Their parade can run from Dallas to Fort Worth in the form of a wagon train.
As the post-season goes on, the Rangers are displaying more and more muscle. Finishing off the Detroit Tigers Saturday with a 15-5 wipeout confirms that. In six games, outfielder Nelson Cruz set records with six home runs and 13 RBIs. Before the playoffs, Cruz might not have been famous outside of the Lone Star State and fantasy baseball, but his reputation is spreading like a forest fire now.
I have been to a handful of games in the Rangers’ home stadium, even an opening day once, but I never sensed the enthusiasm I see gathering for this team. When the fans cheered it always felt like a transitory response, or a one-day affair if the Rangers won. To some extent, of course, all fans are frontrunners. But sustained success builds upon itself. Likewise, sustained mediocrity tends to erode the fans’ passion.
Sustained mediocrity, oh, I don’t know, as in the recent so-so history of the Dallas football Cowboys. Owner Jerry Jones built a fabulous palace to house the so-called “America’s Team,” but you’ve got to wonder if the Rangers could fill the 100,000 seats for a Series game if they could borrow it. The Cowboys, once upon a time so smug and superior that they were not only the biggest sports heroes in Dallas, but A-list celebrities through any association with the franchise’s glory, haven’t lived up to their best in some time.
Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Bob Lilly, the late Don Meredith, and Roger Staubach, are all probably more popular than anyone playing for the Cowboys right now. Tom Landry’s boys were bigger than life, it seemed, and stomped their way to Super Bowls and through Super Bowls. The major anxiety in Big D these days is whether the Cowboys can get into the playoffs.
No such worries for the Rangers at the moment. Their roster is likely imprinted on every fan’s mind. A month or so ago all but the most ardent supporters likely didn’t know how to pronounce Alexi Ogando. Now they can probably inform you that he is from that all-time hotbed of baseball products San Pedro de Marcoris in the Dominican, home to Sammy Sosa and numerous other major leaguers. They can probably tell you about his sketchy past, too, when he was banned from the U.S. for a period because of a case involving marriages of way too much convenience. That’s a story for another day, however.
What keeps those fans on the edge of their seats is watching the right-hander fire fastballs at 99 mph and wondering if the next one will whiz past some batter’s head at 100. Ogando isn’t even the closer. How many people around the United States without a masters degree in baseball knew much about this pitcher before the playoffs?
In a way, Ogando and Rangers’ closer Neftali Feliz have a kinship with those original western rangers. The Texas Rangers motto was, “One riot, one ranger.” When the summons from manager Ron Washington comes, that’s what Ogando and Perez do from the bullpen. They quell other teams’ riots.