An achievement 30 years ago marks an important milestone in Arlington’s journey to national prominence.
Last year, a Dallas Morning News report concluded that what happened then was the greatest Texas Rangers regular-season moment in the team’s history.
The event fulfills a prediction made when voters were asked in 1991 to approve a partnership with the Rangers to develop a new ballpark.
Team owners said building a first-class stadium would make it possible for them to attract top players and advance the team’s chances of getting into the postseason.
That was something neither the Rangers nor their predecessor, the Washington Senators, had ever done since the franchise was created in 1961. Moving the team here in 1972 didn’t change that record at all.
In fact, until 1996, the team had, in its entire 35-year history, only a single winning season and zero trips to the postseason. Only the good teams get there, and the Rangers weren’t among them.
The Rangers debuted in The Ballpark in Arlington in 1994 with some top players, and things were looking promising – just as the team owners had predicted. The Rangers, even though below the .500 mark, were in first place in their division.
Then came an early end to that season when a players’ strike shut it all down. Even the World Series was canceled. For the first time in 90 years.
The Rangers returned with a winning season in 1995 and hosted the MLB All-Star Game with national media rave reviews in their new ballpark.
Now we get to that 1996 season, marking the reason for this 30-year celebration. It was the first time ever that the players could get into the clubhouse and start dodging champagne as winners of their historic division championship.
Career MLB writer T. L. Sullivan: “It’s not just that the Rangers won the first division title in club history; it was the way they did it, with a ballclub possessing a special chapter that still resonates with Rangers fans to this day.”
He summed it up with a quote from pitcher Bobby Witt: “One of the baddest teams ever assembled. I mean bad in an awesome way. The team character was beyond phenomenal.”
They would go on to win their division seven more times, league championships three times, and become World Series champions.
The beginning of that success can be traced to the 1996 players. Their names resonate today, including American League MVP Juan Gonzalez, All-Star Pudge Rodriguez, team batting average leader Rusty Greer, and home run leader Dean Palmer – all of whom had developed their careers with the Rangers.
Veterans Will Clark, Mark McLemore, Daryl Hamilton, Mickey Tettleton, and Kevin Elster brought their experiences to round out the winning lineup, complementing the arms of pitchers Ken Hill, Bobby Witt, Roger Pavlik, John Burkett, Darren Oliver, and closer Mike Henneman.
As good as the players were, Rangers Manager Johnny Oates made a lasting impact on the team, ushering in the team’s most successful stretch at the time. He was awarded the prestigious American League Manager of the Year in 1996. It would be the first of the team’s three titles for division championships under his leadership. His number 26 was only the second to be retired in club history, following Nolan Ryan’s number 34.
Reviewing all this history from 30 years ago serves as a personal reminder of how much my wife and I were so fully engaged in it all with our perfect attendance record amassed in those early years in The Ballpark in Arlington.
In that special 1996 round of playoff games with the Yankees, I was still occupying the mayor’s office and had the pleasure of entering a wager with then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. If the Yankees won, I would send him his first pair of cowboy boots. A Rangers victory would get us a dinner at a New York restaurant and tickets to a Broadway show.
Weeks later, Giuliani showed up on NBC’s Tonight Show wearing the boots. When host Jay Leno asked him about them, he proudly said they were a gift from the mayor of Arlington, Texas.
It was a great way to round out a time when Arlington gained national attention some 30 years ago.
