What makes the Texas Rangers an intriguing franchise is not the players who are facing the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. It is the former player who is the principal owner and president: Nolan Ryan.
This is rare air for a former professional athlete — to own a major league franchise in the sport he played.
There are three other such owners: Michael Jordan (Charlotte Bobcats), Jerry Richardson (Carolina Panthers) and Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins). Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch played four seasons in the minors but never reached the big leagues.
It’s a career path Cal Ripken would like to follow someday with the Baltimore Orioles.
Ryan was one of the biggest pitching stars of his time, a nearly mythical Hall of Fame fireballer who won 324 games over a 27-year career that ended 1993. He is best known for his record 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters.
His persona made him larger than life when he played — a cowboy out of Refugio, Texas, whom batters feared. He only added to the legend when he rustled Robin Ventura with a headlock during his final season in 1993 after Ventura — who was 20 years younger than Ryan — charged the mound when he was hit by a pitch.
Ryan later said it was the same move he used to brand steers on his Texas ranch.
Now Ryan is in a position rarely achieved by former ballplayers as the owner of the Rangers. He was hired as team president in 2008 and, in a partnership with Chuck Greenberg, was the winning bidder last year to purchase the Rangers in bankruptcy court. Two months later, Ryan’s Rangers were in the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Earlier this year, Greenberg sold his piece of the team, leaving Ryan as its principal owner.
He is revered in the same way Ripken is revered in Baltimore and throughout the state of Maryland.
Ripken has stated in the past he would like the challenge of running a baseball franchise and has long been rumored to be ready to head a group that would purchase the Orioles if the franchise were up for sale.
Now, with Andy MacPhail stepping down as the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, fans are wondering whether Angelos will bring an icon like Ripken into that job.
It’s a question that has come up before, and the answer is the same — not likely. The time is still not right.
Buck Showalter may want to stay in the dugout as manager, but he likely still will have the strongest baseball voice in the organization. Whoever is hired to fill MacPhail’s role likely will have to accept that.
It may not be the best arrangement for Ripken to fulfill his dream. But his time may come — when a change in ownership is on the table.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
