(For the record, he was never seen again with those items on or about his person). The cheers continued as Ted Williams, Red Sox legend and new manager of the Rangers, stepped on the field and accepted an honorary gift steeped in Texas bravado: a cowboy hat, boots, and gold cleats. There’s no better way to boost fan engagement in TX than with a good old rivalry. And, in a way, Vandergriff’s first pitch established the rivalry between the two teams.
Houston Astros owner Judge Roy Hofheinz voted against relocating the Senators to Arlington. “Let’s make our cheers heard all the way to Houston tonight.” As he threw it out, he told the crowd of 20,105: The ceremonial first pitch for any new team is usually a privilege bestowed on the team’s trailblazer, and, for the Rangers, Tom Vandergriff, undoubtedly, had that honor. The Rangers’ scheduled Opening Day of April 15 got pushed back by the work stoppage, and they were forced to start the season on the road, where they went 1-3. Originally, they were scheduled to open the season a week earlier than they did, but, in a first at the time, the MLBPA went on strike over pension benefits, resulting in a work stoppage of 14 days and a cancellation of 86 games. The Texas Rangers’ first game in their new home didn’t go according to plans. So it was that after 20 years of civic development and negotiation, Vandergriff placed the final piece in his puzzle. Short had been threatening to leave town if the rent at RFK Stadium in Washington DC wasn’t lowered, and when Vandergriff came calling, he was happy to relocate to Texas. Unable to make an in-road through the expansion process, Vandergriff decided that his best bet was to work with a struggling franchise, and Bob Short, the owner of the Washington Senators, turned out to be just the guy for Vandergriff. While a major theme park and a minor league baseball team redefined Arlington, Vandergriff wasn’t going to settle until Major League Baseball had a home in his backyard. And he made the move to develop the area surrounding Six Flags by building Turnpike Stadium, a county-owned minor league ballpark for the Double AA Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs.
#TEXAS RANGERS OPENING DAY 2022 PRO#
A keen eye for opportunity in WashingtonĪt the time, Vandergriff had already been in talks to bring pro baseball to Arlington. to build Arlington a rival park, and in 1961 Six Flags Over Texas opened its doors. Though Disney declined, Vandergriff prevailed over local developer Angus G. He even petitioned Walt Disney to build his next park in Arlington.
As he put it, Arlington would be the hyphen in D-FW.Ī visit to Disneyland just after its opening in 1955 shaped Vandergriff’s vision for Arlington: to make it a tourist destination. And he went on, in his 27-year tenure as mayor, to take Arlington from a rural area to a thriving city of more than 150,000. In 1953 he brought a General Motors assembly plant to Arlington, creating thousands of jobs. His interest in speech and communication propelled him into politics and he became mayor of Arlington in 1951 at the age of 25. The Vandergriff family moved from Carrollton, a small suburb of Dallas, to Arlington, itself a small rural area of about 7,500 people, in the 1930s when Tom Vandergriff was just a boy.
Tom Vandergriff, visionary Photo by Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press Any hope for MLB gambling will have to wait until 2023 when new legislation may appear. Sports betting in Texas is not legal, but it’s not without want for its residents. And it would make Arlington more than just a midpoint between Dallas and Fort Worth. Opening Day 1972 represented the culmination of a long struggle to bring Vandergriff’s vision to life. Then, in 1971, he got his pitch and connected on a deal that brought the Washington Senators to Arlington to become the 1972 Texas Rangers. He struck out again in 1968 in a bid to both Leagues to add an expansion franchise.
He struck out in 1962 in luring the Kansas City A’s to Arlington. 300 average when it came to establishing an MLB team. In batting terms, Tom Vandergriff, long-time mayor of Arlington, Texas, had a.
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