BASEBALL AT ITS BEST-THE 2011 WOLD SERIES AND ME
The Saint Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers in the World Series is a double dream come true for me.
I am an original Texas Rangers fan. I lived in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972 when the former Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers and started playing ball in Arlington, Texas. The stadium was just a few miles from my apartment, and my brother and I went to several games that first season. I remember the team's manager was the legendary Ted Williams, and to the best of my recollection the 3rd base coach was former White Sox great Nellie Fox. Fox carried the biggest wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek I had ever seen.Good tickets to the Rangers games in 1972 were cheap - about 3 or 4 dollars. I was fresh out of college then, so if the tickets would have been more, I would not have been able to afford them.
My career with the Veterans Administration took me away from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but I always followed the team and considered myself a Rangers fan.
BUT THEN
In the year 2000 I was transferred to Saint Louis to be the Director of the VA's office there. My office was just a few blocks from the Cardinal's Busch Stadium. It was easy to take an afternoon off from work and walk to Busch and enjoy a ball game. I quickly became a Cardinals fan, and still am today. It just happens to you when you live in Saint Louis. The Cardinals fans are the most avid and loyal in the world. They know the game inside and out. Opening day of each new season is almost as big a holiday as Christmas.
I was there for Albert Pujols' rookie season. He is one of the all-time greatest baseball players ever, and a fine human being.
AND THEN
I moved back to the DFW area in 2004 and settled in Frisco, Texas. Frisco is home to the Rangers' Double A team, the Frisco RoughRiders, who play in Dr Pepper Ballpark near Stonebriar Mall.
The Rangers play in the new Ballpark in Arlington, which is just 35 miles southwest of Frisco. I'm still a Rangers fan, and attend a couple of games a year.
This is a competitive World Series. Games one and two were each decided by one run, and the series is tied. Now that the Series is moving from chilly Saint Louis to (hopefully) warm and dry Arlington, the "experts" are predicting the balls will be flying out of the park.
Low run games, high run games, pitcher's duels - they are all good.
This is a World Series where my team will surely win. The Rangers are my team, and so are the Cardinals. Some say I can't have it both ways, but I say "why not?"
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