Friday newsletter time: Roof is hard to beat, but a winning team is biggest draw
(AP photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
The forecast high temperature for Saturday at Globe Life Field is 108, and the Brewers-Rangers game is a sellout.
When the Rangers were good and playing outdoors across the street, they would get sellout crowds. The 2012 and 2013 teams drew more than three million fans and had an average attendance of 40,727. The 2012 team registered 39 sellouts and had only two games with crowds smaller than 30,000.
Globe Life Field doesn’t even hold 40,000 fans. Three million fans is a possibility some day, though not this season, and it will take a lot of hard work to get there.
There’s no bigger believer in a roof over a ballpark than me. Every ballpark should have one. Games start on time, and they are never delayed by rain. The elements can come into play at some ballparks with a retractable roof, like frigid Seattle, but at least it’s dry.
While the Rangers’ roof is awesome, history shows that fans will come to the ballpark when a winner is on the field, roof or no roof.
That’s not a shot at fans. Bad baseball isn’t fun for anyone. Rangers ownership knows that, and that’s why they realized that they needed to spend money to make money.
For now, and it would appear for the foreseeable future, Rangers fans have the best of both worlds.
It’s hard to beat a winner and a roof.
That’s a shame
Cue up the Seinfeld gif for this one:
A federal court has given Angel Hernandez the thumb.
Three justices unanimously agreed that Hernandez’s lawsuit against MLB for discrimination does not have merit, and it will not be revived on appeal. Hernandez initially sued in 2017, saying he had been passed over for promotions to crew chief and not selected to work the World Series.
That’s a shame.
Hernandez, of course, is the worst umpire in the game, and one of his missed calls and his confrontational nature were part of MLB’s defense. They could just roll out some footage from Hernandez’s games this season to further their point.
We’ll do it for them.
Ángel Hernández. Flip a Coin. pic.twitter.com/WwnuuU8ICN
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 12, 2023
Hernandez, 61, returned to duty this month after missing time because of back surgery. He was back in his midseason form from the start, missing a call at second base in his first game back and multiple strike calls in his first game behind the plate following a rehab assignment in the minors.
Card of the Week
This one is bittersweet.
When the Rangers promoted J.P. Martinez, they needed to clear a spot on the 40-man roster and did so by designating Bubba Thompson for assignment. It would have been a surprise had he cleared waivers, and he didn’t.
The Royals, who have the second priority on waiver claims, snatched Thompson up, and his Rangers days came to an end.
It’s good for Thompson in that he has a better opportunity at playing time in a less-pressurized environment that might make it easier for him to work out his issues at the plate. It’s bad for the rest of us because he’s such a good dude.
It just so happened that my son had opened the Card of the Week on days before the DFA. It’s the 2023 Topps Chrome Bubba Thompson pink refractor.
Thompson is at Triple A Omaha for now. His reunion with longtime minor-league teammate and another former Rangers first-round pick, left-hander Cole Ragans, will have to wait.
The Rangers selected Ragans in 2016 and Thompson in 2017, both out of high school.
They will be very familiar with their spring training complex, as the Royals share the Surprise Recreation Complex with the Rangers. They will just take a left to the Royals parking lot instead of a right.
Doggy video!
This dog’s human counterpart is good guy Tony Beasley. Enjoy.
This Good Boy likes to make sure everyone is having a good day at work pic.twitter.com/gkAZ4QTLaf
— Madeyousmile (@Thund3rB0lt) August 17, 2023
Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com
