Spent a cold, damp, freaky foggy Saturday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for the team’s annual mid-winter Fan Fest. Biggest news: A li'l baseball birdie told me the Rangers are in the process of officially bidding to host the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Maybe -- just maybe -- by then they’ll be decent enough to have more than just the minimum one representative.
“If the rebuilding process takes five steps,” said assistant general manager Thad Levine, “then we’re at about step three. We’ve turned the corner.”
While the Rangers try to re-tool on the field in 2008 with such newcomers as Milton Bradley, Josh Hamilton, Eddie Guardado and -- yawn -- Ben Broussard, the front office is planning on another All-Star bash 20 years after throwing its first and only party in 1995. A team source said the Rangers will officially petition commissioner Bud Selig to host the 2015 game.
Looks like they’ll have plenty of company. This summer’s game will be the last in venerable Yankee Stadium, followed by the 2009 mid-summer classic in St. Louis. Anaheim apparently has the inside track on 2010; Kansas City, for 2012. New ballparks in New York (Mets), Phoenix, San Diego, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Minneapolis are also interested in hosting a game with a $60-million economic impact and television viewers in 100 million homes in 225 countries.
If the Rangers land the game it would be quite a coup for Arlington. By then the new Cowboys stadium will have likely already hosted a Super Bowl, Cotton Bowls, a BCS National Championship Game, a Final Four and a national political convention. Translation, Arlington to Dallas: “Suck it.” --Richie Whitt
