Mayor Tom to New York Times: Rangers in Six

Tom Leppert Fact: He pitched a few innings of junior varsity at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. So notes The New York Times this morning, in a pitching duel between the Dallas mayor and San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom, a former first baseman for Redwood High School in Larkspur, California, and Santa Clara University who, matter of fun fact, was once eyeballed by the Texas Rangers (he kept the scouting card). Newsom predicts Giants in five. Leppert? “I’ll say Rangers in six.”

Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, a Mineola native, is more conflicted. And not just because of dueling loyalties. He just doesn’t like Texas trying to take California’s companies. To which Mayor Tom responds: That’s the way business go.

“Normally, people think of us as a sports city, mostly because of the Cowboys. But there has been enormous growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area — people are coming here to live from all over the country. It’s become a cultural center that we feel can compete with anyone and with a population that keeps getting more and more diverse.”