Chuck Morgan
In case you haven't seen it, there's a very good interview with Chuck Morgan over at the Ft Worth Star Telegram. You should read it. It's nowhere near as long as I would have liked, but it was definitely a good read.
I hope there's a much more in depth interview with Chuck coming in the program this year. There's some really good interviews in the program the last few seasons; I hope they give Chuck a good article in the program this year as the 2,000 games milestone is a good one, and should be
Chuck has been here for awhile, and like Bob Sheppard, I hope he's here for a very long time into the future. The only thing I personally want to happen when Chuck eventually hangs up his mike is to hand pick his successor. The last time the Rangers tried to pick someone (or more specifically this ownership group tried to pick someone), it was a seriously long ride on the fail train. Chuck is as much a part of Rangers baseball as anyone on the field. They simply cannot make the same mistake again. Does anyone even remember the name of the guy who handled the mike when Chuck was in Kansas City for a year? I certainly don't.
That's an idea - how can we get Chuck Morgan into the Rangers Hall of Fame? I assume it would be the same conditions as Tom Vandergriff. As Chuck partially runs the thing (at least I think he does), I doubt he'd be thrilled with putting himself in there, but someone has to do it. Anyone else think this should be done?
A few seasons ago, Chuck was kind enough to invite me into his office for a look around during some pre-game down time. I have had some pictures of that up for a long time, but I thought I'd take this chance to point them out. Click here to view some pics of Chuck's setup. Granted, these pics were taken in 2004, but I doubt it's changed all THAT much. Here's a sample... This is what Chuck sees out his window.
So why did Chuck leave in 2002?
Back in mid-November, I wrote the following on the Morgan departure:
"For what it’s worth, several disturbing notes concerning [Jeff] Cogen and [Jim] Lites have come to my attention within the last 24 hours. Lites, who served as club president of the Rangers from May 1999 to March 2002, has been identified previously as the driving force behind the “pushing out” of legendary public address announcer Chuck Morgan from the organization following the 2001 season."
I can't recall my source exactly at this point, but I know I wouldn't have written that without having it on fairly good authority that Lites was part of the reason why Morgan left.
Chuck's an amazing guy. The Rangers should thank their lucky stars everyday that they managed to bring him back into the fold.
Of course, concerning his HoF chances, this is the same fanbase that can't even get Mark Holtz on the HoF ballot...