“RANGERS/STARS REPORT” TELEVISION SHOW TO DEBUT SATURDAY
FOR RELEASE: 11:00 a.m. (CST), Friday, March 5, 1999
The “Rangers/Stars Report,” a 30-minute broadcast television program featuring highlights and in-depth profiles of both the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, will debut this Saturday, March 6 at 10:30 a.m. on KXTX–Channel 39.
Rangers’ telecaster LIN Productions, a subsidiary of Southwest Sports Group, Inc., will produce the weekly program. NBC-5 Weekend Sports Anchor John Rhadigan will serve as the show’s host.
“We’re excited to be a part of a synergy between the Southwest Sports Group, LIN Productions, the Dallas Stars, the Texas Rangers and KXTX-Channel 39,” said Lee Spieckerman, President of LIN Productions and Executive Producer of the “Rangers/Stars Report.” “This is the first program of its kind to take a behind-the-scenes look at two local sports teams on a weekly basis.”
In addition to airing on KXTX-39, the show will make its premiere on NBC-5 on March 20 at 5 p.m. The show will then run every Saturday, once at 10 a.m. on KXTX-39 and then at 5 p.m. on NBC-5. The “Rangers/Stars Report” will air at 10 a.m. on March 13 on KXTX-39.
The show will highlight new feature material each week, ranging from team road trips to community involvement from both the Rangers and Stars to a behind-the-scenes look at the personalities of each teams’ players.
“We have a rare group of athletes between these two teams that have a lot of fun on and off the field and ice,” Spieckerman said. “We’re going to capture that fun in a way that no other program has done, while providing glimpses of players, families and teams that can’t be found on any local sportscast.”
Contributing reporters to the “Rangers/Stars Report” include Craig Miller, from KTCK radio and “39 On Deck”, Ginger Geoffery, who joins the show from KUSA-TV in Denver, and the broadcast teams of Ralph Strangis and Daryl Reaugh from the Dallas Stars Hockey Network and Bill Jones and Tom Grieve from the Texas Rangers telecasts. Bob Schmelzle serves as the show’s producer.
ST1: Rangers drop spring opener to Reds, 5-4
It was really great to hear the Rangers on the radio again. It was obvious that this was a minor league park. You could hear the people chanting for the players over the announcer’s mikes. This was a split squad game for the Reds, so I’m not sure if we got a good test, but hell, this is the first pre-season game. It tends to be not the best baseball anyway. Still, it was great hearing the guys again.
The Rangers seemed to be very agressive on the basepaths today, but they got thrown out a lot, too. Again, being the first day, I’m not putting a whole lot of pressure on them – was nice, though. Juan Gonzalez & Todd Zeile weren’t with the team today, they were back in Port Charlotte getting in some extra excercise.
My wife did something really cool for me today for the game. She came up to where I work and brought me some lunch which consisted of freshly cooked hot dogs w/mustard & sauerkraut, a bag of peanuts, and specially made Texas Ranger cookies (sugar cookies with red M&M’s in them), along with one of the empty mugs you can buy beer in at the Ballpark. That made the game even cooler! I took a picture of the lunch for posterity’s sake. :)
Ricky Williams decides against playing baseball
ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) — Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams informed the Texas Rangers today that he does not intend to play baseball in 1999.
After receiving a letter from Williams stating his intention to concentrate on a career as a running back in the NFL, the Rangers decided to place the outfielder on the restricted list. As a result, Williams will not count against the major league roster and will remain the property of the Rangers.
Williams, the all-time leading rusher in Division I-A history with 6,279 yards, figures to be one of the top players selected in the NFL draft in April.
The 21-year-old Williams has never played above Class A and has not had more than 266 at-bats in any minor-league season. He batted .204 and averaged a strikeout nearly every three at-bats through his first three seasons before batting .283 (15-for-53) last season at Batavia of the Class A New York-Penn League.
Williams originally was an eighth-round pick of the Phillies in 1995. He was not on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and the Expos paid $50,000 to pluck Williams in the Rule 5 draft on December 14. The next day he was sold to Texas.
As a senior, he ran 2,124 yards and 27 touchdowns and finished his career with 20 NCAA and 44 school records.
Rangers renew contracts for Patterson & Levine
PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA (TICKER) — The Texas Rangers today agreed to terms with Danny Patterson on a one-year deal and renewed the contract of fellow righthanded reliever Alan Levine. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Patterson was one of closer John Wetteland’s most reliable setup men last season, going 2-5 with two saves and a 4.45 ERA in 56 games. He allowed 64 hits in 60 2/3 innings with 19 walks and 33 strikeouts.
The 28-year-old Patterson, who was paid $208,000 last year, will be eligible for arbitration after the 1999 season. He is 12-11 with three saves in 117 major league appearances.
Levine was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 30 games with the Rangers last year, also appearing in 12 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was picked up by Texas after being designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox on January 15, 1998.
Roster Transaction
- Placed Ricky Williams on the restricted list after his
decision not to play ball in 1999. That keeps Williams Rangers’ property. - Rangers renewed contracts for Danny Patterson & Al Levine
for one year. Patterson is eligible for arbitration after 1999.
Roster Transaction
- Signed Mark Brandenburg to a minor league contract.
Roster Transaction
- Agreed to terms with pitcher Dan Kolb, catcher Cesar King, and outfielder Ruben Mateo.
Wetteland strains ankle, out two weeks
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Texas Rangers closer John Wetteland strained his right ankle during a workout Monday and is expected to miss the next week or two.
Wetteland, who had 42 saves and was 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA, will be sidelined while the swelling goes down.
“It’s frustrating because I put in a lot of sweat and hard work to get back to where I was feeling pretty good,” Wetteland said. “It just shows that the ankle is an important part of the body, too.”
Wetteland had elbow surgery in the off-season and has been throwing without any problems.
Rangers pitchers and catchers reported to camp last week. The full squad is due in on Thursday.
Juan Gonzalez on cover of Baseball Digest
In somewhat of a rarity, a Texas Ranger was covered nationally. Juan Gonzalez is on the cover of the March 1999 Baseball Digest. It’s an article entitled “The Majors’ Overlooked Run Producer”, and runs 4 pages. It speaks very highly of Juan. Unfortunately, BBD does not have full coverage of their magazines on the Internet, but they do have a web site for the magazine at http://www.centurysports.net. You can view information about the current issue of the magazine there (as of right now, they have the February 1999 issue online). Here is a picture of the March cover that I scanned myself. Click on it to see a larger version.
First Spring Training Workouts held
Well, today is the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers in Spring Training. I picked up these two pictures today off the AP News Wire of Ranger Spring Training. Click on either of them for a larger version. The one on the left is of Johnny Oates & Aaron Sele.
