Nolan Ryan May Return To The Rangers

I have not been a big fan of Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks. The one good thing I can say about him is that he seems to be willing to spend the money to try and make the Rangers better. The problem is where he's spent the money.

Using my 20-20 hindsight, it's not hard to say that giving "A-Rod" a quarter of a billion dollar contract was a huge mistake. It not only tied up a lot of money in a player who turned out to be very divisive in the clubhouse, but had the Rangers paying the Yankees to take him off our hands. The money would have been much better spent on young hopefuls.

Fortunately, that is now in the past. The question is how to help the Rangers now and in the future. Last Friday, Hicks may have taken the first step toward improving that future for the Texas Rangers. He met with Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan for a 90-minute discussion. Rumor has it that he was feeling out Ryan to see if he would be interested in becoming the Ranger's new club president.

That's an idea that I like a lot. Ryan currently is working with the Houston Astros organization. He took that job because it's closer to his home in Round Rock, and he has a lot of fans in the Houston area that remember his years with the Astros very fondly.

But Ryan also has some strong ties to the Texas Rangers, and he is revered by baseball fans in North Texas. He pitched for the Rangers for five years, and he sports a Ranger's cap in his Hall of Fame plaque. He got his 5,000th strikeout as a Ranger, as well as his sixth and seventh no-hitters.

Would Ryan be interested in the presidency of the Rangers? I believe he would, especially if Hicks offers the right salary and an assurance that Ryan would have the authority to do the job his own way. And I believe Hicks would offer that. He is not a "stingy" owner, and does have a reputation for being a "hands-off" owner. He tends to hire people and then turn them loose to do their job.

Would Ryan help the Rangers? That's the big question. He's more than just a great ex-player. He's smart, and he's a student of the game. There is no doubt of his love for and knowledge of the game. Combine that with his reputation, and we may actually see more free agents, especially pitchers, that would be willing to come to Texas.

While no one knows whether he (or anyone else) could make winners out of the Rangers, there is one immediate effect he would have. He would sell tickets. He would give the Ranger's "beaten-down" fans a new hope, and that's a good thing.

I hope it happens. The Texas Rangers need Nolan Ryan.