Connections Between The Texas Rangers And The San Francisco Giants

As we get ready for game 1 of the World Series I thought I would share some connections between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.

Back in 1976 there was a minor league team called the Lafayette Drillers that played in Louisiana and who were affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. At the end of the 76 season the Lafayette team was bought by Roy Clark (Yes the He-Ha Roy Clark) and his business partner Bill Rollings and moved the team to Tulsa which became the Tulsa Drillers and at the start of the 1977 season up til to the end of the 2002 season the Drillers were affiliated with the Texas Rangers. Flash forward to the end of the of the 2002 season. The Rangers owner at the time Tom Hicks in connection with Mandalaly Entertainment bought the Shreveport Swamp Dragons which were affiliated with the San Francisco Giants and moved the team to Frisco Texas and became the Frisco RoughRiders. The Rangers then changed affiliations from the Drillers to the RoughRiders. So twice in the Rangers history they have taken minor league teams from the San Francisco Giants.

In 1997 Major League Baseball introduced interleague play. Which means the the American League teams would play a handful of games against National League teams during the season and not just in the World Series. The very first interleague game in MLB history was played on June 12, 1997 at the Rangers Ballpark In Arlington and it was the Texas Rangers against the San Francisco Giants.  Darren Oliver was the Rangers starting pitcher in the game and now Darren Oliver is a relief pitcher for the Rangers. By the way the Rangers lost the game 4 to 3.

The San Francisco Giants' pitching coach Dave Righetti was drafted by the Rangers back in 1977. He pitched one year in the minor leagues for the Rangers at double A Tulsa Drillers before being traded to the Yankees in 1978. Also on the Giants coaching staff is Roberto Kelly who was a Texas Ranger back in 1998 and 1999. A fan favorite for the San Francisco Giants Will Clark hit his first major league home run in his first major league at bat against Nolan Ryan on April 8th 1986. Will Clark would later come to play for the Rangers from 1994 to 1998.

One of the Rangers catchers Bengie Molina spent 3 years as a catcher with the San Francisco Giants before being traded to the Rangers on July 1of this year. Because Molina started the season as a San Francisco Giant he is going to get a World Series championship ring no matter what team wins. He is the second player in MLB history to play in a Series against a team for whom he also had played in the same season. Lonnie Smith did the same thing with the Kansas City Royals back in 1985.

I'm sure that there are many many more little connections between the Rangers and the Giants but I will leave that up to you to find.

I have to say that Friday October 22, 2010 is starting to sink in. On that day the Rangers beat the Yankees to become the American League Champions for the first time in their history. I have waited so long for this day to come, to see my Rangers in the World Series. Also on that night I knew what happened but because of all the excitement in never sunk in and I could not believe it. I believe it now.