What inspired the creation of the Texas Rangers Mexican Heritage jerseys?

When Jose Garcia started working for the Texas Rangers, he had a vision for enhancing the franchise’s annual Mexican Heritage Night.

“That’s what all of this has been about, creating a platform in the MLB for people that look like me, have my last name type and all that stuff,” Garcia said. “Just being able to give them more opportunity to be represented and being spoken to and seen is a really big goal of mine.”

Garcia joined the Rangers in 2021 as the Multicultural Marketing Coordinator after working as a video producer for the San Francisco Giants where he helped with their theme nights.

Travis Dillon the senior vice president of marketing for the Rangers said Heritage Night has changed since Garcia joined the organization.

“One of the important things, when I came on board, was to build out our capabilities to be better at things like Heritage Night.,” said Dillon, “ His [Garcia] position just the existence of him here on this team is a reflection of the commitment we’ve made to really wanting to authentically speak to the different communities of the DFW.”

Garcia has helped transform this year’s Heritage Night on June 17 into the biggest giveaway of the season for the Rangers with a 20,000-item giveaway consisting of a special Mexican Heritage Night-themed jersey and a cap given away separately.

The fan reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Last year was a great example of that response. It was mid-September we were playing the Guardians we were 30 games out of first place in the division so not necessarily a marquee matchup,” said Dillion, “Two hours before gates were open we had lines all the way out to the street out of multiple entrances.”

Dillion said the energy was reminiscent of a postseason game and that the success showed how Mexican Heritage Night resonated with fans. Last year’s event had 34,862 fans in attendance which set a new Rangers record for a theme night.

Garcia said last year’s jersey design was a huge part of that success because of its authenticity and that he’s carried over that thinking to this year’s jersey.

“Not that it’s wrong but it’s pretty simple to go in and use the [Mexican] flag colors it is kinda a layup way of going about it, that’s something I worked really hard to avoid,” said Garcia, “I really wanted to create something that was unique to us, that was unique to the Rangers.”

This year’s jersey is inspired by the uniform of Mariachi De Los Texas Rangers, the team’s official mariachi band which performs every Monday home game.

The jersey is a scarlet orange with lighter orange lettering and trim, the Mexican flag on one sleeve and the Texas flag on the other.

The cap is a cream color with a red brim with the Rangers logo in red on the side and the outline of the state of Texas in the center of a mariachi-themed design.

Dillion fell in the love with Mariachi design for the uniform and cap and joked he hoped he was cool enough to wear it.

A big change in the Mexican Heritage Night celebration this year was moving the event from September to June.

“We got a lot of messages from people coming all around Texas to come to that night and in thinking about that I wanted to make sure we gave everybody the opportunity to come to the ballpark and what better way than to do that during the summer,” said Garcia.

Another reason for the date change was to allow for a Hispanic Heritage Night in September to honor other Hispanic cultures.

Heritage night will also collaborate with Viva Tejas a monthly event with food trucks, live music and Hispanic vendors. Popular Mexican band La Arrolladadora will also perform a free concert after the game at Texas Live.

Currently, the New York Yankees hold the record for most tickets sold for a theme night with 40,500 but the Rangers say they’re within striking distance and hope to set a new record.