From Nolan Ryan to Jon Daniels, all should be invited to attend Texas Rangers parade

As the Texas Rangers celebrated their World Series on a stage in the outfield, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler stood next to each other behind the pitcher’s mound.

Adrian Beltre was on the same field on Wednesday night in Phoenix, celebrating something that should be theirs.

They didn’t drive in a run for this version of the Rangers, and in that flash it was bittersweet to see such important figures in the history of this franchise not get this moment they were so close to achieving.

Every single player dreams of celebrating a World Series. Seldom does the player experience the moment when a dream is a tangible reality.

“Actually doing it blows that away,” Rangers outfielder Travis Jankowski said. “This is so much better.”

Five feet away from Jankowski stood Rangers GM Chris Young, who was completely soaked in alcohol.

“This is theirs,” Young said. “I had my time as a player, and I didn’t get it done but they did. They did this.”

This is the correct statement, but CY is wrong. They all did it.

As Ron Washington, the team’s former manager, famously said, “That’s the way baseball go.”

Speaking of Wash’, and Young, Kinsler, Beltre and the rest — this World Series title is theirs as much as it is Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Bruce Bochy and the team that played the games.

That same goes for Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels.

On Friday afternoon in Arlington, the Rangers will hold a parade to celebrate this World Series win. Anyone who ever played, coached, managed, wrote a check, sold a ticket, issued a press release should be there.

Without all of them, and you, too, this is not possible. Not all of them will receive a ring, but they all contributed in some way and deserve to share in the moment of this franchise finally winning a World Series.

Daniels lives in Southlake, and while this won’t be popular, he should be in Arlington on Friday. A lot of this roster was built when he was either the GM, or the president of baseball operations over Young, whom he hired.

Daniels now serves as an advisor for the Tampa Rays, but it’s hard to imagine that organization throwing a fit if he celebrates with all of the people he worked with for so long.

Ryan is retired, and while this won’t be popular, he should be in Arlington on Friday, too.

“Congratulations to the Texas Rangers on a big win: World Series champions,” Ryan said in a video message posted ion the Twitter (now X) page of the Round Rock Express minor league baseball team.

The best move former owner Tom Hicks ever made was to hire Nolan as team president more than 15 years ago, which immediately brought a level of credibility this franchise badly needed.

The best move Nolan made was not to fire Jon Daniels, which he had the authority to do.

However messy, and unfortunate, the separation between both parties was it’s over and done. What transpired on Wednesday night in Phoenix does not happen without either of those men.

Ultimately, what transpired here on Wednesday night does not happen without so many people who were not there.

People like Doug Melvin, Tom Grieve, Jim Sundberg, Tom Schieffer, Buddy Bell, Nelson Cruz, Bobby Valentine, Charlie Hough, Josh Hamilton, Rusty Greer, Julio Franco, Pudge Rodriguez, Ruben Sierra, Elvis Andrus, Jeff Banister, Pete O’Brien, Toby Harrah and so many others who played, or managed, for this franchise when they were climbing to this final destination.

Ultimately, what transpired here on Wednesday night does not happen without so many people who are no longer with us.

People like former Rangers clubhouse man Joe Macko, who was effectively with this team since it landed here in 1972 through 2012. He died in 2014.

Somewhere from high above the late Richard Durrett and Mark Holtz had to be exchanging a high-five when Rangers reliever Josh Sborz recorded the final out of the World Series.

Durrett is a TCU alum and former local news reporter who worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, ESPN radio, covered the team and once worked as a broadcaster for the club as well; in 2014 he died a the age of 38, leaving behind a wife and three children.

Holtz was the voice of the Rangers from 1982 to 1997. He died that year from leukemia.

They would have loved this every bit as much as the current radio voice, Eric Nadel, whose call for the final out was perfect: “You’re not dreaming!”

For long time Rangers public address announcer Chuck Morgan, this is the dream he had been waiting to see. He has said many times the only thing he had left “to see” was the Rangers win a World Series.

Every single member of the Vandergriff family has been saying the same thing.

“This is profoundly personal for all of us as a family,” Parker Vandergriff said Wednesday in a phone interview. His grandfather, Tom Vandergriff, was the Arlington mayor who was the key figure in the Senators moving from D.C. to Texas in 1972.

“My very first memory is my grandfather throwing out the final first pitch at Arlington Stadium. I was 6. This has been such a part of every single family member down the board. It’s ingrained in us. The past few years, I got to a point where I just thought it was in the Rangers’ destiny to never win a championship. That it’s part of who we are until the end of time.”

Time did not stop when Sborz spiked his glove after registering that final out. Time will not stop when the Rangers host a World Series parade on Friday in Arlington.

Everyone who has been a part of this franchise should be there, including Nolan and JD.

They all made, in some way, the Texas Rangers’ World Series champions.