The Texas Rangers have made it to the World Series again and though the team plays about a half hour from the Hilltop, they have a very important connection with SMU.
Dr. Michael Stone, a professor in the new Applied Physiology and Sports Management program here at SMU, served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Texas Rangers from 1982 to 1990.
Stone achieved much in his time with the franchise, but had one moment he claimed to be the best. “Signing Nolan Ryan,” he said.
Many things are necessary in a person to become as successful as Stone. “The ability to understand and motivate groups of people,” Stone said.
The business world of sports, especially baseball, is invisible to the naked eye of most sports enthusiasts.
“If you go to an NBA game, you see 90% of the franchise in terms of the game, but when you go to a baseball game, you’re seeing very little of the franchise,” Stone said.
The Rangers are the first American League team since the 2000 and 2001 New York Yankees to appear in consecutive World Series.
The Cardinals are playing in their 18th overall World Series and their third in eight years (2004-Lost to the Boston Red Sox, 2006-defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-1). The Rangers have never traveled to St. Louis before, but the two teams did meet in Arlington in the 2004 season, when the Cardinals won two games out of three.
The Cardinals did not have as many impacting moves during the offseason following a disappointing, early exit in the 2010 National League Division Series when they were swept 3-0 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team was led by their keystone hitter, Albert Pujols, who in his 11th season with the Cardinals joined the 267 member, 2,000 hit club and now leads all active players in batting average (.328), slugging percentage (.617), and ranks 37th all time in homeruns with 445.
The Cardinals, after going 91-71 in 2010, dropped to a 90-72 record in 2011, which earned them a National League Wild Card spot in the postseason. The Cardinals went 23-9 in their final 32 games of the season to erase a 10.5 game deficit in the Wild Card standings to advance to the playoffs.
In their road to the World Series, the Cardinals took down the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in the National League Division Series and then eliminated Central Division rival, Milwaukee, 4-2 in the National League Championship Series.
The Rangers, after being defeated 4-1 in the 2010 Fall Classic by the San Francisco Giants, made some very important offseason moves including third baseman Adrian Beltre and catcher Mike Napoli. The two proved to be great additions to the team as they finished with an impressive 96-66 record, good enough to break the franchise’s record for wins and winning percentage and claim a consecutive American League West title.
They also broke franchise records in attendance. It was also the first time the squad had three players with more than 30 homeruns (Beltre, Napoli, Ian Kinsler).
On their road to the World Series, the Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in the American League Division Series and the Detroit Tigers 4-2 in the American League Championship Series.
This year’s World Series will be a tough one to predict, especially after the Rangers loss Wednesday night.
“Only the fool of the foolhardy would try to predict a baseball game,” Stone said. “There’s an old saying in baseball, ‘Good pitching beats good hitting.'”
