Navigation: Jump to content areas: Got a message from my friend Colleen from highschool about a week ago seeing if I’d like to go
to the Rangers annual charity event for the Rangers Foundation: The Rangers Triple Play. Having wanted to go in the past, I really jumped for the chance. We had no idea what to expect – Colleen had gotten two tickets from one of her highschool history students, who also just happens to be Tom Hicks’ only daughter (and the Hickses love Colleen). So, the ticket stated that we were at “Table 6,” the “Thomas O. and Cinda Hicks Family Foundation” table, and other than that we had no idea what to expect, and who to expect at our table. On the way in I joked that I was going to sit next to Nolan Ryan, but only because he literally was my childhood idol (I even wore 34 when I played). At any rate, after milling around for awhile and checking out the silent auction items, we were instructed to take our seats. Colleen and I were the first to get to our table, which was extremely front and center, and a woman who I recognized walked up and introduced herself: “I’m Ruth Ryan,” she said. I turned to Colleen and said, “That’s Nolan Ryan’s wife!” and she sat down one seat away from me, and put her bag down in the empty chair between herself and me. Then I said to Colleen, “Oh my God, Nolan Ryan is going to sit next to me!!!” He came in a few minutes late, but sure enough it was him. And it was awesome. Even crazier was that on the other side of Mrs. Ryan was Tom Hicks, and farther along was his wife. Also at our table were Hicks’ daughter and her friend, another couple, and the player we got was Derek Holland. So crazy. So, so crazy. Anyways, on to the program. They played Infielders (featuring Vizquel, Kinsler, Blalock and Young) vs. Outfielders (Hamilton, Jones, Cruz and Murphy) Family Feud (pictured at the top), which I thought was pretty good. My favorite answer was “Name famous ‘Mickeys.'” The 1 answer was “Mouse,” of course, then they had Rourke, Mantle and the Infielders got to Omar Vizquel’s turn, and he said, “Mickey Young.” Eric Nadel had him clarify, and he did in fact mean “Michael Young,” but thought enough people surveyed would answer “Mickey Young.” It was not one of the choices. Anyways, the Outfielders won somehow (Andruw Jones at one point could not even give an answer for “Boardgames you can play as a family.” Seriously, Andruw No answer) Second, the Rookies came and did some Karaoke:
From left to right we have: Chris Davis, Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus, Taylor Teagarden and Derek Holland. They had some corny Anchorman-esque knockoff dialogue (Davis was Ron Burgundy), and then they sang a few bars from Afternoon Delight. Pretty amusing stuff, but best of all was Elvis in that weird blonde wig and moustache combo. They didn’t let him have any lines, but he danced and shook morraccas(sp) during the Karaoke (he didn’t sing). Third on the list was Battle of the Sexes: