The Rangers World Series triumph was the culmination of 51 years of trying, but coming up short.
But the Rangers finally put together a championship team filled with players that resemble so many of the players who endeared themselves to Rangers fans through the years.
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21-year-old rookie Evan Carter, a country kid from Elizabethton, Tennessee—who set an all-time postseason record with nine doubles—is not unlike Mike Hargrove, a country kid from the Texas panhandle town of Perryton, who at age 21 in 1974 became American League Rookie of the Year.
But the more I see Carter play left field, maybe he's more like Rusty Greer, a red-headed country kid from Albertville, Alabama, who became one of this club's all-time fan favorites.
No one knocked in runs at the rate that two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez, the Puerto Rican sensation, did. That is, until Adolis Garcia came along. The Cuban refugee set a postseason record with 22 RBIs.
The left-handed hitting, North Carolina-born and bred Josh Hamilton had moments that rivaled the left-handed hitting, North Carolina born and bred Corey Seager, but never with the same Hall of Fame level consistency. Seager is what Hamilton could have been.
The Rangers captain for so many seasons—including the previous World Series years—was Michael Young, a Californian who was the model of consistency day in and day-out, both near the top of the batting order and in the middle of the infield. The captain of this team is Marcus Semien, a Californian who was the leadoff hitter and 2nd baseman for all 179 games last year.
The Rangers have been blessed to have two of the best defensive catchers of their eras in six-time Gold Glover Jim Sundberg and 13-time Gold Glove Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. But Catcher Jonah Heim, who stands 6 feet-4 and looks more like Pudge Fisk than Pudge Rodriguez, won his own Gold Glove last year.
3rd baseman Josh Jung sometimes plays defense like he's six-time Gold Glover Buddy Bell, plus he sometimes hits like he's four-time Silver Slugger Adrian Beltre, but he always treats others like he's all-time Rangers good guy 3rd baseman Steve Buechele.
Speaking of good guys, the ever-affable 1st baseman Nathaniel Lowe out of Mississippi State is nothing like the ever-edgy Will Clark out of Mississippi State. The former 13th-round draft pick is more like the ever-popular former 15th-round draft pick Pete O'Brien, one of the few bright spots on those 1980s Rangers teams.
Relief Pitcher Jose Leclerc from the Dominican Republic brought back memories of another Dominican closer named Neftali Feliz, whom they built a statue of after he struck out Alex Rodriguez to send the Rangers to their first World Series in 2010. But unlike Feliz, Leclerc was able to close out three World Series wins last year.
And finally, there's Big Game Nate, Nathan Eovaldi, who won 17 games last season, including a 5-0 record in the postseason. Eovaldi is from Alvin, Texas. He's the 2nd best pitcher to ever come out of Alvin, behind only the legendary Nolan Ryan, who crafted the most memorable moments in Texas Rangers history...that is until last fall.
The stars aligned just right for this club to travel a magical road to a place it had never been before. But, if you gaze closer, you'll see that these stars look a lot like some of the same stars we've seen here before. We just had never seen them all together in the same place before.