October 17, 2014

Banister to Lead Rangers

I’m not sure how I missed this yesterday, but the Rangers hired Jeff Banister as their new manager. He seems to be resilient.

Banister recovered from bone cancer and osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone or bone marrow) during his minor league playing career. He played in just one game in the big leagues, recording a base hit in his lone at bat.

Banister was also temporarily paralyzed from a home plate collision when he played junior college baseball in Baytown, Texas.

“Jeff is a Texas native, a son of two educations, his father, a high school football coach, he’s a winner, he’s a survivor in every sense of the word,” Daniels said. “He played football and baseball as an amateur. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.”

Banister forged a close relationship with current Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who is highly regarded within the Rangers organization after spending time there.

“He has been an instrumental reason for the success the Pirates organization has had over the course of his tenure with the ballclub,” Hurdle said. “Jeff has put forth as much sweat-equity and hard work into the game of baseball as any man I have had the privilege of working with.”

In his five years as Pirates bench coach, he helped oversee a huge improvement in the team. The Rangers hope he can do the same for them.

Update: I probably should have written, the Rangers hope Banister helps them climb the stairs back to respectability. 🙂

1 thought on “Banister to Lead Rangers

  1. Tom

    I was about to rail against you for missing that. Maybe they can bring back Matt Stairs. Or, Collin Balester might be a fit for them (I think he was in the Pirates organization). This may not be a good portent for the Rangers – while stairs can go both ways, up to the penthouse or down to the basement, bannisters are most useful for a downward slide.

    ReplyReply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *