“Mr. Hicks was a passionate and competitive Texas Rangers owner and fan,” read the statement. “The club extends its thoughts and prayers to Mr. Hicks’ wife, Cinda, his six children and his entire family as they mourn a legendary Texas businessman, philanthropist and sportsman.“
Hicks, a private equity investor based in Dallas, made more than $1 billion as part of a partnership that invested in soft drink brands Dr. Pepper and 7 Up and merged the two companies in the late 1980s. Hicks became the owner of a sports franchise when he purchased the NHL’s Dallas Stars in 1995. Just a few years later, in 1998, Hicks purchased the Rangers from an investment group led by future U.S. President George W. Bush. He would later buy Liverpool FC in 2007.
The Rangers found immediate success under Hicks’ ownership with consecutive AL West titles under the future Hall of Famer’s leadership Ivan Rodriguez. However, the team began to struggle in 2000, prompting Hicks to sign a superstar Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year, $252 million contract that broke records at the time during the 2000-2001 Winter Meetings offseason. While A-Rod hit an incredible .305/.395/.615 with 156 home runs and 27.0 fWAR during the 2001-2003 seasons, his supporting cast left much to be desired for the rest of the roster and the Rangers lost 90, 91 and 89 games during his three years with the franchise.
That spurred Hicks to trade Rodriguez after the 2003 season, and he was dealt to the Yankees in exchange for Alfonso Soriano And Joaquin Arias during the 2003–04 offseason. New York picked up $112 million of the $179 million remaining on Rodriguez’s contract. The Yankees went on to win the 2009 World Series with Rodriguez in tow, and A-Rod added two more MVP trophies to his title after winning his first with Texas in 2003. Meanwhile, the Rangers continued to struggle to become relevant again. They managed to win 89 games the year after the Rodriguez trade in 2004, but finished third in a highly competitive AL West and still missed the postseason.
It wasn’t until the 2009 season that the Rangers were back on the rise, when they won 87 games and once again narrowly missed a postseason berth with a roster headlined by Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruzand the rookie season of Elvis Andrus. However, that season was colored by the club’s inability to sign its first rounder Matt Purke. Purke and the Rangers verbally agreed to a $6 million bonus after he was drafted, but the Rangers ultimately backed away from that. While Hicks claimed that the club was simply unwilling to spend that amount of money to sign the 14th overall selection in that year’s draft, team president Nolan Ryan suggested that the team’s finances were closely watched at the time by the league, which rejected the $6 million expenditure.
In January 2010, Hicks announced that he had agreed to sell the Rangers to a group led by Ryan and Chuck Greenberg. The sale was delayed throughout the year by a number of legal and financial issues, including Hicks Sports Group’s bankruptcy filing in May. The franchise eventually went to public auction in August 2010, which the group led by Ryan and Greenberg won. This ended Hicks’ tenure at Rangers, and a few months later he sold Liverpool and the Stars the following year.
While Hicks’ time with the Rangers ended on a rough note, the staff hired to oversee the team during his tenure (including Ryan, GM Jon Daniels, and manager Ron Washington) managed to lead the Rangers to great success on the field despite this off-field drama. The Rangers won back-to-back AL pennants during the 2010 and ’11 seasons, with 90- and 96-win campaigns thanks to impact performances from stars Josh Hamilton and (in the case of 2011) Adrian Beltre.
MLB Trade Rumors extends our condolences to Hicks’ family, friends and loved ones.
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