Tracy Ringolsby levels more allegations against Hicks

Grouchy baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby goes into crotchety old man mode in a Fox Sports column, grousing about how much Alex Rodriguez sucks as a human being and how much better it was back in the old days, when players respected the game by throwing fastballs at each other's heads.

There's a weird part at the end that carps at a bunch of Hispanic players on different teams "laughing and chatting" with each other before a game, which probably wouldn't rub me quite so wrong if it weren't for the fact that Ringolsby seems to have such a hard time finding Anglo players who he thinks are disrespecting the game.

In any case, the story is part hatchet job on ARod, part the same "things were better back in the old days" story that baseball writers have been writing since probably around 1890, when I imagine some writer was grousing about how all the Irish players who had taken over the game didn't show the same respect and character that the players of the 1870s did.

And it wouldn't even be worth me commenting on (or you wasting your time reading) except for this:

And that wasn't the first time A-Rod put his own needs ahead of an organization. Tom Hicks, the man who is attempting to sell the Texas Rangers, was able to cover the Rangers’ share of Rodriguez’s 10-year, $242 million deal signed before the 2001 season, despite Hicks’ bankruptcy problems.

It’s the working stiffs with the Rangers, the ones who had their future caught up in a Hicks-created retirement plan, who are left with nothing to show for their efforts.

Now, the central point of this -- that ARod is a bad guy who doesn't respect the game because he signed a big contract with the Rangers, and didn't give millions back to the team and now the team is in trouble -- doesn't make any sense. 

But the allegation that Ringolsby makes -- that Rangers' employees have "nothing" in their retirement plans because of something Hicks did -- is news to me.  Ringolsby throws it out almost as an aside, as if it is something that is common knowledge...but I've been following the Hicks/Rangers saga very closely, and I've never heard anything about Rangers employees being left with nothing in their retirement plans because of "Hicks' bankruptcy problems."

Is this news to anyone else?  Or is this common knowledge, and I've just missed it? 

My initial reaction is that this is some sort of misunderstanding...I can't imagine that the Rangers' financial problems have resulted in an Enron situation where employees' 401ks are suddenly worthless.  It isn't as if employees could have been holding HSG stock in their retirement plans.  As negative as my opinion of Hicks is, that seems a bit much, even to me.

So there should either be some sort of correction forthcoming about this from Fox Sports, or there is a huge story here the D/FW media should be covering.