Saturday Morning Rangers Things

The Rangers won last night — or lost, depending on how you look at it — but I don’t think today should be about that at all.

Today should be about one man, and that man is Chuck Morgan.

Morgan is set work his 3,000th consecutive home game as the Rangers’ PA announcer today. In a perfect world, he’d be announcing this game in a full stadium as the Rangers were clinching a playoff spot with two days left in the season. In a normal world, there would at least be 20 thousand fans or so there to congratulate him. But here we are.

If you’ve followed this franchise or visited this website for an extended period of time, you’ll know that Chuck Morgan is so, so much more than a PA announcer, and represents so much more to this franchise as well.

First and foremost, he is the proverbial voice of this team. His voice is so deeply-rooted in my brain that I can’t think about The Ballpark in Arlington Globe Life Park without thinking about Chuck informing us all what time it is. My summers for many many years were Chuck Morgan, Greene’s Hill, Dollar Hot Dog Night, and horrible left field sunburn.

And it’s not just that, but his fingerprints are all over this franchise. From the in-game presentation (it’s been largely reported that he’s the father of the Dot Race) to fan outreach, he is literally much more than PA announcer. Like, it’s in his job title now.

He also frequently pops on here, and his contributions to the comment section of Lone Star Ball are as helpful as they are welcomed. Seriously. This comment section. He voluntarily reaches out to us.

All of that, I think, comes from a genuine desire to spread his love of the game, and without a doubt Chuck Morgan is a major contributor to my love of the Texas Rangers and of the game of baseball.

And that desire is reflected in the way he treats people, from fans at the game to internet commenters to people who request his services on Cameo (I did, and he knocked it out of the park).

It really sucks that such a milestone will be announced to an empty stadium, so I wanted to take this opportunity to shout out to Chuck and say congratulations on 3,000 great games.

He deserves some type of on-field recognition, and he deserves a spot in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame, but I don’t know who would announce the ceremonies. It’s weird to imagine someone else’s voice coming out of that microphone.

Congratulations, Chuck. We’ll see you in 2021.