Robin Ventura is the White Sox’s manager now and not just an underrated former All-Star third baseman who once got put in a headlock and punched by Nolan Ryan, so the Rangers have decided to change their usual routine in the name of showing him more respect.
Instead of regularly playing the 1993 clip of Ventura charging the mound and getting beaten up by a 46-year-old Ryan--which they’ve shown on the ballpark jumbotron before nearly every game--the Rangers will not show the video during their opening-weekend series against the White Sox.
In fact, according to Rangers senior vice president for ballpark entertainment Chuck Morgan they may stop showing it altogether:We may show it on the day it happened as part of the 40th anniversary moments, but that’s probably it. I just thought this offseason that we didn’t need to be showing that anymore. I watched how St. Louis treated Stan the Man during the playoffs and that’s how we should treat Nolan as the face of the franchise. We’ll celebrate his no-hitters and other moments.
I also don’t think it’s right for us on our Opening Day to show a fight, and then that whole weekend we’re going to treat Robin Ventura with respect. He’s the manager of the White Sox. We don’t need to do anything like that.Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas reports that Ryan agreed with no longer showing the footage being a good idea, but didn’t force Morgan to make the change. And as you can see by the accompanying graphic, Ryan has previously been just fine with autographing pictures of him punching Ventura in the head.