Rangers Select Banister As Manager
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Jeff Banister was named manager of the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
“What stood out is his presence,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “He is an impressive guy to meet. You can understand how he can command a room. The passion for winning and getting to know people as a person before the player stood out the most.”
Banister inherits a Rangers team that finished last in a loaded American League West this year and abruptly lost popular manager Ron Washington, who resigned due to personal reasons late in the season.
However, the next Texas manager has faced much greater challenges in his life than turning around a baseball team.
Banister, who was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bench coach the past four seasons, successfully battled bone cancer during his high school days in Houston. He was also temporarily paralyzed from the waist down for a few weeks. He was playing catcher and suffered a broken neck when he was involved in a home plate collision.
He overcame all that to play professionally as a catcher in the Pirates’ organization.
Despite being a 25th-round draft pick in 1986 from the University of Houston, Banister carved out a
seven-year professional career because of his work ethic and baseball smarts. He had only one at-bat in the major leagues but finished with a 1.000 batting average — hitting a single off Atlanta’s Dan Petry in a 1991 game.
The Pirates were so impressed with Banister that they kept him in the organization after his playing days ended. He spent more than two decades as a coach at both the major league and minor league levels as well as being a manager in the farm system and the organization’s minor league field coordinator.
Banister was also so well-regarded by the Pirates that he was one two finalists when current manager Clint Hurdle was hired after the 2010 season.
Many in the organization said privately that the only reason Banister did not get the job is because it would have been a tough sell to the fans to hire an internal candidate when the Pirates were coming off 18 straight losing seasons at the time.
In many ways, Banister is the perfect manager to blend the new-age and old-school ways of baseball.
He has a strong background in player development and respects the role scouting plays in an organization. Yet he also understands the importance of statistical analysis and has watched first hand as sabermetrics have helped the Pirates go from the laughingstock of pro sports to back-to-back postseason appearances.
“I want to thank the Texas Rangers for giving me this opportunity,” Banister said. “I am elated to have the chance to make an impact on the organization and I look forward to getting started on that task.
“I also want to express my gratitude to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the last 29 years. My experiences in that organization have prepared me well for this new opportunity and I thank all of the individuals who have poured into my life along the way.”
Banister is a prototypical tough Texan who can be stern when needed, but is extremely caring and will quickly build trust with both his players and others in the organization.
“If a team asked me for a recommendation on Banny, I’d give a whole-hearted one,” Hurdle said in September.
Daniels knows Hurdle well. Hurdle served as their bench coach in 2010, his season between managing jobs with the Colorado Rockies and Rangers.
Daniels apparently listened to what Hurdle had to say. He chose Banister over Rangers interim manager Tim Bogar and Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash.
“When you go through life experiences like that, it provides unbelievable perspective,” Daniels said. “It’s huge in leadership positions. What he has experienced is pretty remarkable.
