H ISTORIC MO M ENTS IN R ANGER S HISTO RY
Former Mayor Richard
Greene, Josh Hamilton,
Selected to Texas
Rangers Baseball Hall
of Fame
During his tenure as Mayor of Arlington from 1987-97,
Richard Greene played a major role in the Texas Rangers
effort to build a ballpark to replace Arlington Stadium and
thus keep the team in Arlington.
After several months of discussions with the Rangers’
ownership group led by George W. Bush, Edward “Rusty”
Rose and Tom Schieffer, the ballclub and City of Arlington
announced an agreement to build the new facility on
October 24, 1990.
Since leaving office, Greene has remained involved with
the Rangers organization for many years. In November
2018, Rangers were the recipient of Major League Baseball’s
highest community award, the Allan H. Selig Award for
Philanthropic Excellence. The honor recognized the Texas
Rangers Baseball Foundation’s efforts to support Arlington
youth through the Texas Rangers Richard Greene Scholars
program.
Now in its 23rd year of operation, the Richard Greene
Scholars program has provided more than $1.2 million in
college scholarships to 126 Arlington high school students.
In addition to financial aid, the Texas Rangers Richard
Greene Scholars program has become a cornerstone
leadership development program in Arlington by engaging
recipients with local civic and business communities.
20
Outfielder Josh Hamilton, who was the offensive catalyst
for a pair of American League Championship teams, and
former City of Arlington Mayor Richard Greene, who was
instrumental in the building of Globe Life Park in the
early 1990’s, have been selected as the 21st and 22nd
members of the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame, it
was announced in May.
Hamilton and Greene will be inducted prior to the
Rangers game with the Minnesota Twins on Saturday,
August 17. The on-field ceremony will begin at
approximately 6:50 p.m. with the starting time of the
Rangers-Twins game moved from 7:05 to 7:35 p.m. The
pair become the Rangers Hall of Fame’s first inductees
since Michael Young in 2016.
Hamilton posted a batting line of .305/.363/.549 with
142 home runs and 506 RBI over five seasons with Texas
from 2009-12 after being acquired from Cincinnati in
December 2007. In that span, he ranked among the
Major League leaders in slugging (5th), RBI (8th) and
batting average (10th), and was selected as an A.L. All-
Star starter all five years.
Overall, Hamilton had a .290 average with 200 homers
and 701 RBI in 1027 games with Cincinnati (2007), Texas
(2008-12; 2015), and the Los Angeles Angels (2013-14).