3 months removed as owner, Hicks roots on Rangers

Wearing a polo shirt in Rangers red, a tall man walked without fanfare into a luxury box on the second deck of Rangers Ballpark, greeted his guests and settled down to watch the first World Series game in the Metroplex.

Less than three months ago, he used to occupy the owners' seats next to the first-base dugout and the George W. Bush suite directly behind home plate. Now, with the Texas Rangers three wins from their first World Series title, he's just another fan.

''Very bittersweet,'' Tom Hicks said. ''The sale was Aug. 4. We were already eight games in first place. I've had a real outpouring of friends and people who are important to me call me or e-mail or written me letters, recognizing that this team didn't start on Aug. 5.''

He rose to the top of the sports world, buying the NHL's Dallas Stars in 1995, the Rangers in 1998 and English soccer power Liverpool in 2007. And then as the economy turned, he was vilified as the baseball team wound up in bankruptcy court. English soccer supporters took to the streets in Merseyside, protesting Hicks and co-owner George Gillett Jr. until the day the team was sold out from under them to the parent company of the Boston Red Sox.

Now he's happy to be a regular season ticket-holder. Well, a season ticket-holder who entertains in the Eddie Collins Suite, overlooking the infield between home plate and third base.

''I think we're all ready, particularly the kids,'' he said Saturday night, just before the Rangers closed to 2-1 in the Series against the San Francisco Giants. ''Nobody likes to read about negative things said about their dad. We're ready to have some privacy.''

Still trying to sell the Stars, Hicks bowed out as Rangers owner on Aug. 12, eight days after a group headed by team president Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg beat out Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, in a bankruptcy auction with a bid valued at $593 million.

Hicks had bought the Rangers from Bush's group for $250 million, after Bush became governor of Texas and before he was elected president.

Even though Hicks no longer is owner, he feels partly responsible for the team's success - especially because his regime hired Jon Daniels and promoted him to general manager five years ago.

''It's our team. I think the smartest thing I did was take a chance on Jon Daniels when he was 28 years old, stood by him when he made a couple of mistakes. And I reached out and teamed him with Nolan, who is twice his age. Nolan is everything Jon isn't,'' Hicks said. ''I'm sure Jon is one of the smartest GMs in all of baseball, but he never played baseball. Nolan played baseball for 27 years and is a Hall of Fame baseball player.''

Hicks credits Ryan for giving the go-ahead on the summer acquisition of Cliff Lee from Seattle. And for some of the other pitching moves.

''Nolan has that same influence on decisions we had with Colby Lewis and giving C.J. Wilson a chance to be a starter instead of a late-inning bullpen guy,'' Hicks said.

Hicks expects the New York Yankees to make a big offer to Lee, who can become a free agent after the World Series - ''I don't know why they wouldn't.''

But he thinks the Rangers will increase their full-season ticket equivalents from 12,000-13,000 this year to 25,000 or even 30,000 next season.

''When you go to the World Series, your season-ticket base probably more than doubles the following year. So this has only been a sleeping giant of a market,'' Hicks said. ''The Dodgers didn't draw 3 million fans for the first 16 years and they've never gone below that since. Dallas-Fort Worth has a chance to be one of those kind of markets that when we finally do draw 3 million - and I think we will next year - I think we'll sustain it. And that gives you the revenue to keep the best players. If they want to keep Cliff Lee, they can. If they want to keep Josh Hamilton, they can.''

Before the Yankees played the Rangers in the AL championship series, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira went out of their way to praise their former owner, saying they felt badly the Rangers found success only after Hicks' departure.

In the current Rangers clubhouse, Hicks is hardly mentioned.

''When you talk about the history, yeah, he's a part of it,'' third baseman Michael Young said.

While Bush was in the clubhouse before Game 3 giving players pep talks, Hicks stayed away.

''He should be happy,'' Game 4 pitcher Tommy Hunter said. ''The Rangers are in the World Series.''

Hicks says he watches every Rangers game. Not so for Liverpool, even though its matches are readily available on U.S. television.

Hicks wouldn't comment directly on the Liverpool situation due to potential litigation. But he would say, ''I never became as a big a soccer fan as I am a baseball fan.''

He had four of his five sons with him at Yankee Stadium for the ALCS. He didn't attend the first two World Series games in San Francisco because he had committed to being at the 80th birthday party of his wife's uncle in Napa, so he watched on television.

For Game 3, he expected 14 guests in his suite and looked forward to meeting up with former general manager John Hart. Baseball taught Hicks some lessons during his decade-plus.

''There are no shortcuts. I was able to shortcut making the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup champions. I tried that in baseball. There's no such thing,'' he said. ''In hockey, you've got to have a great goaltender. In baseball you have to have pitching.''

Because of the bankruptcy case in Fort Worth and all the acrimony, he thinks his reputation suffered. Yet, he thinks the sale turned out the way it would have, anyway.

''I think what the average fan doesn't understand is the impasse that was reached. I mean, I picked this group to be the buyer. The creditors wouldn't allow that to happen because they thought there was a higher price to be obtained, and in hindsight they were correct,'' he said. ''But to break that deadlock was ugly, and the average fan doesn't understand why. They just understand it was ugly. It was the only way to end it.''