Loyal in Blue: Why Texas Rangers Fans Are Like No Other

The Texas Rangers may be known as The Lone Stars, but the team and their followers make quite the cavalry together. After playing their first Major League Baseball game as the Rangers in 1972, the club has brought Arlington, Texas to the mound for seven division titles and three American League pennants, but the team earned all the spoils in 2023 with their first World Series championship. After lifting the pressure of previous playoff eliminations, Texas Rangers baseball fans are ready to enter a new era with the Commissioner’s Trophy in hand.

Find out more about the history, home game traditions, and famous fans of the Texas Rangers below.

What it Means to be a Texas Rangers Super Fan

The Texas Rangers are the second-longest active MLB team in Texas behind the Houston Astros, but due to their northern home in Arlington, Texas, the fanbase stretches well beyond the Lone Star State into Oklahoma, Arkansas and more. While fans helplessly watched in-state rival the Astros claim the Fall Classic in 2017 and 2022, the determined Rangers became the toast of Texas themselves one year later in 2023. Now, Rangers baseball fans are in a state of transition as the team embraces its first championship title.

The successful 2023 World Series run was elevated by fervent fan support throughout the season as well. One superfan used his Rangers fan account to coordinate meet-ups with hundreds of fans at home games and eventually had his preferred Section 133 deemed as “Corey’s Corner.” In response, the movement created a push at Globe Life Field for a “Texas Sized Takeover.” The team has given back to fans through the Rangers Fan Fest. The latest edition, in January of 2024, included fan being allowed to take photos with the World Series trophy, get autographs from Rangers players and more.

The team engages with fans and the community through the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation, which hosts events, fundraisers and programs to benefit children, military, first responders, and their families. The foundation’s reach spans the Rangers’ “five-state territory” of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Texas Rangers Fans on Game Day

With the opening of Globe Life Field in 2020, the Texas Rangers home games look historically different to fans, but luckily, the past is not far: the 40,300-seat stadium, the newest venue in Major League Baseball, is located directly across the street from the Rangers’ previous home at Choctaw Stadium. The ballpark itself is also a tribute to Rangers’ history with specific field dimensions honoring former players such as Nolan Ryan, Iván Rodríguez and Adrián Beltré.

As a relief to many Rangers fans, several traditions carried over from the team’s former home field. Guests clad in the team’s red, white and blue can still stomp and clap to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” during the seventh-inning stretch and sing along to Pat Green’s “I Like Texas” after a home win. “Hello Win Column” also displays on the Rangers scoreboard in a tribute to late broadcaster Mark Holtz.

Fans are sure to pack Globe Life Field for the annual Lone Star Series against the Houston Astros, which has only intensified since 2013 when the Astros joined the Rangers in the AL West. Notably, the Rangers eliminated the Astros in the ALCS in 2023 on the way to their first championship. Other highly anticipated home games can be found on the full Texas Rangers promotion schedule, which lists select matchups for special giveaways and fan appreciation nights planned ahead.

Memorable Moments in Texas Rangers Fandom

Although many Texas Rangers fans would argue that the team’s greatest moment came with their unlikely wild card postseason run and Game 5 victory in the 2023 World Series, the club has created a number of memorable experiences for spectators. In 1994, the home crowd marveled as Kenny Rogers threw the franchise’s only perfect game along with thrilling defensive team play. Two years later, the Rangers hosted their playoff game at home and fell to the New York Yankees, but got revenge in the 2010 ALCS as they clinched their first American League pennant at home. More recently, Rangers fans celebrated 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Adrián Beltré’s 3,000th hit in 2017.

One of the most personal gestures the Rangers organization has offered to fans was the unveiling of the “Rangers Fans” statue in 2012. Honoring a fan who passed away at a home game the year prior, the statue depicts the late Shannon Stone and his six-year old son in Rangers gear and represents the love between fans, family and their teams.

Famous Texas Rangers Fans

The Texas Rangers fanbase features several notable members such as former owner and U.S. President George W. Bush, actor Owen Wilson and musicians Nick Jonas, Wade Bowen and the rock band Creed. Famous Rangers fans from the sports world include Luka Dončić and Dirk Nowitzki of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks as well as Tony Romo and Micah Parsons of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.