The top of ML, the sports mogul who led A-road Park Chan-ho to Texas, left without stepping on it

The top of ML, the sports mogul who led A-road Park Chan-ho to Texas, left without stepping on it
Park Chan-ho, who signed an FA contract with the Texas Rangers for five years and $65 million in December 2001, poses with agent Scott Boras and then Texas star Alex Rodriguez at the joining ceremony. It was when Tom Hicks was the owner of the Texas team. Sports Chosun DB



The top of ML, the sports mogul who led A-road Park Chan-ho to Texas, left without stepping on it
Former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks. AP Yonhap News
Tom Hicks, an American asset entrepreneur who left a big mark on North American sports such as the U.S. Major League Baseball and the English Premier League, passed away on the 7th (Korea time). He was 79.

Hicks served as the owner of the MLB Texas Rangers (1998-2010) and the NHL Dallas Stars (1995-2011), and in 2007, he acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool in the English Premier League and became a sports mogul.

Texas won the AL West three times while he was the owner of the team and made it to the World Series once. The Dallas also lifted the Stanley Cup, the NHL's highest honor in 1999.




Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who is based in the same area, said in a statement, `We did a lot together on the field alongside the deceased. It was a relationship of human respect, trust, and friendship. We walked a lot of roads together. I'll miss him a lot. I offer my condolences to the bereaved family."

Los Perrott Jr. Texas-area entrepreneurs also said in a statement that "Tom Hicks was an innovative businessman and pioneer. He invested the money he earned from his business in sports and managed the Stars and Rangers himself.

The top of ML, the sports mogul who led A-road Park Chan-ho to Texas, left without stepping on it
Alex Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez posing during the 2002 Texas Rangers spring training in Arizona. Sports Chosun DB
The most obvious mark left by Hicks would be Alex Rodriguez's contract. Rodriguez, who became an FA after the end of the 2000 season, signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with superagent Scott Boras and left the Seattle Mariners to wear the Texas jersey.




At that time, it was twice as many as the previous record of the highest contract in the history of the world, and it was a contract that exceeded $200 million for the first time.

However, the media's view was not fair. The Los Angeles Times, titled `Texas-Sized Deal' at the time, commented that `Texas undoubtedly threw a worry at baseball's future by signing large contracts with the best players in the major leagues and larger than the value of 18 major league teams.'

The AP said `Hicks' most impressive moment came 25 years ago at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. At the time, he signed a 10-year, $252 million FA contract with 25-year-old Rodriguez. The contract was $2 million more than he paid to buy the Texas club two and a half years ago, and doubled the previous record of $126 million he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA and forward Kevin Garnett in October 1997.




Rodriguez became the AL home run king for the third consecutive year in Texas, but Texas only posted 216 wins and 270 losses during the same period. In the end, Texas traded him to the New York Yankees ahead of spring training in 2004.

In the fall of 2010, Hicks sold the club to a group of investors involving Nolan Ryan, a former Texas legend pitcher.

When Park Chan-ho, the first Korean major leaguer, signed a five-year, $65 million FA contract with Texas in December 2001 and moved to Texas, the owner of the team was Hicks. In the FA market that year, Park ranked third after Jason Giambi ($120 million for seven years) and Barry Bonds ($90 million for five years).





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.