Hello Win Column

On July first my job took me to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The ETBU Admissions Department was hosting prospective students from the Metroplex at the game between the Rangers and Los Angeles Angels. The ETBU bunch was sitting in Section 319.

Sometime during the game I looked up at the big message board in centerfield. On the screen was a welcome to some family who were guests of the Mark Holtz Hello Win Column Foundation. Mark Holtz was the play-by-play voice for the Rangers for many years before cancer took his life.

"Hello Win Column" was Holt's signature line when the Rangers won. I have heard it many times working the audio board during Texas Rangers games when I worked for KOCA radio in Kilgore. Seeing "Hello Win Column" brought back a terrific memory from my past.

I met Mark Holtz for the first time in early 1980's. The Texas Rangers Caravan made a promotional stop in Kilgore. Rangers players Mark Wagner and Bill Stein, along with Holtz came to the KOCA-KKTX studios be on the air. I got a chance to talk broadcasting with Holtz.

Holtz, told me, "I have a lot of respect for you local guys who call games on the radio. You have to do your own stats, you have to find out your own information about the team. You have to do your homework. In the majors, all that is provided to you by the media departments of each team."

When Holtz left that day I felt like I had made a friend. He said to me, "If you are ever at the ballpark (the old Arlington Stadium back then) come up to the booth. You will be welcomed."


The next season, because I worked for a Rangers radio affiliate, I was able to obtain a season press pass to all the Rangers home games. One paricular game on a Sunday afternoon Harry Lane and I went. During the game we made a stop into the Rangers broadcast booth where Holtz and Eric Nadel were calling the game.

Holtz remembered us and welcomed us to sit it and watch. During a lull in the action Holtz said, "For all you Rangers fans in Kilgore, I want to tell you that your sports guys, Harry Lane and Mike Midkiff, are visiting the booth this afternoon. Glad to have them watching the game with Eric and myself."

Wow. What a nice thing for Holtz to do. He did not have to say anything about us being there.

It seems everytime I see or hear someone say, "Hello Win Column" my mind goes back to my trip to Arlington Stadium and spending a few innings in the Rangers broadcast booth."

The Rangers beat the Angels that night with a walk off homerun by Hank Blaylock. Can you imagine how excited Holtz would have been that night when he said, "Hello Win Column!"