Baseball holding out for a hero to rescue its decline

THERE’S a lot to dislike about the state of Texas but its baseball teams are hard to hate.

When the Dallas-based Texas Rangers finally escaped from the greasy clutches of former Liverpool owner Tom Hicks just over a year ago, it brought to an end months of uncertainty surrounding the historical under-achievers.

The Hicks Sports Group had initially bought the franchise in the mid-nineties after the previous minority owner George W Bush opted to concentrate on his lamentable political career.