Fans walk by the 12-foot-tall bronze statue ‘One Riot, One Ranger’ on the left field plaza of Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, during opening day on Friday, April 3, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON — Walk through the north entrance of Globe Life Field, and the statue is nearly impossible to miss.
Rising a dozen feet high, the bronze “One Riot, One Ranger” depicts a member of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency, the baseball team’s namesake. On Friday, the statue gained a sort of celebrity status at the Texas Rangers‘ home opener.
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Fans stop to look at the 12-foot-tall bronze statue ‘One Riot, One Ranger’ on the left field plaza of Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, during opening day on Friday, April 3, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Dozens of fans stopped to take photos, study the controversial piece and read the inscription: “Texas Ranger of 1960.” Most said they were pleased to see the statue, which stood for decades at Dallas Love Field until its removal during the racially charged summer of 2020.
“This is the perfect place for it,” said John Cornette, 58, who lives in Mansfield and works in construction. “I wasn’t happy it was taken down in the first place, but it belongs here.”
Ashley Fowler, a 38-year-old from Joshua and lifelong Rangers fan, said she did not understand why the statue was installed at the ballpark.
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“If it hurts and offends people,” she said, “then it seems to be doing more harm than good.”
Fans walk by the 12-foot-tall bronze statue ‘One Riot, One Ranger’ on the left field plaza of Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, during opening day on Friday, April 3, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
The Texas Rangers unveiled the statue in March, nearly six years after it was removed following the publication of the book “Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers.” The book, by Doug Swanson, a former Dallas Morning News reporter, detailed multiple incidents of brutality and racism.
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Around the same time, the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis sparked a reckoning over racism and police brutality nationwide.
Whom the statute commemorates has driven much of the backlash over the statue. Swanson said the statue depicts Capt. Jay Banks, who in the 1950s led an effort to bar Black students from enrolling at a high school in Mansfield and a community college in Texarkana.
Some, including Russell Molina, board member of the Texas Ranger Association Foundation, say the statue is meant to depict the organization, not a single individual.
Baseball fans said they were not interested in the back-and-forth. For them, the statue simply commemorates a piece of shared history. The Rangers, the storied law enforcement agency, dates back to 1823, when Stephen F. Austin hired 10 men to protect settlements from Native Americans.
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“This is our history,” said David Hatcher, 71, a retired high school history teacher and baseball coach in Fort Worth, who stopped to take photos of the statue with his grandchildren. “We should be learning our American history, all of it, the good and the bad.”
Beth Wiggs and Erin Beck look up at the 12-foot-tall bronze statue ‘One Riot, One Ranger’ on the left field plaza of Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, Friday, April 3, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Scott Rutherford, a sommelier who works in commercial real estate in Dallas, admired the piece with his father-in-law. Rutherford, 54, said he hopes the statue will spur people to learn more about history.
“The Texas Rangers has always had this sort of mystique to it,” he said. “There’s good and bad in everything in history, and we could use this controversy and conflict to educate ourselves.”
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U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat and self-described lifelong Rangers fan, said he was disappointed the club installed the statue, which until recently had been in storage at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth. He said he raised concerns with Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and Rangers representatives.
The City of Dallas public art collection agreed to loan the statue to the Texas Ranger Association Foundation with the intent it would be displayed at a new museum in Waco. When the museum did not come to fruition, the foundation initiated conversations with the baseball team to display the statue at the ballpark.
“Teams like the Rangers are woven into the fabric of our community,” Veasey said. “That comes with an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure that legacy is one people feel proud of.”
Molina, with the Texas Ranger Association Foundation, previously said in a statement that history “must be confronted honestly.”
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“While not everyone who has served across more than two centuries lived up to the ideal, most did — and they deserve to be remembered for their service, sacrifice and commitment to the people of Texas,” he wrote.
Erin Beck, who lives in Euless and works in health care, said she blamed “cancel culture” for the removal of the statue. Pausing to take photos with the statue, Beck said Texas Rangers symbolize “strength, courage and Chuck Norris,” who famously starred in the television show Walker, Texas Ranger.
Looking at the statue, Beck smiled. “It’s home,” she said before finding her seat at the ballpark.
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Fans around the 12-foot-tall bronze statue ‘One Riot, One Ranger’ on the left field plaza of Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, during opening day on Friday, April 3, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News