{"id":128217,"date":"2026-01-18T18:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/128217\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T18:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:27:08","slug":"why-the-texas-rangers-are-saying-no-autographs-please-at-most-winter-warmup-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/128217\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Texas Rangers are saying \u2018no autographs, please\u2019 at most Winter Warmup events"},"content":{"rendered":"

With FanFest approaching and spring training<\/a> on the horizon, the Rangers<\/a> will begin their annual outreach to reconnect with fans this week. <\/p>\n

Just one request: No autographs, please. <\/p>\n

In a stark change from their past Winter Caravan approach that saw the team travel to out-of-market locations, often to just encounter the same memorabilia hounds camped out for autographs, the Rangers are taking what they believe is a more intimate approach. They will pose for photographs in meet-and-greet style \u201cpop-up\u201d events, but, at the vast majority, autographs will not be available. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of the same memorabilia seekers everywhere we went, eating up the first quarter to half of the line,\u201d Jim Cochrane, the team\u2019s Chief Business Officer, told The Dallas Morning News. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not really what these events were meant to be. There will be photo opportunities and getting some interaction with players, which will be a little more personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For those seeking autographs, which has become a big industry unto itself, the ticketed Rangers FanFest<\/a> — Saturday at Globe Life Field — is the best route. Tickets for FanFest are $20 for adults, $10 for kids ages 3-14. The Rangers made 75 \u201cfast pass\u201d tickets available for those merely seeking autographs. The \u201cfast pass,\u201d which goes for $750, guarantees autographs of every attendee. They have already sold out.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u201cFanFest is really the opportunity to get autographs,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve got plenty of opportunities in-season to get autographs. We think this represents a more intimate interaction that we could do. And players are more open to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The schedule begins Monday with Josh Smith<\/a> and Cody Bradford,<\/a> two of just a handful of players who still live locally, at a Dallas Kroger for a late afternoon, hour-long meet and greet. The team also hosts its \u201cHot Stove Kickoff\u201d show at Hurtado BBQ in the Dallas Farmers Market at 6:30 p.m. Monday with Josh Jung<\/a> and Tyler Alexander<\/a> on hand. That is the one public event this week where autographs will be available. <\/p>\n

The change, which Cochrane said is an experiment, is also a concession to several external factors that make the old-school style caravans more challenging. <\/p>\n

As the autograph industry has grown, many players have contracts that prevent some free events. Also, fewer and fewer players live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, making it more challenging to get them to come in for an extra trip a month ahead of leaving for spring training; under the caravan format, it often required players to be in town for multiple days to make appearances out of market and the financial incentive to do so has dwindled as MLB salaries have continued to rise. He acknowledged that getting better participation from the roster is a goal. The compromise was a shortened schedule leading into FanFest, when the great majority of the roster will be in town anyway. <\/p>\n

Cochrane also said the Rangers spoke to officials with a number of other clubs that have faced the same obstacles and found that more and more teams are turning to these \u201cpop-up\u201d events that represent pleasant surprises for avid fans who simply want to see and meet players ahead of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will try it this way this year and then we will evaluate,\u201d Cochrane said.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With FanFest approaching and spring training on the horizon, the Rangers will begin their annual outreach to reconnect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,732,39085,6812,154,429],"class_list":{"0":"post-128217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news","11":"tag-article","12":"tag-josh-jung","13":"tag-rangers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-texas-rangers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}