Rangers Still Helping West, Texas, After Explosion

(AP) Rangers still helping West, Texas, after explosion
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
WEST, Texas
Scott Podsednik played high school baseball on a since-abandoned field in the shadow of a fertilizer plant that exploded last April in the former major league outfielder’s small Central Texas hometown.

A “Keep Out” sign is posted on the fence below the ripped-up scoreboard. Light poles are down on the field separated from the cleared plant site only by a railroad track, and next to a park that will be renovated with a new playground and a memorial for the 15 people who died in the explosion.

The Rangers, who have made a $50,000 donation for West City Park, made a caravan stop Tuesday in the town of about 2,800 people less than 90 miles from their home ballpark.

After the explosion last year, the team collected tens of thousands of essential items for West victims and residents, along with gift cards and $40,000 in cash donations at Rangers Ballpark. Players donated cash and equipment, and Major League Baseball also gave $100,000 to relief efforts. More than 1,000 individuals from the town later attended a City of West night at a Rangers game last July.

A fire truck was parked outside the West Community Center, where players Mitch Moreland and Tanner Scheppers joined other members of the Rangers organization and were met by about 100 school children. That truck, with No. 27 on it, was donated last year to West’s volunteer fire department by Lance Berkman when he was playing for Texas.

That community center is about two miles down Reagan Street from the park site, where traffic cones and broken glass sit on the tennis/basketball courts that will be redone. The mayor said about 50 new hours are under construction near that park.

The town’s baseball fields are now behind the community center, where signage on a water tower recognizes Podsednik for being a 2005 All-Star and World Series champion. He hit the game-ending home run in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series against Houston.

When the explosion occurred, Podsednik was about 90 minutes away at his home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His wife was on the telephone at the time with his mother, who lives about seven miles outside of West.

Podsednik, who still has vivid memories of playing baseball there growing up, said the town is going to bounce back.