Honorary Chair and Master of Ceremonies Biographical Information

Tom Grieve , Honorary Chair - Texas Rangers Television Announcer

Tom Grieve is in his 15th season as the analyst in the Rangers' television booth after debuting on Prime Sports broadcasts in 1995. He has been with the Washington/Texas franchise for nearly 41 of his 42 years in professional baseball.

Named the Rangers' Vice President and General Manager September, 1984 Grieve became the youngest General Manager in baseball at the time. He remained in the position until September 1994, still the longest tenure of any General Manager in team history. Grieve was the Senators' first round pick in the October, 1968 June free agent draft after an outstnding high school career in his hometown of Pittsfield, Massachuesetts. He played in the majors with the Senators, Rangers, Mets, and Cardinals from 1970-1779. Grieve was the Rangers Player of the Year in 1976 with career bests of 20 homers and 81 RBI.

He joined the Rangers front office as director of group sales in 1980, became assistant director of player development in 1981, and was promoted to director of player development after the 1982 season.

Tom and his wife, Kathy have three childreen, all accomplished athletes. His oldest son Tim, a graduate of Texas Christian University, pitched in the Kansas City and Arizona organizations and is now a Texas scout for the Detroit Tigers. His son Ben was the 2nd pick in the nation in the 1994 June draft. In 1998 he was the American League's Rookie of the Year with the Oakland A's. Daughter Katie was an all-state volleyball player at Arlington Martin HS and went on to play at Auburn University. She graduated from the University of Texas in 2000.

 Jim Sundberg, Honorary Chair - Texas Rangers Senior Executive Vice President

Rangers Hall of Famer Jim Sundberg was appointed Senior Executive Vice President on October 10, 2008. He assists team President Nolan Ryan in the oversight of all aspects of the Rangers operation. Sundberg also serves as the club’s liaison for its spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, and runs the very successful Texas Rangers Legacy Partnership, now in its fourth season.

For the previous year, Jim was the Rangers Executive Vice President, Communications & Public Relations and oversaw all media, public and community relations activities as well as supervising issues impacting the Rangers brand. Sundberg previously served as both Executive Director to the President and Director of Business Development after joining the front office in January of 2004.

A member of the inaugural class of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, Sundberg returned to baseball in 2002, coordinating several community programs for the Frisco RoughRiders. He also served as Texas’ Minor League catching coordinator from 2002-2004.

Jim retired at the end of the 1989 season following a 16-year major league career with the Rangers, Milwaukee, Kansas City and the Chicago Cubs.

One of the top defensive catchers in Major League history, Sundberg won six Gold Glove awards and was a three-time American League All-Star. He still ranks 6th on the all-time list for games caught (1927), trailing only Carlton Fisk (2226), Bob Boone (2225), Ivan Rodriguez (2173), Gary Carter (2056), and Tony Pena (1950). Sundberg spent 11 1/2 seasons with Texas and still ranks among the club’s all-time leaders in games (2nd, 1,512), walks (4th, 544), at-bats (5th, 4,684), triples (T5th, 27) hits (6th, 1,180) and doubles (7th, 200). He also maintains the record for the most games caught in one season in the A.L. (155 games in 1975).

Jim was a member of the 1985 World Champion Kansas City Royals, scoring the winning run with a head-first slide in the Royals’ memorable Game 6 win over St. Louis. He was voted “World Series Hero” by the Chicago sports writers for his play in the 1998 series. He spent just one season in the Minor Leagues during his entire playing career, with Pittsfield in 1973.

Jim was an All-American at the University of Iowa in 1972, leading the Hawkeyes to the Big 10 championship and their lone College World Series appearance.

After making tremendous efforts in the community during his playing days, the Rangers placed Jim’s name on the club’s community service award beginning in 1989.

Between his playing days and re-joining the Rangers, Jim started companies manufacturing sports training products and conducting motivational speeches. He co-wrote the book How to Win at Sports Parenting with his wife. Jim was also an analyst on Rangers’ television games from 1990-95.

Jim married the former Janet Naugle on July 3, 1970. The couple has three children, Aaron James (2/12/72), Audra Janette (7/17/76), and Briana Nicole (4/8/83), and eight grandchildren.

 Talmage Boston - Baseball Historian and Media Member, Texas Baseball Hall of Fame

Talmage Boston is a member of Highland Park United Methodist Church and shareholder at the law firm of Winstead PC, where he has been named a Texas Monthly Super Lawyer every year from 2003--2009. He is also a featured columnist every month for the Dallas Business Journal and the Park Cities People newspapers, and an author of two critically claimed baseball history books, Baseball and the Baby Boomer (Bright Sky Press 2009, foreword by Frank Deford) and 1939: Baseball's Tipping Point (Bright Sky Press 2005, foreword by John Grisham). For his writings and media commentating on the subject of baseball, Talmage has been inducted as a Media Member into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. He and his wife Claire are the proud parents of two children who now attend TCU--Scott, a senior, and Lindsey, a freshman.