Texas Rangers Eric Nadel 2023 World Series Last Out Call Note and Radio Broadcasting Headset Used For Over Ten Years Including...

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Texas Rangers Eric Nadel 2023 World Series Last Out Call Note and Radio Broadcasting Headset Used For Over Ten Years Including 2023 World Series Championship Run. "The big thing I decided during the whole day (Wednesday) when I felt like I was in a dream leading up to Game 5, I thought, 'People need to know this isn't a dream. So at some point I knew I was going to say, 'Rangers fans, you're not dreaming.' That was the one thing I planned."

On November 1, Eric Nadel - for 45 years, the voice of the Texas Rangers - spoke for millions of North Texans as he delivered the call that confirmed, yes, the Rangers were, at long last, World Series champions. For those raised on Nadel's voice, it was the only way they would believe more than a half-century of drought and despair had come to its blessed end.

Yet for much of Major League Baseball's 2023 season, the National Baseball Hall of Fame's 2014 Ford C. Frick Award Winner and member of both the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame was absent from the broadcast booth. As the Rangers stayed atop the American League West for most of the season, Nadel was on an extended leave of absence, tending to his mental health. Fans feared he might miss the post-season. The rollercoaster ride wouldn't be the same without Nadel as their companion.

He fought his way back to the booth just as the Rangers struggled to remain in the post-season chase. In the end, everyone was together. The Night the Texas Rangers Became World Series Champions. Finally.

Only weeks after that historic night in the Arizona desert, Nadel consigns this incredible collection of championship keepsakes to benefit the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas.

The collection begins with the handwritten note Nadel had begun composing when he allowed himself to believe the team's first title was in sight. It wasn't easy. After all, Nadel had been there before, on October 27, 2011, when the Rangers came this close to clinching their first World Series win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Twice, the Rangers were one strike away from winning Game 6. And twice the Rangers blew it - once in the ninth inning, again in the 11th.

So it was not without some hubris that Nadel put pen to paper the afternoon of November 1 and began writing what he hoped - what he believed - would be the World Series-winning call for the Texas Rangers. He took some stationery from the team's hotel, the Arizona Biltmore, and wrote in the middle of the sheet of paper:

"Rangers Fans, You Are Not Dreaming!"

Nadel later said, "It dawned on me other Rangers fans must be feeling the same way, and they certainly would when we actually won. So it felt appropriate to wrap up the final out of the World Series by letting them know they were not dreaming."

He stashed the note in his scorebook, and only much later - when the Rangers piled on a few late-inning runs - he hurriedly scribbled at the top: "IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER!" By night's end, he'd filled out the entire call. Nadel has signed the note in red sharpie as the final touch for one lucky bidder.

This collection of Rangers history also includes the headset Nadel used for at least a decade of broadcasting, including the 2023 World Championship run. Rangers' longtime public address announcer Chuck Morgan said it best, calling Nadel "the soundtrack to Texas summer," and this headset served as his conduit to Rangers fans for more than a decade. And, of course, it was there for every moment of the most incredible season in Rangers history, down to the last, World Series-clinching out.

Use is heavy, as you would expect, given the extent of its usage. The Houston-based radio engineer at Minute Maid Park informed Nadel before Game 1 of the AL Championship Series that it was in dire need of replacement. But the Hall of Fame broadcaster continued with this piece of equipment, and it was perched atop his head as Texas vanquished their in-state rival in seven games to secure their trip to the Fall Classic. The headset likewise witnessed the franchise's most significant moments in the World Series, assisting in bringing Eric's call to the world. Two pieces of black tape along the top announce in white text: "TEXAS RANGERS" and "ERIC NADEL."

Also included are color photocopies of Nadel's hand-completed scoresheets for the Game Five clincher, providing additional nostalgia for the winning bidder.

And lastly we have a Heritage Auctions produced 11x14" poster of Nadel celebrating as he made the last out call during the Game Five clincher along with printed text of the call. Eric has signed the poster with a 10/10 black sharpie signature and added a "HOF 2014" inscription.

More Information: 100% of the proceeds from The Eric Nadel Collection will go to the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas and each lot will be accompanied by a Letter of Provenance signed by Eric Nadel