Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill where, unlike the Hall of Fame, good character and sportsmanship is not necessary for admission.

* Rangers manager Ron Washington: "My only goal is to win the World Series. Anything less than that is a failure."

* The Rangers heard rumors that Rafael Palmeiro might be interested in a comeback with them. It's not going to happen.

* Agent Randy Hendricks said there's a better than 50 percent chance that Roger Clemens will pitch in 2007. But the Rangers apparently didn't make the cut. This time around he is only considering the Red Sox, Astros and Yankees.

* Detroit columnist Mitch Albom wrote at the World Series that there was no way Kenny Rogers had pine tar on his pitching hand because he shook his hand after the game and it was clean. A New York writer later pointed out that Rogers pitches with his left hand but people shake hands with their right.

* You knew actor Peter Falk has a glass eye and has had it since he was three. According to the Internet Movie Database, once when Falk was playing in a Little League game, the umpire called him out. Falk thought that he was safe. He pulled his glass eye out of its socket and handed it to the umpire, telling him, "Here, I think you might need this."

* People argue that Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall of Fame because he was a better pitcher than Don Sutton. Fine. Catchers Ray Schalk and Rick Ferrell are in the Hall of Fame and Jim Sundberg was just as good or better than both.

* Blyleven supports say his career suffered from a lack of run support. In Texas, that was the case. The Rangers scored 3.60 runs for every nine innings that he pitched. That's the lowest ever for a Rangers pitcher with at least 400 innings pitched for them. The Rangers scored 7.07 runs per nine innings for Aaron Sele. Yes, that is the highest.

* Next up for the Hall of Fame is the Veterans Committee vote. The 84-member committee's decision will be announced Feb. 27 but they have failed in their last two elections in 2003 and 2005 to elect anybody. They need to put Cubs third baseman Ron Santo in there.

* Players eligible to be considered by the Committee who once played for the Rangers are Al Oliver, Sparky Lyle and Bobby Bonds. So too is former Rangers manager Billy Martin as well as Paul Richards, who managed the White Sox and the Orioles but was a special assistant for the Rangers right up until he passed away in 1986.

* Mickey Vernon, the former Washington Senators first baseman, is also eligible to be considered by the Veterans Committee. You know your Rangers history if your recognize Vernon as the franchise's first manager when they were the Washington Senators. He was replaced by Gil Hodges, who is also eligible.

* Just for the heck of it: Dave Burba.

* The MASH character Cpl. Maxwell Klinger was from Toledo and a big Toledo Mudhens fan. He was on occasion seen wearing what was being passed off as a Mudhens cap with a T on the front but it was actually a Texas Rangers cap from the late 70's and early 80's.

* Dave Stewart had four 20-win seasons, was the Most Valuable Player of the 1989 World Series and one of the best big-game pitchers of his time. Pretty good for a guy who was drafted as a catcher. That's right, the Los Angeles Dodgers turned him into a pitcher after selecting him in the 17th round of the 1975 draft.

* George Clooney turned to acting only after trying out for the Cincinnati Reds at the age of 16 and failing to make it.

* Tom Hanks grew up in Oakland, which doesn't explain why he is a die-hard Cleveland Indians fan.

* Rangers assistant public relations director Jeff Evans is leaving to join the Seattle Mariners staff. He's from the Seattle area and went to school at Washington State.

* Were you paying attention back in 1992 when Tom Selleck appeared in a Spring Training game for his beloved Detroit Tigers and struck out against Reds pitcher Tim Layana?