Hello Win Column!

Mark Holtz loved baseball.  It was more than his career, it was his passion.  It was something Texas Rangers fans could hear in his voice every time he slid behind the microphone to announce games.  He is known for coining the phrase "It's baseball time in Texas" at the start of games and "Hello, Win Column!" after a Rangers win.

Two months into the 1997 season, his 17th as the Voice of the Rangers, Mark was forced to step away from the broadcast booth when he was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer.  In June of that year, he underwent a bone marrow transplant, but passed away from leukemia in early September.  Just 23 months later, Mark's wife Alice died after her ten year battle with ovarian and uterine cancer.

When the Texas Rangers inducted him into the Ranger's Hall of Fame in 2005, his family was awarded four tickets to every home game and a parking pass for life.Mark's daughter, Cindy Kuster, decided that the best way to honor her late father's memory was to share his love of baseball with other people battling cancer.

Each season the Kuster family gives the North Texas Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) tickets to ten home games.  Their only directive: give the tickets to a patient and their family who need to take their minds off their diagnosis and treatment by enjoying a night at the ballpark.  Each family receives game tickets, a parking pass, food/souvenir vouchers, and a special gift bag.

We know Holtz would say, "Hello, Win Column" to this generous arrangement.  Thank you to Cindy and Jeff Kuster for their very generous support of LLS and the patients we serve.