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Texas Rangers pitch in to replace Cedar Hill High baseball team's stolen, damaged equipment
By BRUCE TOMASO / The Dallas Morning News
btomaso@dallasnews.com
The Texas Rangers are helping Cedar Hill High School's baseball team get back in the game.
Today at 12:30 p.m., Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter and second baseman Ian Kinsler will be at the school to present a $10,000 check to help cover losses from a theft over New Year's weekend at the school's fieldhouse. In addition, team members are donating equipment to the high school's players.
The devastating theft at the school was discovered last week, when coaches and students returned from the holiday break.
The thieves who broke into the field house not only stole thousands of dollars in athletic equipment; they also vandalized the building and its contents, spray-painting vulgarities on walls, smashing trophies and wrecking vending machines.
"What they didn't steal, they destroyed," Jeremy Fatheree, the school's baseball coach, said.
Much of the stolen equipment was players' personal property. One school district official estimated that more than 30 students lost something of value – gloves, shoes, bats and so forth. In some cases, the official said, the losses totaled as much as $500 per student.
The gift from the Rangers comes in part from the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation. Academy Sports + Outdoors, the sporting-goods chain, is also donating baseball equipment.