SAN ANTONIO — UTSA head coach Jason Marshall announced Monday that Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister will be the keynote speaker at the program's Fifth Annual First-Pitch Banquet, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 4, at the H-E-B University Center Ballroom on the main campus.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour from 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and program beginning at 6:45 p.m. The evening will include remarks from Marshall, player introductions and interviews, a 2016 season awards ceremony, raffle, silent auction and comments from Banister. All proceeds will benefit the UTSA baseball program. Dinner will be catered by Saltgrass Steak House and dress is business casual. General admission tickets cost $75 per person and you can click here to register.
Banister, the 25th manager in Texas Rangers history and 2015 American League Manger of the Year, led the Rangers to their second playoff appearance in as many years this past season.
Before taking the reigns in Arlington prior to the 2015 campaign, Banister spent the previous 29 years in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as both a player and coach. He was selected in the 25th round of the 1986 MLB Draft and spent parts of seven seasons as a catcher and first baseman in the Pirates farm system before making his Major League debut as a pinch hitter on July 23, 1991.
The Texas native retired as a player following the 1993 season and rose through the Pirates ranks beginning in the 1994 season, first as a manager for the Pittsburgh minor league affiliates and finally ending his tenure with Pittsburgh as the bench coach from 2011-13.
