Baseball history will not treat Tom Hicks kindly. There’s no reason it should. Hicks, who owned the Texas Rangers for a dozen years, was one of the most ineffective owners in recent decades, perhaps second only to Vince Naimoli, the founding owner of the Tampa Bay Rays.

One major move separates Naimoli’s ownership from Hicks’ in Texas. The best move Naimoli made in Florida was selling the Rays to Stuart Sternberg, who has rescued the franchise from oblivion and turned it into an on-field, if not box office, success.

In Hicks’ tenure, he gets credit for lots of bad moves and one outstanding move. Among his bad moves were the $252 million signing of Alex Rodriguez, an impressive young man, whom Hicks had to have and was willing to pay whatever it took to get him, and the dismissal of Doug Melvin as general manager.

Much to Melvin’s discomfort, Hicks signed Rodriguez in December 2000. Hicks fired Melvin 10 months later after a second successive losing season. But the Rangers slogged through three more losing seasons in the four-year tenure of John Hart, another star type among general managers, whom Hicks paid the then unheard of g.m. salary of $1 million a year.

But even Hicks eventually, if belatedly, recognized the errors of his ways, and in February 2008 he hired Nolan Ryan as the Rangers’ president.

The unanswered question, now that the Rangers are in the World Series for the second successive season, is to what extent is Ryan responsible for the dramatic change in the Rangers’ fortunes.

I am prepared to give him all of the credit; it can’t be coincidence that Ryan arrives and suddenly the Rangers are doing things they had never done. Others to whom I have talked, however, say that while the Hall of Fame pitcher deserves much of the credit for the rise of the Rangers, others, especially general manager Jon Daniels, should be recognized for their contributions.

Over-all, I believe Ryan changed the culture of the Rangers’ environment and brought instant credibility to a struggling organization. Generally, he instilled a winning frame of mind, and specifically, he revolutionized the pitching mentality.

Ryan, remember, pitched when pitchers were full-time workers and not part-timers.  He believed that the more pitchers prepared themselves to go deep into games, the better the pitchers would be. And even if they didn’t go deeper into games they would get themselves in better physical condition, which would have its own benefits. Part of Ryan’s plan included more running for pitchers.

This year the Rangers’ starters improved their performance from last year:

Some people think Ryan’s greatest impact on the team’s pitching has been the hiring of Mike Maddux, Greg’s older brother, as pitching coach three years ago. The elder Maddux had been Milwaukee’s pitching coach for six years but before that period he was a minor league pitching for Ryan’s minor league team in Round Rock, Tex.

Ryan also made a decision in 2009 that has worked in the Rangers’ favor. In July of that year, manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine use. In many instances, teams would fire their managers for such a transgression.

Ryan, however, retained Washington, accepting his apology and his explanation that it was a one-time thing. I found Washington’s explanation hard to believe and still do, a 57-year-old man trying cocaine one time and just being unlucky enough to be tested at that precise time.

But it was Ryan’s decision, and he was entitled to make it. A chastened Washington has guided the Rangers to two American League pennants since that positive test.

Ryan very likely opted to overlook Washington’s transgression because he fit the type of manager Ryan wanted, emphasizing pitching and defense and on offense wanting batters to work the count and have productive at-bats, even if they made outs.

Washington didn’t get too far with this hitting philosophy early in his Texas tenure because his hitting coach, the capable Rudy Jaramillo, had a different philosophy. He encouraged batters to be aggressive and swing at the first pitch they liked, even if it was early in the count.

The Rangers didn’t want to fire Jaramillo after his 15-year tenure with them, but after the 2009 season they offered him a one-year contract, certain someone would make him a better offer. The Cubs did, and he joined them with a three-year contract.

Clint Hurdle became the new hitting coach last year and, agreeing with Washington’s philosophy, produced the best hitting team in the league.

When Ryan joined the Rangers’ front office, Daniels had been the general manager for two seasons, and it was widely believed that Ryan would assume command and tell Daniels what to do.

But a person close to the team’s operation said that while Ryan is involved in baseball planning and decisions, he and Daniels have formed a strong relationship

“Nolan has a lot of input in baseball matters; he’s very much a part of baseball decisions,” the person said. “But he doesn’t dictate.”

Between his 26-year playing career and his assuming the Rangers’ presidency, Ryan became a rancher and a banker and was in good position to assume control of the team’s baseball and business operations. He recruited the men with the money who bought the Rangers from Hicks last year.

However, it was Chuck Greenberg, a Pittsburgh lawyer, who spearheaded the purchase with an aggressive effort. The relationship between Greenberg and Ryan didn’t last long.

Taking control of the team last August, with Greenberg as managing partner and chief executive officer, the pair didn’t make it to opening day this season. They became entangled in a dispute over how Greenberg was running the team, and the money men, a pair of Texas natural gas entrepreneurs, and forced Greenberg out, leaving Ryan in complete command.

Neither Ryan nor Greenberg has discussed their falling out. Greenberg has not been heard from since his departure and, most recently, did not return a telephone call Tuesday.

“The most important thing Chuck did was get the team away from Hicks,” said a person close to the club. He overstepped his bounds and Nolan and the other owners wanted to get rid of him.”

Another Texas person said Greenberg had not abandoned his efforts to buy a team in Dallas. He was pursuing, the person said, the purchase of the Dallas Stars National Hockey League team, another of Hicks’ failed enterprises.