After parts of 14 years on the airwaves in the DFW metroplex, former Texas Rangers pitcher Mike Bacsik hosted his final show on 105.3 The Fan on Friday. As a member of the K&C Masterpiece with Kevin Hageland and Cory Mageors in middays since February 2020, Bacsik will still be on the airwaves for select Rangers pregame and postgame shows, he will be working in television as the color commentator for live game broadcasts for the team on the Rangers Sports Network.

Before Bacsik started hosting programming on 105.3 The Fan, he served as a show producer for Norm Hitzges on 1310 The Ticket. Hitzges, who is a member of the Texas Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame, retired from hosting on the station in 2023 following more than three decades on the airwaves. During Bacsik’s final show on 105.3 The Fan, Hitzges appeared as a surprise special guest, offering his congratulations and reminiscing on when they used to work together.

“Well Mike, it’s been a lot of wonderful years, and I have to tell you how proud I am of you,” Hitzges said. “When Mike broke into the business, I kept encouraging Mike that he had a real future in this business and to keep at it because, as you guys know, making your way up in the sports journalism these days, sports talk radio, television analysis, it can be a long toll and you don’t start out making much money, and it takes a lot of sticktoitiveness, and that’s been sort of a mark of Mike’s career, honestly, both in baseball and in media.”

Bacsik expressed how Hitzges is his mentor in the business, and he remembers going to the Rangers broadcast booth to greet him as a child. Later in the segment, Hitzges reminded Bacsik how he used to do Rangers games and a sports talk radio show, facetiously imploring him to muscle up. In response, Bacsik acted nonplussed about how Hitzges was able to effectively balance both of these roles and recalled his experience from last season.

“I somewhat did that last year, not when we were on the road,” Bacsik said. “I brought the equipment to spring training to do the show when I was doing spring training, and it’s like to haul around this equipment, then find a place where I’m going to do this from somewhere between 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. to noon to 2:00 seems very difficult.”

Mageors recalled how Hitzges once told him that sports talk radio was the most addictive business that he would be a part of. The wisdom imparted onto Mageors continues to stick with him today, and he always feels a sense of gratitude working in the job. The television business, he surmised, would convey a similar feeling, and Hitzges subsequently encouraged Bacsik to always have facts to back up his opinion and to be himself on the broadcasts.

“I’ve always thought you had a wonderful persona in the media,” Hitzges said. “You have a wonderful personality. Don’t think you have to be anybody else, and finally, have fun. Look around the ballpark. They’re crazy things in a ballpark – I mean, crazy things. Fans, kids asleep drooling ice cream on their dad’s chest. There’s things at the ballparks.”

Dave Raymond, the television play-by-play voice of the Texas Rangers, also joined the final episode of the K&C Masterpiece in its current iteration ahead of beginning the season with Bacsik on the broadcasts. Mageors explained that he learned a lot more about baseball working with Bacsik on the show, and he was curious to know what his understanding of him was through previous television broadcasts. Raymond lauded his authenticity and how he showcases his expertise without coming off as condescending and being able to humble himself.

“I had a pretty good sense of what we were up against,” Raymond said. “But like you guys, I feel like when he opens his mouth and starts talking about baseball, it’s always interesting to me. So many times, he will bring up something that I hadn’t thought of… and I think what draws us to Mike as listeners – what draws me to him as a baseball person – is his willingness to be vulnerable and say, ‘I don’t know why they would do that.’ He’ll ask questions.”

With Bacsik stepping away from the show, he divulged that the experience had been awesome and was in disbelief towards its ending. While he did not meet all of the listeners in person, he took the time to thank them for their support and articulated that he would likely be thinking about what he would say on the show come Monday. Bacsik lastly thanked all of his colleagues and the guests who appeared on the show and declared that his time on The Fan has now come to an end.

“As I close it out here, thank you to everybody who’s listened to me throughout the years, and I know that I can at times not be the most liked person, but you stuck with me, you stuck with the station,” Bacsik said. “Thank you so much. Thank you to Bruce Gilbert, thank you to Gavin Spittle. They took a chance on me, a second chance on me and without that second chance, there’s no way that I am going to do the Texas Rangers full time like I am.”

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