ARLINGTON -- Mike Stone, the Rangers' club president who brought much-needed stability to the organization and led the charge to sign Nolan Ryan as a free agent, passed away last Friday, the club announced Tuesday. Stone was 80 and living with his wife, Ellen, in Ajijic, Mexico.

Stone was named the Rangers president in 1983 by owner Eddie Chiles and served in that role through the 1990 season. Early in his tenure, the Rangers hired Tom Grieve as general manager and Bobby Valentine as manager, two moves that helped energize the club at a time when Chiles was struggling financially because of a Texas-wide oil slump.

Stone also recognized the Rangers could compete against organizations with far more financial resources by putting a strong emphasis on scouting and player development. Stone also recognized that Latin America could be an especially lucrative area for the Rangers. That led to the hiring of scouting director Sandy Johnson and the eventual signing of future stars like Juan Gonzalez, Sammy Sosa and Ivan Rodriguez.

“If Mike Stone had not been president, I don’t think Bobby and I would have lasted more than 2-3 years,” Grieve said. “Eddie Chiles was a wonderful owner, but he was a little bit impulsive. He made quick changes. I don’t think he would have had the patience to stick with us rebuilding through scouting and player development. Mike was a brilliant guy who brought leadership and stability to the organization.”

After four straight losing seasons, including 99 losses in 1985, the Rangers went 87-75 in ‘86 and set a club record by drawing 1,692,002 fans. They bumped that up to 1,763,053 fans in ‘87.

“Mike was a fantastic guy and a great leader,” Rangers vice president Chuck Morgan said. “He came along at a time when we needed a leader. Eddie Chiles was getting up in years, we needed leadership and Mike provided it. He also brought the business side in with the baseball side and made it one big happy family. He allowed people to work and do their job and didn’t meddle. He treated everybody like professionals.”

The Rangers went 70-91 in 1988 while Ryan was completing his ninth season with the Astros. As the ensuing offseason progressed, word filtered out of Houston that Ryan was unhappy over contract negotiations with the Astros and might sign elsewhere.

The Rangers were struggling financially at the time, and Chiles was clearly looking to sell the team. Bidding on a major free agent did not seem likely.

But Stone convinced Chiles to make a run at Ryan. Stone, Grieve and Valentine made their push at the 1988 Winter Meetings in Atlanta and were ultimately successful. Ryan, who was being pursued by the Astros, Angels and Giants, agreed to a $1.8 million contract for 1989 and a $1.4 million option for the following season. The signing dramatically changed the fortunes of the franchise.

“We had zero money,” Grieve said. “I went to Mike and told him about Nolan. He said we didn’t have any money, but ‘based on this being Nolan, let me discuss it with Eddie.’ Mike made the sales pitch to Eddie. So Eddie said, ‘Don’t worry about the cost, just sign Nolan, and I’ll figure out how to pay him.’

“If Mike Stone doesn’t make the sales pitch to Eddie Chiles, we never would have signed Nolan Ryan.”

Ryan initially intended to pitch just one season and then retire, but he ended up playing five years for the Rangers. He recorded his 5,000th strikeout on Aug. 22, 1989, against the Athletics, and Ryan later said the Rangers' all-out celebration of the event played a big role in convincing him to continue pitching for them.

The Rangers ended up drawing 2 million fans for the first time in 1989 and repeated that in ‘90. Stone stayed for two seasons after the new ownership of George W. Bush and Rusty Rose bought the team on March 18, 1989, before being replaced by Tom Schieffer.

Stone was a graduate of Albion (Mich.) College, where he was an all-conference football player, and had two graduate degrees from the University of Michigan. He worked for Chiles at the Fort Worth, Texas-based Western Company of North America, a petroleum services company, before joining the Rangers. Stone later served as commissioner of the independent Northern Baseball League and professor of sports management at Southern Methodist University.

A celebration of Stone’s life will be held on Dec. 8 in Fort Worth, with details to be released later.