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The amazing rise of Rangers boss Jeff Banister

THE GUY WALKING into Fenway Park at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5, looks like an older college student: plaid shirt, jeans, backpack.

In actuality, Jeff Banister is the manager of the best team in the American League, a job that delights but hardly defines him. He's a dutiful son and a doting father of two, a former major league catcher (1-for-1!), a presumed Pirates lifer, a Texan through and through, and a survivor of both bone cancer and a paralyzing home-plate collision.

He's also a man who's liable to open the daily media briefing in his office this way: "OK, what's your favorite song?