It has not been too long ago that I wrote about Mrs. Kost, details about her longtime devotion to and association with her favorite baseball team, and the fact that the Texas Rangers ‘Cookie Lady’ had contracted Covid-19 and was struggling.
After contracting the disease in December and after the disease did not relent, the Cookie Lady was hospitalized and then later placed on a ventilator. Despite showing some signs of improvement and being placed in re-hab and convalescence, the long, lingering struggle and complications that had set in recently finally took their complete toll and caused her passing on May 13.
For those of you who did not know or have forgotten, over the past three decades, Shirley Kost had become one of the greatest fans of the Texas Rangers Baseball Team and whole organization, had often attended spring training along with her husband of 60 years, Cal (a former ballpark usher), and had baked and delivered countless home-made cookies to individual players, staff members, broadcasters, and to the entire “clubhouse.”
Some seasons, when she was counting, she had made many more than 7,000 cookies when she quit counting—but kept baking!
Shirley always had a sharp sense of humor, evidenced as she said with a laugh when being interviewed in 2019: “I don’t know that I’m good, but I’m persistent. I do like to bake!”
At one time she was honored as the “Fan of the Year,” and it has been announced that the Team will hold a “moment of silence” prior to an upcoming game vs. the New York Yankees at Globe Life Field.
The team considers her Part of the Rangers’ Family and will continue to do so! “Good-bye, Shirley Kost—THE COOKIE LADY.”
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.