Rangers hire Jeff Banister

— -- The Texas Rangers have hired Jeff Banister to become their next manager.

Banister spent 29 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and the last five as their bench coach.

The Houston native won the job over Rangers interim manager Tim Bogar, who was a favorite to get the position after taking over for Ron Washington in early September, and Cleveland bullpen coach Kevin Cash.

Banister has held a variety of roles for the Pirates, including an eight-year stint as the minor league field coordinator.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said before the ending of the regular season he wanted to get a new manager in place during October, and he was able to accomplish that.

Bogar had interviewed with Arizona for its managerial position last week, but the Diamondbacks hired Chip Hale on Monday.

Banister's hiring was earlier reported by Fox Sports.

Banister is highly thought of in baseball circles, and he decided against managing in the Arizona Fall League during this interview process with the Rangers. His first job as a manager was for Welland in the New York-Penn League in 1994 before leaving to become the manager in Augusta in Class A the next season.

Banister's story is a remarkable one because of his recovery from bone cancer and osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone or bone marrow) during his playing career. He also was temporarily paralyzed from a home plate collision when he played junior college baseball in Baytown, Texas.