When P.E. teacher Mary Jung returned to Redland Oaks Elementary School on Monday, her office was full of confetti and balloons.
Her gym is often full of excitement and cheering kids, but Monday was different.
Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, was extra special because Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, was extra special.
That’s the day Mary’s oldest son, Josh, made baseball history.
Josh Jung is the third baseman for the World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
It’s the first World Series win in Rangers’ franchise history.
“It’s surreal. We really haven’t processed it yet. We had a little kind of quiet moment on the field after the trophy presentation. We got our hug in, and Josh just said, ‘Wow…oh wow. This just happened.’ Then he got pulled by media.”
Mary has spent the past 27 years teaching in North East ISD schools. Her husband, Jeff, spent more than 20 years coaching baseball and football in our District. Their sons, Josh and Jace, both first-round Major League Baseball draft picks, attended Woodstone Elementary School, Driscoll Middle School and graduated from MacArthur High School.
“North East has been our family all along the way, too,” said Mary. “My co-workers and my students have been so excited during this whole journey.”
And it’s been a journey.
Mary recalls Jeff finding a little league program and getting Josh on the team at 3-years-old. That team was the Red Red Rangers. Pretty cool, right? She remembers the million loads of uniforms and baseball pants she’s cleaned. By the way, if you need to get grass stains out of your kid’s clothes, Mary suggests Zote bar soap and lots of elbow grease. She also remembers how students at Redland Oaks and Woodstone dressed up in their Rangers’ best to support Josh during his World Series run.
Jeff will never forget how much work Mary put into getting Josh and Jace to games and practices, and how the boys would run up and down the sidelines while he was coaching at MacArthur and Roosevelt High School. He got to coach them when they got to MacArthur. He watched them sign letters of intent to Texas Tech University. Then, got to watch them sign MLB contracts.
Baseball is full of superstitions. The Jungs aren’t superstitious, but Mary says they are a little stitious… or more importantly, they are careful. Jeff knows, as a coach, that superstitions don’t really change the game, but he will also be the first to tell you you can never be too careful.
“If they won a game, we wore the same outfits to the next game,” said Jeff.
Mary added, “We would park in the same parking spot every game. Josh would wear the same thing to the clubhouse every time. Just being careful.”
Just careful. Not superstitious.
As big as a history-making World Series win is, there is another moment that sticks out for Mary and Jeff—when they saw an official “Jung” jersey for sale in the pro shop for the first time.
“It was pretty cool. That’s one thing we can give them—our last name,” said Jeff. “They’ve done the work to get where they are. To see our name on a jersey and see them representing themselves and us as a family the way they do. We are proud of the men they are. It’s wild to see kids in line in the team store buying his jersey—to hear them say he’s their favorite player.”
Mary and Jeff were Josh’s first fans, but he’s got about a million more now.
Inside the gym at Redland Oaks, there are posters of Josh and Jace. There are flags and pennants for the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers, Josh and Jace’s respective teams. There’s a poster with the Rangers’ playoff schedule. The scores were filled in after every game. It’s now covered with a hand-made World Series Champions poster.
“It’s something for my students to look up to,” said Mary. “I hope they look at my sons and are inspired to follow their dreams too.”
