UPDATE 1-Three groups eyeing Texas Rangers bid -sources

* Three suitors identified for Texas Rangers

* Winning bidder should be identified by year end-source

* Rangers could draw bid of around $550 million
(Adds comment from source on timing of winner, other details
and background)

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Potential buyers of the Texas
Rangers baseball team include a freight-forwarding executive
and a minor league baseball team owner who helped hockey star
Mario Lemieux purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team,
sources familiar with the sales process told Reuters.

The three potential buyers are Jim Crane, a Houston
businessman who runs his own freight-forwarding company; Chuck
Greenberg, a minor league baseball team owner and sports
attorney who helped negotiate the Penguins deal in 1999; and
Dennis Gilbert, whose sports agency once represented baseball
home run king Barry Bonds, according to three sources familiar
with the sales process.

Gilbert, a special assistant to the owner of the Chicago
White Sox, confirmed through the baseball team that he was
bidding for the Rangers but declined further comment. Crane
could not be reached and Greenberg declined to comment.

Texas billionaire and sports tycoon Tom Hicks is selling
the team to satisfy creditors who declared his sports group in
default. Hicks Sports Group (HSG) also owns the Dallas Stars
hockey team. Hicks could not be reached and a team spokesman
declined to comment.

The Rangers are expected to draw bids of around $550
million, sports bankers and baseball officials have said.

"Identifying a winner should occur before year end," said
one of the sources, all of whom asked not to be identified.

The three groups are doing their due diligence, studying
the team's financial data, sources said.

Another group that had eyed a bid for the Rangers but
dropped out was led by Harvey Schiller, the president of the
International Baseball Federation and CEO of Global Options
Group, a security investigation company, a source said.

After building an insurance business, Gilbert became a top
agent in baseball before retiring in January 1999. In addition
to Bonds, his firm represented such star players as George
Brett, Mike Piazza and Jose Canseco.

Crane, the former CEO of freight-forwarding company EGL
Inc, re-entered that industry in August 2008 with the formation
of Crane Worldwide Logistics. He also bid for the Chicago Cubs,
which bankrupt media company Tribune Co (TRBCQ.PK) has agreed
to sell for $845 million.

Crane was a star pitcher for the University of Central
Missouri in the 1970s. In a 1974 college World Series game in
what is now Division II, he struck out 18 batters, including 11
consecutive strikeouts, in a 2-0 win.

Greenberg, 48, owns minor league baseball teams in Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina, and State College, Pennsylvania, and
sold another team in Altoona, Pennsylvania, last December. He
owns Greenberg Sports Group, a sports consulting firm.

In April, 40 creditors -- banks and institutional investors
-- declared HSG in default on $525 million of loans after Hicks
withheld a quarterly interest payment.

Hicks also owns half of the English Premier League's
Liverpool Football Club, which is held separately from HSG.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Matthew
Lewis)