Rangers History

In December 2000, Alex Rodriguez signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with Texas. Though the team featured offensive threats like Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro the Rangers pitching was as usual hopeless. The 2000 season proved to be worse when injury sidelined Rodriguez and the Rangers finished the season with a disappointing 71-91 record. That same season Governor of Texas George W. Bush won the presidentship of US by the slimmest margin possible. The procurement of Alex Rodriguez formed the strongest lineups in the history of Rangers. In 2001, he hit 52 HRs, and won the Hank Aaron award, but overall the team accumulated terrible 5.71 ERA and ended the season with a last place 73-89 record. In 2002, Alex Rodriguez continued to be the premier player in the American League and won his second straight Hank Aaron Award. Ivan Rodriguez missed more then 50 games due to the injuries. The Rangers finished the season in last place for the 3rd year in a row. Due to the poor season record of 72-90, Jerry Narron was dismissed as Rangers manager and was replaced by Buck Showalter as 16th full-time manager. The terrible pitching overshadowed the individual achievements of Alex Rodriguez in 2003 and his increased payroll led to his trade to the New York Yankees. Under new Manager Buck Showalter the Texas Rangers continued to struggle and enjoyed a spectacular turnaround in 2004 by winning 89 games and finishing just three games back in the American League West.

The young talents such as Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock experienced a rocking year. Each member of the starting infield -- Teixeira, Soriano, Young and Blalock -- went past the 20-homer level. Kenny Rogers, who led the team with 18 wins, earned his third Gold Glove. The Rangers ended the season with a 3rd place finish and an 89-73 record. Buck Showalter was named Manager of the Year. The original Washington Senators left Washington in 1961 and moved to Minnesota, where they adopted the name Minnesota Twins. As a part of American League expansion the second Washington Senators franchise came into existence when Major League Baseball awarded a team to Washington, D.C., giving it the name of the old franchise. In its inaugural season, the team won just 61 games and lost more than 100 games in first four seasons. The Senators in 11 years of their existence recorded only one winning season in 1969 under head coach TedWilliams. Arlington Stadium, served as the Rangers' first home stadium in 1964During that time Frank Howard became the team’s most accomplished player. In 1872, the team moved to Arlington, Texas, where the team was named Texas Rangers in honor of the famous Law Enforcement Agency. The fans desperately waited to see to see their team in action but the player's Strike delayed the start of the season.

The Rangers finally played their 1st game in Anaheim on April 15th and finished the season with an awful 54-100 record. The following season, the Rangers drafted Houston High Schooler David Clyde with 1st over all pick. That same season, Ted Williams retired as manager and Whitey Herzog was named the new manager. Billy Martin replaced him in the mid of 1973 season. In 1974, Bradford G. Corbett purchased the franchise from Bob Short. The Rangers finished the season with 84-76 record, in second place. Billy Martin was named Manager of the Year. Despite of this achievement Martin was fired as the Rangers manager the following season to be replaced by Frank Lucchesi. The Rangers consistently struggled for many years. The talent in the team appeared in flashes. After the 1977 and 1978 seasons, the Rangers didn’t register any winning record until 1986. After losing 99 games in 1985, the Rangers vied for the Western Division Title, but fell in 5 games with a record of 87-75. Rookies Pete Incavigilia hit 30 HRs, and Ruben Sierra hit 16 HRs. veterans Larry Parrish, and Pete O'Brien each hit more then 20 HRs.

the team played under manager Bobby Valentine finished second in the AL West. Valentine became the Rangers' longest-serving manager. He managed the fresh talent of the team introduced in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 1989, the Rangers in order to attract more fans, signed 42-year-old free agent pitcher Nolan Ryan. Meanwhile, the Rangers' owner, Eddie Chiles, sold the team to George W. Bush. Bush would serve as the Rangers' who managed the team until 1994. He even promoted the construction of new stadium in 1991, The Ballpark in Arlington to replace the aging Arlington Stadium. With the new ballpark, the Rangers seemed to be promising. In 1995, the Rangers hired Johnny Oates as their new manager. He in his first season only helped the team to win their first AL West division title in 1996. Oates was named AL Manager of the Year and Juan Gonzalez was named AL MVP. Oates again led the team to AL West championships in 1998 and 1999 with the line-up featuring Ivan Rodriguez, Will Clark, Mark McLemore, Dean Palmer, Rusty Greer, Juan Gonzalez, Mickey Tettleton, Darren Oliver, Gil Heredia and later John Wetteland. The logo of the team has a "T" placed over a baseball, set inside a circle with "TEXAS" on the top red half and "RANGERS" on the bottom blue half.