Texas Rangers Tickets Information
The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball team based in Arlington, Texas. They are in the West Division of the American League.
The American League began to entertain the idea of bringing a professional baseball team to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1962. Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, attempted to move his team to Dallas, but the other AL team owners rejected this idea.
The 10,000-seat Turnpike Stadium was constructed in Arlington for the minor-league Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs in 1964,. The stadium was later renamed Arlington Stadium. It would eventually serve as the Rangers' first home stadium.
Meanwhile, Bob Short, the Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee became the new owner of the Senators in 1968. He also attempted to move the team from Washington. He was successful on receiving approval from AL owners to move the franchise to Arlington for the 1972 season. Washington fans were offened on this move. Fan enmity was so great that in the team's final game in RFK Stadium against the New York Yankees, the Senators were forced to forfeit the game after angry fans stormed the field and damaged much of the stadium and playing surface.
First years in Texas
The seating capacity of the Turnpike Stadium was increased during the off-season and it was officially renamed Arlington Stadium. Bob Short also made an announcement that the franchise would be called the Texas Rangers. On April 15, 1972, the team played its first game and lost to California Angels at 1-0.
The next day,The Rangers registered their first victory by defeating the Angels 5-1. The first home game was also against the Angels on April 21. After the season, Whitey Herzog was named the new manager because Ted Williams was retired as manager. Herzog was replaced by Billy Martin in the middle of the 1973 season.
The Rangers emerged as a real contender in 1974. They finished the season 84-76. They were in second place behind the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics. The 1974 Rangers are still the only MLB team to finish above .500 after two consecutive 100-loss seasons.Mike Hargrove was named AL Rookie of the Year, Billy Martin was named Manager of the Year, Jeff Burroughs was named AL Most Valuable Player, and Ferguson Jenkins was named the Comeback Player of the Year.
The Rangers came very close in clinching a playoff spot in the first half of 1981 after excellent seasons between 1977-79. However, Texas lost the game before the strike hit. So the Oakland A's led the first-half Western Division by half-game. After 1981, the Rangers remained unlucky in winning again for another five seasons. During this stretch, the Rangers made one of their worst trades ever, sending multi-Gold Glove catcher Jim Sundberg to the Milwaukee Brewers for future Brewers' manager Ned Yost.
Bobby Valentine has the honor of becoming the Rangers' longest-serving manager at 1,186 games. He became steward over an influx of talent in the team in the late 1980s and 1990s. Rookies Ruben Sierra and Pete Incaviglia had great contributions in winning the 1986 season. However, the Rangers finished 5 games behind division-winning California. Star Ryan was able to reach his 5,000th strikeout, 300th win and throw his sixth and seventh no-hitters with the Rangers. Coupled with powerful batters like Juan González, Rubén Sierra, Julio Franco, Harold Baines, and Rafael Palmeiro and a pitching staff that also included Charlie Hough, Bobby Witt, Kevin Brown, and Kenny Rogers, fans expected much from the team. Valentine had to go during the 1992 season due to the consistent average performance of the team. During this time, catcher Geno Petralli was one of the teams most popular players.
The 1987 Texas Rangers had the distinction of being the only team in Major League history to carry four catchers on their roster for the entire season. Don Slaught, Darrell Porter, Mike Stanley, and Geno Petralli all split time as the team's catcher.
Kevin Kennedy became the manager of the team in 1993. The 1993 squad was the first since the 1974 team to be in serious contention for a playoff berth into mid-September. The 1994 season featured a perfect game by Kenny Rogers.
The year 1995 saw the beginnings of the most promise for the Rangers. Johnny Oates was hired as the Rangers' manager. He promptly led the team to an AL West division title in 1996. The first Rangers' playoff series in history was been able 24 years after the franchise came to Texas. Though Rangers won Game 1 for their first playoff victory but eventually they lost to the New York Yankees.
The Rangers 2006 season ended with a disappointing 80-82 record and a third-place finish in the American League West.
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