1972 Texas Rangers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkArlington Stadium
CityArlington, Texas
OwnersBob Short
General managersJoe Burke
ManagersTed Williams
TelevisionKDTV
RadioKRLD
(Don Drysdale, Bill Mercer)
← 1971 Seasons 1973 →

The Texas Rangers 1972 season involved the Rangers finishing sixth in the American League West with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses. This was the Rangers' first season in Texas, as well as the club's first year in the AL West, after playing their first 11 seasons in Washington, D.C., and from 1969 to 1971 in the American League East. The Rangers were dead last in batting in the major leagues with a .217 team batting average. They failed to record an extra-base hit in 38 of their 154 games, the most of any team in the live-ball era (1920 onwards).[1]

Offseason

Regular season

On April 15, 1972, the Rangers played their first American League game against the California Angels on the road at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels' Andy Messersmith hurled a complete-game, two-hit shutout, and the Rangers fell, 1–0. Toby Harrah and Hal King had their only hits, both singles, but catcher King made two errors. His second miscue led to the Angels' winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Dick Bosman was the hard-luck loser.[8]

The first game in Texas

On April 21, 1972, the Rangers' first game in Texas came six days later at Arlington Stadium against the Angels before 20,105 spectators. This time, Bosman emerged triumphant as the Rangers built a 6–1 lead and hung on to win their home opener, 7–6. Frank Howard and Dave Nelson each homered for Texas, while Lenny Randle and Harrah each collected three hits. Harrah scored three runs, and Randle notched four runs batted in.[8]

Opening Day starters, April 15, 1972

  2 Lenny Randle 2B
  1 Dave Nelson 3B
  5 Don Mincher 1B
15 Hal King C
33 Frank Howard    LF
  4 Larry Biittner    RF
35 Joe Lovitto CF
11 Toby Harrah SS
27 Dick Bosman P[8]

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 93 62 0.600 — 48–29 45–33
Chicago White Sox 87 67 0.565 5½ 55–23 32–44
Minnesota Twins 77 77 0.500 15½ 42–32 35–45
Kansas City Royals 76 78 0.494 16½ 44–33 32–45
California Angels 75 80 0.484 18 44–36 31–44
Texas Rangers 54 100 0.351 38½ 31–46 23–54

Record vs. opponents

1972 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore — 7–11 6–6 8–4 8–10 10–8 6–6 10–5 6–6 7–6 6–6 6–6
Boston 11–7 — 8–4 6–6 8–7 5–9 6–6 11–7 4–8 9–9 9–3 8–4
California 6–6 4–8 — 7–11 8–4 5–7 9–6 7–5 7–8 4–8 8–10 10–7
Chicago 4–8 6–6 11–7 — 8–4 5–7 8–9 9–3 8–6 7–5 7–8 14–4
Cleveland 10–8 7–8 4–8 4–8 — 10–8 6–6 5–10 8–4 7–11 2–10 9–3
Detroit 8–10 9–5 7–5 7–5 8–10 — 7–5 10–8 9–3 7–9 4–8 10–2
Kansas City 6–6 6–6 6–9 9–8 6–6 5–7 — 7–5 9–9 7–5 7–11 8–6
Milwaukee 5–10 7–11 5–7 3–9 10–5 8–10 5–7 — 4–8 9–9 4–8 5–7
Minnesota 6–6 8–4 8–7 6–8 4–8 3–9 9–9 8–4 — 6–6 8–9 11–7
New York 6–7 9–9 8–4 5–7 11–7 9–7 5–7 9–9 6–6 — 3–9 8–4
Oakland 6–6 3–9 10–8 8–7 10–2 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–8 9–3 — 11–4
Texas 6–6 4–8 7–10 4–14 3–9 2–10 6–8 7–5 7–11 4–8 4–11 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1972 Texas Rangers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Dick Billings 133 469 41 119 .254 5 58 1
1B Frank Howard 95 287 28 70 .244 9 31 1
2B Lenny Randle 74 249 23 48 .193 2 21 4
3B Dave Nelson 145 499 68 113 .226 2 28 51
SS Toby Harrah 116 374 47 97 .259 1 31 16
LF Tom Grieve 64 142 12 29 .204 3 11 1
CF Joe Lovitto 117 330 23 74 .224 1 19 13
RF Ted Ford 129 429 43 101 .235 14 50 4

[14]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Larry Biittner 137 382 34 99 .259 3 31 1
Elliott Maddox 98 294 40 74 .252 0 10 20
Don Mincher 61 191 23 45 .236 6 39 2
Vic Harris 61 186 8 26 .140 0 10 7
Dalton Jones 72 151 14 24 .159 4 19 1
Jim Mason 46 147 10 29 .197 0 10 0
Hal King 50 122 12 22 .180 4 12 0
Bill Fahey 39 119 8 20 .168 1 10 4
Ted Kubiak 46 116 5 26 .224 0 7 0
Jeff Burroughs 22 65 4 12 .185 1 3 0
Tom Ragland 25 58 3 10 .172 0 2 0
Marty Martínez 26 41 3 6 .146 0 3 0
Ken Suarez 25 33 2 5 .152 0 4 0
Jim Driscoll 15 18 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dick Bosman 29 173.1 8 10 3.63 105
Rich Hand 30 170.2 10 14 3.32 109
Don Stanhouse 24 104.2 2 9 3.78 78

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pete Broberg 39 176.1 5 12 4.29 133
Mike Paul 49 161.2 8 9 2.17 108
Bill Gogolewski 36 150.2 4 11 4.24 95
Jim Shellenback 22 57.0 2 4 3.47 30
Gerry Janeski 4 12.2 0 1 2.84 7

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Horacio Piña 60 2 7 15 3.20 60
Paul Lindblad 66 5 8 9 2.62 51
Jim Panther 58 5 9 0 4.13 44
Casey Cox 35 3 5 4 4.41 27
Steve Lawson 13 0 0 1 2.81 13
Rich Hinton 5 0 1 0 2.38 4
Jim Roland 5 0 0 0 8.10 4
Jan Dukes 3 0 0 0 3.86 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Denver Bears American Association Del Wilber
AA Pittsfield Senators Eastern League Joe Klein
A Burlington Rangers Carolina League Frank Gable
A Greenville Rangers Western Carolinas League Rich Donnelly
A-Short Season Geneva Senators New York–Penn League Bill Haywood

Notes

  1. ^ "Team Batting Game Finder: In the Regular Season, from 1920 to 2021, requiring Extra Base Hits = 0, sorted by most games". Stathead. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  2. ^ "Bernie Allen Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  3. ^ "Del Unser Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  4. ^ "Paul Casanova Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  5. ^ "Denny McLain Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  6. ^ "Tim Cullen Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  7. ^ "Lew Beasley Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Kissell, Robert; Poserina, Jim (2017), "Statistics in Baseball * *The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at 20 Sunset Rd., Newark, DE 19711.", Optimal Sports Math, Statistics, and Fantasy, Elsevier, pp. 277–295, ISBN 978-0-12-805163-4, retrieved February 18, 2021
  9. ^ "Brian Doyle Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  10. ^ "Jim Sundberg Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  11. ^ "Vic Harris Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  12. ^ "Frank Howard Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  13. ^ "Rich Hinton Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  14. ^ "1972 Texas Rangers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.

References

Categories