1972 Texas Rangers season

1972 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
Western Division (since 1972)
Location
Arlington Stadium (since 1972)
Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bob Short
General manager(s)	Joe Burke
Manager(s)	Ted Williams
Local television	KDTV
Local radio	KRLD (Don Drysdale, Bill Mercer)
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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.

Offseason

December 2, 1971: Bernie Allen was traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Terry Ley and Gary Jones.^[1]
December 2, 1971: Del Unser, Gary Jones, Terry Ley, and Denny Riddleberger were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Roy Foster, Ken Suarez, Mike Paul, and Rich Hand.^[2]
December 2, 1971: Paul Casanova was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Hal King.^[3]
March 4, 1972: Denny McLain was traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Jim Panther and Don Stanhouse.^[4]
March 7, 1972: Tim Cullen was released by the Rangers.^[5]
Prior to 1972 season: Lew Beasley was acquired by the Rangers from the Baltimore Orioles.^[6]

Regular season

The first game in Texas

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.^[7]
April 21, 1972: The Rangers' first game in Texas came six days later at Arlington Stadium against the same 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^[7]

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 Records Sources:
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

June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball Draft
- Brian Doyle was drafted by the Rangers in the 4th round.^[9]
- Jim Sundberg was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round, but did not sign.^[10]
July 20, 1972: Don Mincher and Ted Kubiak were traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Marty Martínez, Vic Harris and a player to be named later.^[11]
August 31, 1972: Frank Howard was purchased from the Rangers by the Detroit Tigers.^[12]
September 7, 1972: Rich Hinton was purchased by the Rangers from the New York Yankees.^[13]

Roster

1972 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

27 Dick Bosman

18 Pete Broberg

29 Casey Cox

37 Jan Dukes

13 Bill Gogolewski

25 Rich Hand

15 Rich Hinton

19 Gerry Janeski

24 Steve Lawson

32 Paul Lindblad

31 Jim Panther

30 Mike Paul

28 Horacio Piña

34 Jim Roland

16 Jim Shellenback

17 Don Stanhouse

Catchers

8 Dick Billings

12 Bill Fahey

15 Hal King

12 Ken Suarez

Infielders

4 Larry Biittner

22 Jim Driscoll

11 Toby Harrah

7 Vic Harris

33 Frank Howard

14 Dalton Jones

7 Ted Kubiak

10 Marty Martínez

2,14 Jim Mason

5 Don Mincher

1 Dave Nelson

21 Tom Ragland

2 Lenny Randle

Outfielders

20 Jeff Burroughs

3 Ted Ford

6 Tom Grieve

35 Joe Lovitto

23 Elliott Maddox

Manager

9 Ted Williams

Coaches

40 Joe Camacho

42 Nellie Fox

41 Sid Hudson

43 George Susce

44 Wayne Terwilliger

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	Billings, DickDick Billings	133	469	41	119	.254	5	58	1
1B	Howard, FrankFrank Howard	95	287	28	70	.244	9	31	1
2B	Randle, LennyLenny Randle	74	249	23	48	.193	2	21	4
3B	Nelson, DaveDave Nelson	145	499	68	113	.226	2	28	51
SS	Harrah, TobyToby Harrah	116	374	47	97	.259	1	31	16
LF	Grieve, TomTom Grieve	64	142	12	29	.204	3	11	1
CF	Lovitto, JoeJoe Lovitto	117	330	23	74	.224	1	19	13
RF	Ford, TedTed 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
Biittner, LarryLarry Biittner	137	382	34	99	.259	3	31	1
Maddox, ElliottElliott Maddox	98	294	40	74	.252	0	10	20
Mincher, DonDon Mincher	61	191	23	45	.236	6	39	2
Harris, VicVic Harris	61	186	8	26	.140	0	10	7
Jones, DaltonDalton Jones	72	151	14	24	.159	4	19	1
Mason, JimJim Mason	46	147	10	29	.197	0	10	0
King, HalHal King	50	122	12	22	.180	4	12	0
Fahey, BillBill Fahey	39	119	8	20	.168	1	10	4
Kubiak, TedTed Kubiak	46	116	5	26	.224	0	7	0
Burroughs, JeffJeff Burroughs	22	65	4	12	.185	1	3	0
Ragland, TomTom Ragland	25	58	3	10	.172	0	2	0
Martínez, MartyMarty Martínez	26	41	3	6	.146	0	3	0
Suarez, KenKen Suarez	25	33	2	5	.152	0	4	0
Driscoll, JimJim 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
Bosman, DickDick Bosman	29	173.1	8	10	3.63	105
Hand, RichRich Hand	30	170.2	10	14	3.32	109
Stanhouse, DonDon 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
Broberg, PetePete Broberg	39	176.1	5	12	4.29	133
Paul, MikeMike Paul	49	161.2	8	9	2.17	108
Gogolewski, BillBill Gogolewski	36	150.2	4	11	4.24	95
Shellenback, JimJim Shellenback	22	57	2	4	3.47	30
Janeski, GerryGerry 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
Piña, HoracioHoracio Piña	60	2	7	15	3.20	60
Lindblad, PaulPaul Lindblad	66	5	8	9	2.62	51
Panther, JimJim Panther	58	5	9	0	4.13	44
Cox, CaseyCasey Cox	35	3	5	4	4.41	27
Lawson, SteveSteve Lawson	13	0	0	1	2.81	13
Hinton, RichRich Hinton	5	0	1	0	2.38	4
Roland, JimJim Roland	5	0	0	0	8.10	4
Dukes, JanJan Dukes	3	0	0	0	3.86	0

Farm system

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

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.
1972 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
1972 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

1972 MLB season by team
AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Texas
NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco
1972 All-Star Game 1972 World Series

Texas Rangers

Formerly the Washington Senators
Based in Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Ft. Worth)

Franchise

Ballparks

Griffith Stadium RFK Stadium Arlington Stadium Globe Life Park in Arlington New Rangers Ballpark
Spring training	Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium Ranger Stadium Surprise Stadium

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Houston Astros

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owners: Ray Davis & Bob R. Simpson
General Manager: Jon Daniels
Manager: Jeff Banister

Texas Rangers
Hall of Fame

Wild card berths (1)

2012

American League
West Division titles (7)

American League
championships (2)

2010
2011

Minor league affiliates

Seasons (56)
1960s	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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