1972 Texas Rangers season explained

Texas Rangers
Season:	1972
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Arlington Stadium
City:	Arlington, Texas
Owners:	Bob Short
General Managers:	Joe Burke
Managers:	Ted Williams
Television:	KDTV
Radio:	KRLD (Don Drysdale, Bill Mercer)
Prev Season:	1971 Washington Senators season

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

• December 2, 1971: Bernie Allen was traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Terry Ley and Gary Jones.^[2]
• 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.^[3]
• December 2, 1971: Paul Casanova was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Hal King.^[4]
• March 4, 1972: Denny McLain was traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Jim Panther and Don Stanhouse.^[5]
• March 7, 1972: Tim Cullen was released by the Rangers.^[6]
• Prior to 1972 season: Lew Beasley was acquired by the Rangers from the Baltimore Orioles.^[7]

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.

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.

Opening Day starters, April 15, 1972

2		2B
1		3B
5		1B
15		C
33	Frank Howard	LF
4	Larry Biittner	RF
35		CF
11		SS
27		P

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Brian Doyle was drafted by the Rangers in the 4th round.^[8]
  • Jim Sundberg was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round, but did not sign.^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• August 31, 1972: Frank Howard was purchased from the Rangers by the Detroit Tigers.^[11]
• September 7, 1972: Rich Hinton was purchased by the Rangers from the New York Yankees.^[12]

Roster

1972 Texas Rangers
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		133	469	41	119	.254	5	58	1
1B		95	287	28	70	.244	9	31	1
2B		74	249	23	48	.193	2	21	4
3B		145	499	68	113	.226	2	28	51
SS		116	374	47	97	.259	1	31	16
LF		64	142	12	29	.204	3	11	1
CF		117	330	23	74	.224	1	19	13
RF		129	429	43	101	.235	14	50	4

^[13]

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
	137	382	34	99	.259	3	31	1
	98	294	40	74	.252	0	10	20
	61	191	23	45	.236	6	39	2
	61	186	8	26	.140	0	10	7
	72	151	14	24	.159	4	19	1
	46	147	10	29	.197	0	10	0
	50	122	12	22	.180	4	12	0
	39	119	8	20	.168	1	10	4
	46	116	5	26	.224	0	7	0
	22	65	4	12	.185	1	3	0
	25	58	3	10	.172	0	2	0
	26	41	3	6	.146	0	3	0
	25	33	2	5	.152	0	4	0
	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
	29	173.1	8	10	3.63	105
	30	170.2	10	14	3.32	109
	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
	39	176.1	5	12	4.29	133
	49	161.2	8	9	2.17	108
	36	150.2	4	11	4.24	95
	22	57.0	2	4	3.47	30
	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
	60	2	7	15	3.20	60
	66	5	8	9	2.62	51
	58	5	9	0	4.13	44
	35	3	5	4	4.41	27
	13	0	0	1	2.81	13
	5	0	1	0	2.38	4
	5	0	0	0	8.10	4
	3	0	0	0	3.86	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Team Batting Game Finder: In the Regular Season, from 1920 to 2021, requiring Extra Base Hits = 0, sorted by most games.. April 13, 2021. Stathead.
2. Web site: Bernie Allen Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
3. Web site: Del Unser Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
4. Web site: Paul Casanova Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
5. Web site: Denny McLain Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
6. Web site: Tim Cullen Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
7. Web site: Lew Beasley Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
8. Web site: Brian Doyle Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
9. Web site: Jim Sundberg Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
10. Web site: Vic Harris Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
11. Web site: Frank Howard Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
12. Web site: Rich Hinton Stats. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.
13. Web site: 1972 Texas Rangers Statistics. 2021-02-18. Baseball-Reference.com. en.