1978 Texas Rangers season explained

Texas Rangers
Season:	1978
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Arlington Stadium
City:	Arlington, Texas
Owners:	Bradford G. Corbett
General Managers:	Dan O'Brien Sr. / Eddie Robinson
Managers:	Billy Hunter, Pat Corrales
Television:	KXAS-TV (Jon Miller, Frank Glieber)
Radio:	WBAP (Jon Miller, Bill Merrill)

The 1978 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing second in the American League West with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses.

Offseason

• October 25, 1977: Gorman Thomas was sent to the Rangers by the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier deal (the Brewers sent a player to be named later to the Rangers for Ed Kirkpatrick) made on August 20.^[1]
• November 9, 1977: Mike Marshall was granted free agency. ^[2] Richie Zisk signed a 10-year, $2.75 million contract as a free agent. ^[3]
• November 10, 1977: Darold Knowles was purchased from the Rangers by the Montreal Expos.^[4]
• November 11, 1977: Doc Medich signed as a free agent. ^[5]
• December 8, 1977: Bert Blyleven was traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller, were traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves, and Tom Grieve and a player to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets as part of a 4-team trade. Al Oliver and Nelson Norman were traded by the Pirates to the Rangers, and Jon Matlack was traded by the Mets to the Rangers. John Milner was traded by the Mets to the Pirates. Willie Montañez was traded by the Braves to the Mets. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ken Henderson to the Mets on March 15, 1978.^[6]
• December 14, 1977: Ferguson Jenkins was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Rangers for John Poloni and cash.^[7]
• January 21, 1978: Mike Jorgensen signed as a free agent. ^[8]
• January 25, 1978: Gaylord Perry was traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Dave Tomlin and $125,000.^[9]
• February 8, 1978: Gorman Thomas was sold back to the Milwaukee Brewers. ^[10]
• February 28, 1978: David Clyde and Willie Horton were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein.^[11]
• March 1, 1978: Jackie Brown and Rusty Torres were signed as free agents.^[12]
• March 28, 1978: Mark Mercer signed as a free agent. Dave Tomlin was sold to the Cincinnati Reds.^[13]
• April 1, 1978: Tom Buskey was released as a free agent.^[14]
• April 2, 1978: Jim Hughes signed as a free agent.^[15]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• April 18, 1978: Reggie Cleveland was purchased from the Boston Red Sox.^[16]
• May 16, 1978: Bobby Bonds was traded to the Rangers by the Chicago White Sox for Claudell Washington and Rusty Torres.^[17]
• May 17, 1978: Dave May was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers.^[18]
• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Wayne Tolleson was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round.^[19]
  • Charlie O'Brien was drafted by the Rangers in the 14th round, but did not sign.^[20]
  • Mike Richardt was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (10th pick) of the Secondary Phase.^[21]
• August 1, 1978: Paul Lindblad was sold to the New York Yankees.^[22]
• August 31, 1978 Johnny Grubb was traded to the Rangers by the Cleveland Indians for players to be named later. Bobby Cuellar and Dave Rivera (minor leaguer) were sent to Cleveland on October 3 to complete the trade.^[23]

Roster

1978 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		149	518	144	.278	6	58
1B		146	494	124	.251	7	40
2B		157	539	135	.250	9	57
SS		98	269	50	.186	1	17
3B		139	450	103	.229	12	59
LF		133	525	170	.324	14	89
CF		127	473	123	.260	11	50
RF		130	475	126	.265	29	82
DH		140	511	134	.262	22	85

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	90	248	55	.222	6	30
	77	176	39	.222	5	21
	64	120	27	.225	2	12
	55	105	20	.190	0	3
	96	97	19	.196	1	9
	34	94	23	.245	3	17
	17	50	12	.240	2	6
	20	46	7	.152	1	2
	12	42	7	.167	0	2
	23	34	9	.265	0	1
	12	33	13	.394	1	6
	24	29	6	.207	0	1
	8	15	7	.467	0	3
	3	3	0	.000	0	0
	1	1	0	.000	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
	35	270.0	15	13	2.27	157
	34	249.0	18	8	3.04	157
	31	191.0	9	10	3.86	81
	28	171.0	9	8	3.74	71
	22	141.1	9	7	4.20	45

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
	30	117.1	11	5	2.30	65
	32	97.2	5	8	4.88	60
	10	28.0	3	2	5.79	23
	7	14.2	0	1	4.91	5
	3	8.2	1	0	4.15	8

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
	53	5	7	12	3.09	46
	29	1	5	4	4.82	33
	18	1	1	2	3.63	25

Awards and honors

• Jim Sundberg, Gold Glove, catcher

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Rangers

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 3rd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 2007. 978-1-932391-17-6.

External links

• 1978 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thomago01.shtml Gorman Thomas page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/marshmi01.shtml Mike Marshall page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/ziskri01.shtml Richie Zisk page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/knowlda01.shtml Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/medicdo01.shtml Doc Medich page at Baseball Reference
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blylebe01.shtml Bert Blyleven page at Baseball Reference
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jenkife01.shtml Ferguson Jenkins page at Baseball Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jorgemi01.shtml Mike Jorgensen page at Baseball Reference
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/perryga01.shtml Gaylord Perry page at Baseball Reference
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thomago01.shtml Gorman Thomas page at Baseball Reference
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clydeda01.shtml David Clyde page at Baseball Reference
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1978-transactions.shtml 1978 Transactions page at Baseball Reference
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1978-transactions.shtml 1978 Transactions page at Baseball Reference
14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1978-transactions.shtml 1978 Transactions page at Baseball Reference
15. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1978-transactions.shtml 1978 Transactions page at Baseball Reference
16. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clevere01.shtml Reggie Cleveland page at Baseball Reference
17. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsbo01.shtml Bobby Bonds page at Baseball Reference
18. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mayda01.shtml Dave May page at Baseball Reference
19. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tollewa01.shtml Wayne Tolleson page at Baseball Reference
20. https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/o'brich01.shtml Charlie O'Brien page at Baseball Reference
21. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/richami01.shtml Mike Richardt page at Baseball Reference
22. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lindbpa01.shtml Paul Lindblad page at Baseball Reference
23. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grubbjo01.shtml Johnny Grubb page at Baseball Reference