1972 Texas Rangers 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.

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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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

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

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	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

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. Bernie Allen page at Baseball Reference
2. Del Unser page at Baseball Reference
3. Paul Casanova page on Baseball Reference
4. Denny McLain page on Baseball Reference
5. Tim Cullen page at Baseball Reference
6. Lew Beasley page at Baseball Reference
7. Retrosheet box score: 1972-04-15
8. Retrosheet box score: 1972-04-15
9. Brian Doyle page at Baseball Reference
10. Jim Sundberg page at Baseball Reference
11. Vic Harris page at Baseball Reference
12. Frank Howard page at Baseball Reference
13. Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/1972.shtml

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