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)
1972 information
Owner(s)	Bob Short
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 1969–1971 in the AL East.

Offseason

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

Regular season

The first game in Texas

• April 15, 1972: The Rangers played their first game in Texas against the California Angels.

Opening Day starters

• Dick Billings
• Dick Bosman
• Tom Grieve
• Toby Harrah
• Frank Howard
• Joe Lovitto
• Elliott Maddox
• Dave Nelson
• Lenny Randle

Season standings

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
Oakland Athletics	93	62	--	.600
Chicago White Sox	87	67	5.5	.565
Minnesota Twins	77	77	15.5	.500
Kansas City Royals	76	78	16.5	.494
California Angels	75	80	18	.484
Texas Rangers	54	100	38.5	.351

Notable transactions

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

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

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

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
Short-Season A	Geneva Senators	New York-Penn League	Bill Haywood

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, N.C.: 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