Sunday, January 03, 2010

All-Time Rangers #11-15

I had a great Christmas over the break and hope you all did, too. We stayed in town and celebrated with my family. My sister, dad, and I went out to look at a lot of Christmas lights during the break, and I wish the Christmas season didn’t go by so quickly.

This week I will continue my Top 50 Rangers All-Time List, with numbers 11-15.

15. Mike Hargrove: .399 career Rangers OBP (best all-time Rangers, min. 3000 PA), .293 AVG, ROY (‘74), All-Star (‘75)
Mike has the highest on-base percentage all-time in Rangers history, along with a .293 batting average in his Rangers career. He is the only Rangers player ever to win the American League Rookie of the Year (even though Elvis should have won it this year), and Mike was an All-Star in 1975 with the Rangers. He also helped us out when he was the coach of the Mariners, as he was just 192-210 in his stint with the Mariners. He was not a big power hitter, as he had just 47 home runs and 295 RBI’s during his stint as a Ranger.

14. John Wetteland: Rangers Hall of Fame, 150 saves (most), All-Star (‘98, ‘99)
John has the most saves in Rangers history with 150 in just 4 seasons, an average of 37.5 saves per year, and was an All-Star in both 1998 and 1999. He was a Ranger for two of the three years the franchise has made the playoffs. He is a member of the Rangers Hall of Fame, and is just a great guy. He had an ERA of 2.95 in his Rangers career. In his four years as a Ranger he was ranked 4th, 2nd, 2nd, and 5th in that order in the American League in saves.

13. Rusty Greer: Rangers Hall of Fame, 3829 AB, .305 AVG, 119 HR, 614 RBI, 643 R, .387 OBP (2nd, min. 3000 PA)
Rusty Greer had 3,829 at-bats with a .305 average and .387 OBP (2nd in Rangers history) in those at-bats. He also had 119 home runs and 614 RBI’s, along with 643 runs in his career. He was a Ranger his whole career. But even though he hit well, his defense was the best part of his game, as he went hard after every ball, made many diving catches. He even ended up ending his career due to an injury sustained while making an incredible diving catch in a game that I was at. He was a fun to player to watch and played the game the right way.

12. Al Oliver: 163 games played in one season, .319 career Rangers batting average (highest all-time), 337 RBI, 49 HR, Silver Slugger (‘80, ‘81), All-Star (‘80, ‘81), 200 Hits (‘80),
Al Oliver has the highest career batting average as a Ranger in history at .319, along with All-Star appearances and Silver Slugger Awards in 1980 and 1981, and had 200 hits in 1980. He hit 49 home runs and had 337 RBI’s as a Ranger and once even played 163 games in a season during his four-year stint with the Rangers. His lowest batting average with the Rangers in a season was .309 and his highest in a season was .324.

11. Gaylord Perry: Hall of Famer, 55 CG (3rd), 12 shutouts (2nd), 575 K, 3.26 ERA (2nd, min. 400 IP),
Gaylord is an MLB Hall of Famer, one of only three Hall of Famers who spent a considerable amount of time with the Rangers. He had the 3rd most complete games in Rangers history with 55, the second most shut-outs with 12, and the 2nd lowest ERA with a minimum of 400 innings pitched with an ERA of 3.26, and he also has 575 strikeouts.

Come back next week for #6-10 on my All-Time Rangers List.

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