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Texas Rangers

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Futility and instability defined the Texas Rangers in the 1970 to 1980 seasons. Owner Rob Short transferred the second incarnation of the Washington Senators to Arlington, Texas in 1972. The old tradition continued, though, as Texas lost 205 games in two years. Brad Corbett, acquired the Rangers in May 1974. Manager Billy Martin led the team to second place that season. In 1977, Corbett employed four different managers.

In the 1985 season, Bobby Valentine, pitching Coach Tom House, and the two general managers Mike Stone and Tom Grieve began a patient building plan. A devotion to scouting in Latin America introduced young stars such as Ruben Sierra. In 1960-1969 seasons, The American League held a meeting in New York to explore the possibilities of major league baseball coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Although the idea was deemed worthy, league owners rejected the Kansas City owner Charley Finley's attempt to move his team to the metroplex.

In the 1970 to 1979 seasons, the Texas team finished with an 84-76 record, in second place, five games behind eventual world champion Oakland. First baseman Mike Hargrove was nominated as the league’s Rookie of the Year. The Texas team turned the first triple play in team history. With runners on first and second, Oakland's Manny Sanguillen grounded to third baseman Toby Harrah, who stepped on third and threw to Bump Wills at second for the force.

The 1980 to 1989 season, saw the Rangers setting a Major League record by scoring 12 runs in an extra inning. Texas sent 16 batters to the plate in the 15th inning at Oakland to post a 16-4 victory. Later, during the 1990 to 1999 seasons, The Rangers clinched their first postseason appearance in franchise history as Seattle loses to Oakland, giving Texas the American League West Division championship. The Rangers played the first postseason game in franchise history, defeating the New York Yankees by 6-2, in first game of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium.

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