50 Fun Facts About Texas Rangers

The Rangers franchise began in 1961 as an expansion team in which city?

They were the second Washington Senators; the first had just left to become the Minnesota Twins.

In which year did the Rangers play their first season in Texas?

They lost the opener 1–0 to the California Angels, their 1961 expansion cousins, then beat them 5–1 the next day.

Which division do the Rangers play in?

They share it with the Astros, Angels, Athletics and Mariners; Houston moved over from the National League in 2013.

Which Arlington mayor spent a decade chasing a big-league team and finally lured the Senators to Texas?

His hole card was Turnpike Stadium, a 10,000-seat minor-league park built to major-league specifications.

How did the franchise's final game in the nation's capital in 1971 end?

Thousands walked in free after security left early, one man ran off with first base, and the umpires forfeited a game Washington was leading 7–5.

Which Hall of Famer managed the club to its only winning season before the move to Texas, in 1969?

The Splendid Splinter got them to 86–76 and fourth in the AL East.

Which pitcher won a club-record 25 games for the Rangers in 1974?

That team is still the only one in MLB history to finish above .500 straight after two 100-loss seasons.

Which future US president headed the group that bought the Rangers in 1989?

His own stake was just $500,000, but he was managing general partner until he was elected governor in 1994.

Signed at 41 before the 1989 season, which pitcher reached 5,000 strikeouts and 300 wins as a Ranger?

He also threw his sixth and seventh no-hitters in Texas, the last at age 44.

Which White Sox player charged the mound in 1993 and was headlocked and punched by a 46-year-old Rangers pitcher?

Ventura was 20 years younger; catcher Iván Rodríguez eventually pulled him away.

Which Rangers pitcher threw a perfect game against the California Angels in Arlington on July 28, 1994?

The Angels' Mike Witt had thrown one against Texas in 1984, making them the only pair of teams to perfect-game each other.

In which year did the Rangers win their first division title?

Johnny Oates was Manager of the Year and Juan González the AL MVP, but the Yankees beat them in the first round, as they would again in 1998 and 1999.

Which Rangers catcher, nicknamed 'Pudge', was the American League MVP in 1999?

His number 7 lives on in Globe Life Field's 407-foot straightaway centre field.

How big was the contract the Rangers gave shortstop A-Rod before the 2001 season?

It was the richest deal in baseball history at the time; Texas finished last in every one of his three seasons and traded him to the Yankees.

Who did the Rangers get back from the Yankees when they traded A-Rod after the 2003 season?

Soriano was the 2004 All-Star Game MVP for Texas with a three-run homer.

Who became MLB's youngest general manager when the Rangers promoted him at 28 in 2005?

He ran baseball operations until 2022 and built the 2010 and 2011 pennant winners.

How many home runs did Josh Hamilton hit in the first round of the 2008 Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium?

He hit 35 in total and still lost the final to Justin Morneau, because the totals reset.

Which two hand gestures became the Rangers' signature during the 2010 run?

Foam claws and deer-antler helmets took over the ballpark that autumn.

Whom did the Rangers beat in the 2010 ALCS to win the first pennant in franchise history?

Sweet revenge for the three first-round losses of the 1990s; Josh Hamilton was series MVP.

Who beat the Rangers in their first World Series, in 2010?

The Giants' young pitching held Texas to a five-game defeat; their manager Bruce Bochy would later win it all in Texas.

Who hit the Cardinals' 11th-inning walk-off homer in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series?

Freese had also tied it with a triple in the ninth and was named series MVP after St. Louis took Game 7.

Which Ranger hit six home runs in the 2011 ALCS, the most by one player in a playoff series?

His walk-off grand slam in Game 2 was the first in postseason history.

On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton hit how many home runs in one game at Camden Yards?

He went 5-for-5 with a double as well, an American League record 18 total bases.

Whose 3,000th hit in 2017 made him the first player born in the Dominican Republic to reach the mark?

He famously hated having his head touched, but let his teammates do it before that game.

Who set the Rangers' single-season records for hits (221) and doubles (52) in 2005 and 2006?

He was team captain from 2005 to 2012 and his number 10 is honoured at the ballpark's 410-foot deepest point.

Who holds the Rangers' single-season home run record with 57 in 2002?

Juan González holds the RBI record instead, with 157 in 1998.

Who managed the Rangers to their first World Series title in his first season with the club?

It was his fourth ring after three with the Giants; he'd been hired out of retirement in October 2022.

Whom did the Rangers beat in the 2023 World Series?

It took five games; Texas went 11–0 on the road that postseason, the most road wins ever.

Who was the first Ranger to be named World Series MVP?

He'd already won it with the Dodgers in 2020, becoming the first player to take the award in both leagues.

Who won ALCS MVP in 2023 as the Rangers beat the Astros in seven games?

The road team won all seven games of that series.

How many road games did the Rangers win in the 2023 postseason, an MLB record?

They went 11–0 away and only 2–4 at home, finishing 13–4 overall.

Which pitcher did the Rangers sign to a five-year, $185M contract before the 2023 season?

Nathan Eovaldi, signed the same winter, matched the record with five wins in a single postseason.

What is the name of the Rangers' retractable-roof ballpark that opened in 2020?

The old park across the street was renamed Choctaw Stadium; the 2020 ballpark has artificial turf and a roof against the Texas heat.

The Rangers' ballpark opened in 2020 hosted that year's entire World Series. Why?

It's the only venue ever to host a World Series without its tenant playing; the Dodgers beat the Rays there.

Globe Life Field's left-field line is 329 feet. Whose retired number does that honour?

Every retired number is built into the posted dimensions; centre field is 407 for Pudge and the backstop is 42 feet for Jackie Robinson.

What trophy is awarded to the winner of the Rangers–Astros Lone Star Series?

It's a 30-inch, size-15 cowboy boot cast in silver with a handmade spur.

What is the name of the club's horse mascot?

Rangers Captain, to give his full name, was unveiled in 2002.

How much did venture capitalist Tom Hicks pay for the Rangers in 1998?

He later defaulted on a $525 million loan, and the team went through bankruptcy court before Nolan Ryan's group bought it in 2010.

On April 5, 2021, the Rangers hosted the first US sporting event of what kind since the pandemic began?

More than 38,000 attended; President Biden called it 'a mistake'.

Which 'Father of Texas' unofficially founded the Texas Rangers law-enforcement agency in 1823?

He hired ten men to protect several hundred settler families in what was then Mexican Texas.

Which lawman led the 1934 posse that killed Bonnie and Clyde?

It's on the pedestal of the Ranger statue that stood at Dallas Love Field, though the story behind it is mostly legend.

Which Texas Ranger led the 1934 posse that killed Bonnie and Clyde?

Four of the five Hamer brothers became Rangers; he joked he was the only 'Oxford-educated Ranger', after the ghost town of Oxford, Texas.

In which Texas city is the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum?

The Rangers themselves are headquartered in Austin as a division of the Department of Public Safety.

Which outlaw's gang was shot up by Rangers at Round Rock in 1878?

Bass and John Wesley Hardin were two of the three most celebrated captures or killings of the Rangers' frontier era.

Which martial-arts star played Cordell Walker in CBS's Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001?

The show grew out of his 1983 film Lone Wolf McQuade and ended on a 2005 TV-movie cliffhanger that was never resolved.

Which two characters from Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove are former Texas Rangers?

The Lone Ranger takes his alias from having once been a Texas Ranger too.

What was the 10,000-seat Arlington park built in 1965 called before the Rangers arrived?

Built in 1965 for the Double-A Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, it was often the hottest park in the majors, with summer temperatures above 100 F.

Which Ranger won the American League MVP award in 1974, the club's breakout season?

That year Hargrove was Rookie of the Year, Billy Martin Manager of the Year and Ferguson Jenkins Comeback Player of the Year.

What was the Rangers' 1994-2019 home, The Ballpark in Arlington, renamed in 2022?

Naming rights were sold to Globe Life in 2014, and the park took the Choctaw name in 2022; it sits just southeast of the site of Arlington Stadium.

Who became the Rangers' general manager in 2020, succeeding Jon Daniels?

The former big-league pitcher later became president of baseball operations and oversaw the 2023 championship roster built under manager Bruce Bochy.