Rangers make history in the ALCS

— For some reason, it seemed a nice ironic touch when New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez looked at a called third strike with two out in the ninth inning last Friday night.

In the 50th season of the franchise’s existence, it was the clinching instant that qualified the Texas Rangers for their first trip to a World Series.

An established young star with the Seattle Mariners as the 21st century arrived, Rodriguez filed for free agency and signed a long-term contract with the Rangers on Dec. 11, 2000, for what sounded like half the money in the world. Obviously the Texas organization hoped he would anchor a dynasty.

Well, it would he hard to fault Rodriguez’s contributions.

In three seasons, he missed appearing in exactly one game. He scored 133, 125 and 124 runs. He batted .318, .300 and .296. He collected 201, 187 and 181 hits. He led the American League with 52, 57 and 47 home runs. He drove in 135, 142 and 118 runs. He won a Gold Glove Award at shortstop. He was voted the 2003 AL MVP.

For all his accomplishments, though, the 2001-2003 Rangers finished fourth, fourth and fourth, otherwise known as last place in the AL West Division. As you no doubt know, Rodriguez switched to the Yankees in 2004.

The Rangers were created indirectly when the American League expanded from eight teams to 10 in 1961. The “old” Washington Senators (1901-1960), owned by the Griffith family, got permission to move west and become the Minnesota Twins. They were replaced in the nation’s capital by the “new” Washington Senators, ancestors of the Rangers. The other new franchise went to the Los Angeles Angels.

The new Senators stumbled around 11 seasons. They would probably be best remembered now (if at all) for the fact that former Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges broke in as a rookie manager for Washington.

From 1964-1967, Hodges directed the Senators to records of 62-100, 70-92, 71-88 and 76-85, before switching to the previously laughable New York Mets in 1968.

Obviously, his Senators’ futility (365 losses in four years) taught Hodges patience.

Never close to a .500 record in their seven previous seasons, the 100-62 Mets of 1969 needed only five World Series games to pitch the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles into oblivion.

The replacement Senators had their only winning season (86-76) in 1969, when Manager Ted Williams coaxed 48 home runs and 111 RBI out of 6-7, 255-pound slugger Frank Howard.

Williams accompanied the franchise to Arlington, Texas, in 1972, and resigned after suffering through a 54-100 record. Whitey Herzog started 1973 as Texas manager, but was released with a 47-91 record in early September.

Several years later, as an established winner with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals, Herzog could laugh off his Texas troubles.

“I had these two guys with the Rangers, Alex Johnson and Rico Carty,” Herzog said during St. Louis spring training at St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1989. “They were supposed to be outfielders. I’d put one of them in left field and DH the other, and the next game I’d switch them around. When I got fired near the end of the season, I still didn’t know which one was the worst outfielder in baseball.”

I was most interested in the Rangers when former Arkansas Travelers- Johnson, Hall of Fame pitcher Fergie Jenkins, Pat Corrales and Frank Lucchesi - were part of the Texas organization in the 1970s.

All four were involved with the 1964 Travs when the Arkansas club was sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies. Those Travs hit 208 home runs and won a divisional pennant in the Pacific Coast League. Eventually, Lucchesi and Corrales both had hitches as Rangers’ managers.

The first Dallas area excitement I can remember the Rangers generating was in 1973, when pitcher David Clyde, an 18-year-old bonus signee, packed the park for his first pro game. Not much happened for him after that.

From 1989-1993, the Rangers found a much more durable and compelling attraction in Nolan Ryan, by then in his mid-40s. He retired at 46 after 27 seasons, seven no-hitters, 324 victories and 5,386 strikeouts.

Now Ryan is the Texas club president, and obviously not of the figurehead sort. For one thing, he wants starting pitchers to pitch longer - even to the extent of finishing games, which in current circumstances would be revolutionary.

Texas and New York swapped traditional roles during the American League Championship Series last week. The Rangers played like Yankees.

Sports, Pages 18 on 10/26/2010

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