1977 Texas Rangers season

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1977 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Bradford G. Corbett
General manager(s)Dan O'Brien Sr. / Eddie Robinson
Manager(s)Frank Lucchesi, Eddie Stanky, Connie Ryan, Billy Hunter
Local televisionKXAS-TV
(Dick Risenhoover, Tom Vandergriff)
Local radioWBAP
(Dick Risenhoover, Bill Merrill)
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The 1977 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing second in the American League West with a record of 94 wins and 68 losses. The 1977 Rangers were notable for having an American League record four managers in the same season. Frank Lucchesi began the season as the manager but team's board of directors decide to make a change after the Rangers entered June with a .500 record. Former Major League player and manager Eddie Stanky was introduced as the new manager on June 17 but changed his mind after one game and returned to his home in Alabama. Bench coach Connie Ryan served as the interim manager for six games before Billy Hunter was hired and led the team to a 60-33 record for the rest of the year.[1]

Offseason[]

On December 10, 1976, shortstop Danny Thompson died of leukemia. Thompson had played in 64 games for the Rangers in 1976.

Notable transactions[]

  • November 17, 1976: Bert Campaneris was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.[2]
  • November 23, 1976: Doyle Alexander was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.[3]
  • December 9, 1976: Jeff Burroughs was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Carl Morton, Adrian Devine, Ken Henderson, Dave May, Roger Moret, and $250,000.[4]
  • December 15, 1976: Dave Criscione was traded by the Rangers to the Baltimore Orioles for Bob Babcock.[5]
  • January 11, 1977: Dave Righetti was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (10th pick) of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.[6]
  • February 2, 1977: Fritz Peterson was released by the Rangers.[7]
  • February 5, 1977: The Rangers traded a player to be named later and cash to the Chicago Cubs for Darold Knowles. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Gene Clines to the Cubs on February 15.[8]
  • February 17, 1977: Brian Doyle, Greg Pryor and cash were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Sandy Alomar.[9]

Regular season[]

For one June day in 1977, Eddie Stanky was drawn back into the major leagues as manager of the Rangers.[10] After that day, he abruptly quit and left for Alabama, saying only that he was homesick.[11]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 102 60 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 94 68 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 90 72 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 84 77 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 74 88 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 64 98 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 63 98 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents[]

1977 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 6–8 5–6 5–5 11–4 12–3 4–7 11–4 6–4 8–7 8–2 7–3 4–6 10–5
Boston 8–6 — 7–3 3–7 8–7 9–6 5–5 9–6 4–6 8–7 8–3 10–1 6–4 12–3
California 6–5 3–7 — 8–7 6–4 4–6 6–9 5–5 7–8 4–7 5–10 9–6 5–10 6–4
Chicago 5–5 7–3 7–8 — 6–4 4–6 8–7 6–5 10–5 3–7 10–5 10–5 6–9 8–3
Cleveland 4–11 7–8 4–6 4–6 — 8–7 3–7 11–4 2–9 3–12 7–3 7–3 2–9 9–5
Detroit 3–12 6–9 6–4 6–4 7–8 — 3–8 10–5 5–5 6–9 5–5 5–6 2–8 10–5
Kansas City 7–4 5–5 9–6 7–8 7–3 8–3 — 8–2 10–5 5–5 9–6 11–4 8–7 8–2
Milwaukee 4–11 6–9 5–5 5–6 4–11 5–10 2–8 — 3–8 8–7 5–5 7–3 5–5 8–7
Minnesota 4–6 6–4 8–7 5–10 9–2 5–5 5–10 8–3 — 2–8 8–6 7–8 8–7 9–1
New York 7–8 7–8 7–4 7–3 12–3 9–6 5–5 7–8 8–2 — 9–2 6–4 7–3 9–6
Oakland 2–8 3–8 10–5 5–10 3–7 5–5 6–9 5–5 6–8 2–9 — 7–8 2–13 7–3
Seattle 3–7 1–10 6–9 5–10 3–7 6–5 4–11 3–7 8–7 4–6 8–7 — 9–6 4–6
Texas 6–4 4–6 10–5 9–6 9–2 8–2 7–8 5–5 7–8 3–7 13–2 6–9 — 7–4
Toronto 5–10 3–12 4–6 3–8 5–9 5–10 2–8 7–8 1–9 6–9 3–7 6–4 4–7 —


Opening Day starters[]

Notable transactions[]

  • April 1, 1977: Carl Morton was released by the Rangers.[4]
  • April 12, 1977: Steve Foucault was traded by the Rangers to the Detroit Tigers for Willie Horton.[12]
  • April 30, 1977: Mike Marshall was purchased by the Rangers from the Atlanta Braves.[13]
  • May 9, 1977: Roy Howell was traded by the Rangers to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jim Mason, Steve Hargan and $200,000.[14]
  • May 23, 1977: Dave Moates was purchased from the Rangers by the New York Yankees.[15]
  • June 7, 1977: John Butcher was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (18th pick) of the secondary phase of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.[16]
  • June 15, 1977: Dock Ellis was purchased by the Rangers from the Oakland Athletics.[17]
  • June 15, 1977: Jim Fregosi was traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ed Kirkpatrick.[18]

Roster[]

1977 Texas Rangers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats[]

= Indicates team leader

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Jim Sundberg 149 453 132 .291 6 65
1B Mike Hargrove 153 525 160 .305 18 69
2B Bump Wills 152 541 155 .287 9 62
3B Toby Harrah 159 539 142 .263 27 87
SS Bert Campaneris 150 552 140 .254 5 46
LF Claudell Washington 129 521 148 .284 12 68
CF Juan Beníquez 123 424 114 .269 10 50
RF Dave May 120 340 82 .241 7 42
DH Willie Horton 139 519 150 .289 15 75

Other batters[]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ken Henderson 75 244 63 .258 5 23
Tom Grieve 79 236 53 .225 7 30
John Ellis 49 119 28 .235 4 15
Kurt Bevacqua 39 96 32 .333 5 28
Sandy Alomar 69 83 22 .265 1 11
Keith Smith 23 67 16 .239 2 6
Bill Fahey 37 68 15 .221 0 5
Jim Mason 36 55 12 .218 1 7
Ed Kirkpatrick 20 48 9 .188 0 3
Lew Beasley 25 32 7 .219 0 3
Jim Fregosi 13 28 7 .250 1 5
Pat Putnam 11 26 8 .308 0 3
Roy Howell 7 17 0 .000 0 0
Eddie Miller 17 6 2 .333 0 1
Gary Gray 1 2 0 .000 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
Gaylord Perry 34 238 15 12 3.37 177
Doyle Alexander 34 237 17 11 3.65 82
Bert Blyleven 30 234.2 14 12 2.72 182
Dock Ellis 23 167.1 10 6 2.90 90
Tommy Boggs 6 27.1 0 3 5.93 15

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
Nelson Briles 28 108.1 6 4 4.24 57
Roger Moret 18 72.1 3 3 3.73 39
Len Barker 15 47.1 4 1 2.66 51
Jim Umbarger 3 13 1 1 5.54 5
Mike Marshall 12 35.2 2 2 4.04 18
John Poloni 2 7 1 0 6.43 5

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
Adrian Devine 56 11 6 15 3.58 67
Paul Lindblad 42 4 5 4 4.20 46
Darold Knowles 42 5 2 4 3.22 14
Steve Hargan 6 1 0 0 8.76 10
Mike Wallace 5 0 0 0 7.56 2
Bobby Cuellar 4 0 0 0 1.35 3
Mike Bacsik 2 0 0 0 19.29 1

Awards and honors[]

All-Stars[]

All-Star Game

  • Bert Campaneris, reserve

Other team leaders[]

  • Stolen bases – Bump Wills (28)
  • Walks – Toby Harrah (109)

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Rich Donnelly
AA Tulsa Drillers Texas League Marty Martínez
A Asheville Tourists Western Carolinas League Wayne Terwilliger
Rookie GCL Rangers Gulf Coast League Joe Klein

Notes[]

  1. ^ "'Won' and done: Remembering Eddie Stanky". MLB.com. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  2. ^ Bert Campaneris page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Doyle Alexander page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ a b Carl Morton page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Dave Criscione page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Dave Righetti page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Fritz Peterson page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Alomar traded to Rangers
  10. ^ Eddie Stanky named new Ranger manager
  11. ^ Durso, Joseph (June 7, 1999). "Eddie Stanky, 83, Spark Plug On 3 Pennant-Winning Teams". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  12. ^ Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Mike Marshall page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Dave Moates page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ John Butcher page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Dock Ellis page at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ Jim Fregosi page at Baseball Reference

References[]

  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

External links[]

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