# 1980 Texas Rangers season

The 1980 Texas Rangers season was the 20th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 9th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 9th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 76 wins and 85 losses.

## Offseason

* November 14, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees for players to be named later and cash. The New York Yankees sent Amos Lewis (minors) (December 13, 1979) and Ricky Burdette (minors) (December 13, 1979) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.
* December 6, 1979: Doyle Alexander, Larvell Blanks and $50,000 were traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Adrian Devine and Pepe Frías.
* January 4, 1980: Larry McCall, Gary Gray, and Mike Bucci (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for David Clyde and Jim Norris.
* January 11, 1980: 1980 Major League Baseball draft
** Billy Taylor was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round. Player signed March 24, 1980.
** Al Newman was drafted by the Rangers in the 3rd round, but did not sign.
** Daryl Smith was drafted by the Rangers in the 6th round.
* February 15, 1980: Willie Montañez was traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Gaylord Perry, Tucker Ashford and Joe Carroll (minors).
* March 31, 1980: La Rue Washington and Chris Smith were traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Expos for Rusty Staub.
* March 31, 1980: David Clyde was released by the Rangers.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Kansas City Royals | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Oakland Athletics | 83 | 79 | .512 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Minnesota Twins | 77 | 84 | .478 | 19½ | 44‍–‍36 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Texas Rangers | 76 | 85 | .472 | 20½ | 39‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Chicago White Sox | 70 | 90 | .438 | 26 | 37‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍48 |
| California Angels | 65 | 95 | .406 | 31 | 30‍–‍51 | 35‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 59 | 103 | .364 | 38 | 36‍–‍45 | 23‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1980 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 8–5 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 10–2 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 11–2 |
| Boston | 5–8 | — | 9–3 | 6–4 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–6 |
| California | 2–10 | 3–9 | — | 3–10 | 4–6 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 2–10 | 3–10 | 11–2 | 11–2 | 3–9 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | 4–6 | 10–3 | — | 5–7 | 2–10 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 6–7–2 | 5–7 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 6–7 | 6–4 | 7–5 | — | 3–10 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 8–5 |
| Detroit | 3–10 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 10–3 | — | 2–10 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 10–2–1 | 4–8 | 9–4 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 10–2 | — | 6–6 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 9–3 |
| Milwaukee | 6–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 6–7 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 5–8 |
| Minnesota | 2–10 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 5–7 | — | 4–8 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 7–5 |
| New York | 6–7 | 10–3 | 10–2 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–3 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 | — | 8–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 5–7 | 2–11 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 2–10–1 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 5–8 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Texas | 6–6 | 7–5 | 2–11 | 7–6–2 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–10 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 9–4 | — | 7–5 |
| Toronto | 2–11 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 3, 1980: Tom Henke was drafted by the Rangers in the 4th round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).
* July 11, 1980: Charlie Hough was purchased by the Rangers from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* August 14, 1980: Gaylord Perry was traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Ken Clay and a player to be named later. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Marvin Thompson (minors) to the Rangers on October 1.
* September 13, 1980: Sparky Lyle was traded by the Rangers to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later. The Phillies completed the deal by sending Kevin Saucier to the Rangers on November 19.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | 151 | 505 | 138 | .273 | 10 | 63 |
| 1B | Pat Putnam | 147 | 410 | 108 | .263 | 13 | 55 |
| 2B | Bump Wills | 146 | 578 | 152 | .263 | 5 | 58 |
| SS | Pepe Frías | 116 | 227 | 55 | .242 | 0 | 10 |
| 3B | Buddy Bell | 129 | 490 | 161 | .329 | 17 | 83 |
| LF | Al Oliver | 163 | 656 | 209 | .319 | 19 | 117 |
| CF | Mickey Rivers | 147 | 630 | 210 | .333 | 7 | 60 |
| RF | Johnny Grubb | 110 | 274 | 76 | .277 | 9 | 32 |
| DH | Richie Zisk | 135 | 448 | 130 | .290 | 19 | 77 |

#### 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 |
| Rusty Staub | 109 | 340 | 102 | .300 | 9 | 52 |
| Dave Roberts | 101 | 235 | 56 | .238 | 10 | 30 |
| Billy Sample | 99 | 204 | 53 | .260 | 4 | 19 |
| John Ellis | 73 | 182 | 43 | .236 | 1 | 23 |
| Bud Harrelson | 87 | 180 | 49 | .272 | 1 | 9 |
| Jim Norris | 119 | 174 | 43 | .247 | 0 | 16 |
| Mike Richardt | 22 | 71 | 16 | .225 | 0 | 8 |
| Tucker Ashford | 15 | 32 | 4 | .125 | 0 | 3 |
| Nelson Norman | 17 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Walton | 10 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Odie Davis | 17 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Hart | 5 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 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 |
| Jon Matlack | 35 | 234.2 | 10 | 10 | 3.68 | 142 |
| Doc Medich | 34 | 204.1 | 14 | 11 | 3.92 | 91 |
| Ferguson Jenkins | 29 | 198.0 | 12 | 12 | 3.77 | 129 |
| Gaylord Perry | 24 | 155.0 | 6 | 9 | 3.43 | 107 |
| Ken Clay | 8 | 43.0 | 2 | 3 | 4.60 | 17 |
| Steve Comer | 12 | 41.2 | 2 | 4 | 7.99 | 9 |
| Ed Figueroa | 8 | 39.2 | 0 | 7 | 5.90 | 9 |
| John Butcher | 6 | 35.1 | 3 | 3 | 4.08 | 27 |
| Don Kainer | 4 | 19.2 | 0 | 0 | 1.83 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Brian Allard | 5 | 14.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.65 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Danny Darwin | 53 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 2.63 | 104 |
| Sparky Lyle | 49 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 4.69 | 43 |
| Jim Kern | 38 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 4.83 | 40 |
| John Henry Johnson | 33 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2.33 | 44 |
| Dave Rajsich | 24 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5.96 | 35 |
| Charlie Hough | 16 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.96 | 47 |
| Adrian Devine | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.82 | 8 |
| Bob Babcock | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.63 | 15 |
| Jerry Don Gleaton | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 2 |
| Dennis Lewallyn | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.94 | 1 |

### Awards and honors

* Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1980
* Al Oliver, Silver Slugger Award, 1980
* Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove, 1980
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Charleston Charlies | International League | Tom Burgess |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Wayne Terwilliger |
| A | Asheville Tourists | South Atlantic League | Tom Robson |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Andy Hancock |